It was the last soybean field Jim Maw and his Dad planted during the 1989 season, and the weeds had been waist high before a burndown. Jim picked out a 20-acre plot and waded in with a rented International 5400 grain drill for his first try at no-till. His Dad told him he’d never make back the cost of the seed.

“That fall after I’d harvested the first round and knew it was yielding well, I made him combine the rest,” Maw recalls, chuckling. “The no-till beans were the best we had.” He says that was before yield monitors and harvests were measured by wagon size, but he remembers the no-till plot produced a 45-to-50 bushel-per-acre crop compared with the rest of the farm’s 40-bushel harvest.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it proved to me it would work,” Jim recalls.

Two years later, all the soybeans on Mooremaw Farms were no-tilled. Another 15 years passed before Maw realized his no-tilled corn was out-yielding his conventional fields, an epiphany that caused him to abandon tillage on the entire operation. He still works wheat stubble lightly before planting cover crops, however.

“We are now soybean farmers who rotate,” he explains. Today, he and son, Kyle, farm 1,000 acres of no-till soybeans, corn and winter wheat along with 50 acres of alfalfa which serves as a valuable rotation tool on their home farm’s rolling heavy-clay soils. They also do custom work on another 1,000 acres on nearby farms.

The Maws farm near Courtright, Ont., just across the St. Clair River northeast of Detroit. Soybeans account for roughly 60% of the rotation each year and corn and wheat evenly share 40% – depending on weather and market conditions. Corn generally yields 140-150 bushels an acre, while soybeans average 48 bushels and winter wheat 75 bushels.

“You have to remember we’re on very tough, heavy ground, so we don’t kid ourselves about being in the Corn Belt,” Maw explains.

He is the last of his generation who began farming locally in the 1970s and ’80s to have farmed continuously the last four decades. He attributes much of that to being willing to adapt to economic realities and points to his early switch to no-till to cut machinery and operating costs as a milestone in his survival. With that in mind, he recently shared the following five important lessons he’s learned over his 35 years “without the plow:”

1. Every Acre is a Test Plot

“When I bought my first combine with a yield monitor in 1996, it dawned on me that every acre I farm is now a test plot,” Maw explains. “I know my beans on 7.5-inch rows out-yield those on 15-inch rows, on average, by 2 bushels per acre. I know that because I’ve been doing side-by-side comparisons on them for years.” Today he uses a 23-row, 15-inch space International 1240 planter paired with a Case IH 500T air-seeder set on 7.5-inch spacing.

Maw says the ability to map yields from year to year provides valuable data for wise decision making on yields, fertility, seed selection and per-acre ROI. Yield monitor data also provide annual updates for “yield zone maps” he uses to guide soil sampling and nutrient management decisions.

READING THE FIELD. Faced with harvest conditions and wetter-than-ideal soil conditions, Maw used the resilience of his no-till fields to bear the traffic by harvesting at 90-degrees from rows. The tactic also allowed heavy grain wagons to remain parked at the side of the field. Mooremaw Farms

“With our custom operation, we harvest for many growers who are totally conventional, and as I look over the numbers, one out of every three years they will out-yield my no-till, but I know it certainly doesn’t cover the cost of their four to five trips across the field every year plowing and cultivating.”

His on-farm testing continues each year as he plants two varieties of corn through the 1240 planter.

“My daughter-in-law, Julie, is a Maizex dealer, and there are always about 10 hybrids we can grow here in our 3,000-heat-unit area, so I split my plantings between hybrids that are 50 to 100 heat units apart,” Maw explains. “By doing that, I double my pollination time and spread some weather risk over the two sets of corn genetics. And, at harvest, the yield monitor will give me an idea of what I want to plant next year.”

2. Reduced Tillage Boosts ROI

Maw’s introduction to no-till was driven by his desire to cut machinery costs. “I have some of the toughest clay you’ll find, and we were plowing every acre. And in the spring we were working anywhere from three to five times over with tillage to get it pounded down,” he says.

“Horsepower cost was what drove me to no-till. After parking the plow, I saw I could cover twice as many acres and, even doing custom work with my planter, at the end of that year my total fuel bill remained the same.” 

Another surprise came when Maw realized his switch to no-till made significant yield gains on his tougher acres, showing he was boosting overall farm productivity by producing more on poorer soils with the same fuel and machinery inputs.

“Improved yields on tougher ground was a bonus, because my costs to have tilled and cultivated those acres would have been significantly higher than on my better soils, so I improved ROI both ways — by not tilling and harvesting more beans. You gain more by pushing the bottom end than trying to push for the top end. I don’t look for maximum yields, I’m looking for maximum ROI.”

3. Your Planter is King

Maw spends many hours and dollars on his planting tools because he says a good harvest and the productivity of a farm is proof of what went through the planter.

“We run fairly new planters and invest heavily in their maintenance,” he says. “Every year we replace every worn disc and every four years we’ll do a complete rebuild. At the end of 7-8 years, we’re looking to trade.” Throughout the season, he encourages normal greasing and chain replacement at the first sign of wear.

Maw says many growers won’t replace a chain as long as it’s working. But he insists that changing a roller chain when it shows wear – and when you’re not in a hurry — is better than having to replace it during planting. He nods to studies showing uninterrupted planting leads to better stands and emergence, which relates to better harvests.

Adopting four-section control on both planters was another boost to the “bottom line” at Mooremaw Farms, he says, as it saved 10-15% on seed costs running planter section control and RTK through Case IH’s AFS system.” Maw explains. The same yield zone maps that guide his planters are used for VRT fertility applications by the local co-op.

4. Planting Patience

With heavy clay soils and no-till management, Maw has found patience pays off, as he now consistently waits until May 1 or after to put seed in the ground for uniform emergence. He says he’s “hated himself” every year he’s planted corn in April.

“Regardless of where you farm, waiting for the right planting conditions is a key to a good harvest,” Maw explains. “Here nothing moves until May 1 other than fertilizer applications on winter wheat. Then both 30-foot planters go to the field at the same time, one plants beans and the other plants corn. The sprayer is active in the mornings when there’s no wind.”

IN THE STUBBLE. Planting soybeans and mapping for yield zones, Maw’s air-seeder works in tandem in corn and wheat residue with a Case IH 1240 planter operating in other fields with a corn, soybean and winter wheat rotation. Mooremaw Farms

Maw sprays a burndown on virtually everything and shoots for one-pass farming, but says two trips are usually necessary, especially when fighting foxtail, giant ragweed and fleabane.

Overall, he recommends growers wait until soil temperatures and moisture levels are right – regardless of the calendar.

“It’s the ground temperature and soil being fit for traffic that makes the difference,” he says. “If it’s wet, we don’t do anything if we can avoid it.”

5. Better Field Conditions

Through the years, Maw says his fields’ soil structure and moisture infiltration have improved under no-till.

“By waiting until conditions are right for planting, I’ve been able to control compaction,” he says. “My fields are firmer, and they don’t rut with what traffic we do put over them. Also, as my tiled soils have improved in structure over the years, they drain more quickly allowing us to get in the field quicker for more timely operations.

Blessed with high organic matter soils from a half-century of livestock on the place years ago, Maw’s average soil organic matter levels are over 5% and climbing slowly. He credits the improvements to no-till and aerially-applied late-season cover-cropping with radishes, oats and sunflowers.