On this edition of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by CultivAce, longtime no-tiller Jim Leverich explains why 20-inch corn rows are paying off big time on his Sparta, Wis., farm. Plus, Clay Scott checks in from Precision Planting headquarters with one big thing every no-tiller should inspect on their planter this winter. For the Cover Crop Connection, associate editor Mackane Vogel reports from the Eco-Ag Conference in Madison, Wis., where new cover crop insights were in the spotlight.

Later in the episode, technology editor Noah Newman chats with independent soil health specialist Jim Hoorman about choosing the right biologicals for your system. We catch up with Carrie Vollmer-Sanders, president of Field to Market, at the Sustainable Agriculture Summit for some perspective on the importance of sharing no-till, strip-till and cover crop knowledge. And in the Video of the Week, No-Till Innovator Jimmy Emmons showcases one of his long-term no-tilled fields after a 4-inch rainfall in Leedey, Okla.

This episode of Conservation Ag Update is brought to you by CultivAce.

CultivAce is a West Coast manufacturer and distributor of a comprehensive line of foliar and starter fertilizers. CultivAce offers innovative solutions that drive agricultural crop yields and cultivate profitableoutcomes.

With a relentless focus on delivering the highest quality foliar and starter fertilizers, we are committed to empowering growers with the tools they need to achieve remarkable results. CultivAce is built on two fundamental principles: products must be the highest quality, and they must make the grower money. If a product doesn’t meet these standards, CultivAce doesn’t manufacture it.

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TRANSCRIPT

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20-Inch Rows Pay Off for Wisconsin No-Tiller

 According to 2024 No-Till Farmer Benchmark Study, almost 90% of you plant corn in 30-inch rows. Sparta, Wis., no-tiller Jim Leverich is among the other 10%.  He’s been no-tilling corn in 20-inch rows with his Case IH 1245 planter for a long time. Let’s find out why.

“Even though we don’t have small tires on the tractor, the row is actually in between the tires. We’re always conscious of that when we’re planting, that we’re not impacting that plant zone. We also try to use low air tire pressure. Tractors that aren’t overweighted, trying to be conscious of compaction issues that can occur at planting. We found a 5-7% yield increase. The last year I ran a trial was in 2005. There was a 21-bushel advantage to 20-inch rows over 30-inch rows. We also found more advantage in lighter soils than heavier soils. We’ve stayed with 20-inch rows on our farm over 30-inch rows because we feel that it’s a definite economic advantage to us.”

Planter Maintenance Checklist: Are Your Disc Openers Junk?

Winter is coming, which means it’s time to make sure there aren’t any gremlins lurking in your equipment. Precision Planting’s Clay Scott checks in with one of the most important things that should be on your planter maintenance checklist.  

“You’ve heard this for the past many years. The first thing to check — are our opening discs big enough? This one is about 14 and 5/8. I’m going to tell you that this disc is junk. You’re going to say, ‘Clay, Precision Planting recommend that we change John Deere disc at 14.5. And you’d be right. However, is this going to get you through the season? If you only put 30 row acres on a year into some heavy conventionally tilled ground, this will probably get you by. But if you’re doing 100 row acres into some heavy no-till ground with no coulter, this is junk. This is not going to get you through a full year. These are management decisions that we have to make right now that are going to affect the crop for the following year. This is just as important as fertilizer choices and inputs. I know that’s been heavy on our minds as of late, and this is just as important.” 

Clay will share more insights during a planter classroom at the National No-Tillage Conference, Jan. 7-10 in Louisville, Ky. Head to NoTillConference.com for more information. Now let’s check in with road warrior Mackane Vogel in Madison, Wis. 

Earning the Right to Plant Cover Crops

Mackane Vogel here at the Acres Eco-Ag Conference and Trade Show in Madison, Wis., and for this week’s segment we are going to toss it off to Gary Zimmer to talk a little bit about his cover crop strategies.

“You have to earn the right. And this is the dilemma. At the sustainable conference they had in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago, a thousand people showed up. All the food companies there they want all their food being regenerative and sustainably grown. There was a panel with a farmer on it. And the farmer said that’s fine. I’ll grow your cover crop but if someone’s not gonna write me a check for $53 per acre I’m not doing it. That’s what it cost him, he said, to do it. What is he missing? He doesn’t know how to make money growing a cover crop. If I grow that cover crop I have to earn the right. Now here’s my fungicides, insecticides, pesticides. I can honestly say on our farm for 25 years, we used to have dairy and now we are cash croppers, I have never seen the need for an insecticide or fungicide. Tar spot wiped out my neighbor’s corn a couple years ago, we couldn’t find any on our field. We are across the fence. I’ve never seen the need for those pesticides but if you’re a farmer and all the sudden you grow a cover crop, what do you do next year? Do I cut my nitrogen? Do I cut my chemicals? Do I get more resilience? It might take some time but they do not know because they have never been taught how to get from A to B. and that’s your struggle. That’s the struggle of agriculture that I fight all the time. How do I earn that right to feed less grain to cattle? How do I earn the right not to spend all my money on stuff that does not make my farm any better?”

Always good stuff from Gary Zimmer and there’s been lots more good content here at the conference so stay tuned in the coming weeks for lots more.

Navigating the ‘Wild West’ of Biological Products

I’ve heard some people refer to biologicals as the “Wild West” of farming. Huge potential, little regulation. How do you know which ones could work on your farm? Soil health specialist and No-Till Innovator Jim Hoorman helps navigate some of the key factors to consider with biologicals. 

“I think farmers need to understand the different functions. We have mycorrhizal fungi, there’s like 250 of those. There’s maybe 34-35 that I know of that impact corn and about 30 some that affect soybeans. The hardest part with biologicals is you have to know what you’re starting out with, and you need to figure out what you need and where you get them. None of those are easy. They’re all expensive. That makes it tough. For example, we’ve got fungus, we’ve got bacteria. Something most people haven’t learned a whole lot about is pseudomonas, and those are the ones involved in rhizophagy. If you have pseudomonas bacteria in your soil, they’re like a double edge sword. Under the right conditions, they help the crop to grow but under bad conditions they cause disease. You have to have the right soil to make all those work.” 

Hoorman will dive deep into the topic during a presentation at the upcoming National No-Tillage Conference, Jan. 7-10 in Louisville, Ky. 

No-Till, Strip-Till, Cover Crops in Sustainable Ag Summit Spotlight

Speaking of conferences, the 10th annual Sustainable Agriculture Summit took place in Minneapolis recently. And during the event, our Mike Lessiter caught up with Carrie Vollmer-Sanders, the president of Field to Market who also farms in Northeast Indiana and Northwest Ohio. She explains why it’s important for no-tillers and strip-tillers to share their knowledge with other farmers to help spread the message of sustainable agriculture. 

“One of the things that we’ve talked about at this meeting is the importance of no-till, cover crops and strip-till. We don’t often get a huge influx of farmers in front of these groups, but it’s one of the beauties of Field to Market and the Sustainable Ag Summit is we want to make sure those farmers have as large a voice as possible when they’re in the room so they can explain what’s happening on the farm. When a company sets goals and is trying to figure out what to do next, they have a resource that has practical experience, and we really need more farmers with experience of cover crops, strip-till, no-till to be able to talk about their experiences, not only with other farmers but also with companies throughout the value chain.” 

Video of the Week: No-Till Field Resilient After 4-Inch Rainfall

Time now for our Video of the Week. Jimmy Emmons checks in from Oklahoma to show how his long-term no-till field held up after getting pounded by rain. Jimmy, take it away! 

“This year at the National No-Till Conference, I’m going to be talking about soil structure. You see behind me here, this is a grain sorghum field that we harvested earlier this year, and turned around and planted wheat back into it after a rain. We just received 4 inches of rain the last 2 days here. This is about a 200-acre field. There’s no standing water, no runoff water in this field. It’s had a living continuous root now for 10 years with no-till. Making effective rainfall is the goal.”

Have an interesting photo or video from your farm? Or a story you’d like us to feature on the broadcast? Send me an email at Nnewman@lessitermedia.com.

And that will wrap things up this edition of Conservation Ag Update. Until next time, for more stories visit no-tillfarmer.com, striptillfarmer.com and covercropstrategies.com. Before we go, let’s send it out to Dave Hula for a preview of his upcoming presentation at the National Strip-Tillage Conference. Thanks for tuning in! Have a great day!

Of course, I’m sure not everyone was so lucky with the weather. Shoot me an email—nnewman@LessiterMedia.com— let us know how harvest is going in your neck of the woods.