Before Paul Jasa will even discuss no-till continuous corn, he issues a strong warning about monoculture farming. The highly respected University of Nebraska extension agricultural engineer has worked for more than 30 years “preaching” a systems approach to no-till, including crop rotation.

“Many of the problems that we’ve worked on for years — such as nitrate leaching and atrazine in runoff, corn rootworm management, nitrogen response for corn and generally lower yields in mono-crop systems — are greatly reduced with properly managed crop rotations,” Jasa says. “A systems approach to continuous no-till, including crop rotation, has also proven to resolve many other potential production headaches, such as crusting and a lack of infiltration that is often typical of tilled soils, soil compaction, erosion and runoff, and poor soil health,” he adds.

“But having said that, I realize there has been considerable interest in no-tilling corn on corn. Whether that interest stems from a growing ethanol demand for more corn, soybean rust scares or other reasons, it’s happening, and educators need to address it,” Jasa continues. In response to the trend, he drafted a list of considerations and recommendations to help growers make no-till corn on corn more successful or, from his perspective, “less risky.”

Jasa’s points to consider fall into four areas: general, harvest and residue management, nutrient management and planting of continuous corn.

General Considerations

1. No-Till Monoculture Problems

Conventional tillage farmers in Nebraska who tried monocultures, including corn on corn under irrigation, lost the crop rotation benefits of…