You can eyeball how much organic matter there is in your soil, says Jill Clapperton, a Canadian soil microbiologist at the Lethbridge Research Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta. Take a sample of the soil in an old can, mix it with water and shake well.
While no-tilling with cover crops requires more management than straight no-till, the extra effort may be worth it, especially in dry years, maintains Mike Plumer.
While Francis Childs certainly doesn’t no-till, the Manchester, Iowa, farmer uses a number of ideas some ideas that you could use in your own no-tilling operation. Using a mini moldboard plow that works the soil up to 14 inches deep yet still leaves up to 40 percent soil cover from his extremely heavy continuous corn plant residue, he harvested an amazing 442.1 bushels of corn per acre last fall. For the sixth straight year, he took top honors in the 2002 National Corn Growers Association National Corn Yield Contest.
When it comes to recognizing the biggest breakthroughs in no-till, Keith Kemp says it has been an increase in soil organic matter, new hybrids and varieties, improved herbicides, decreased production costs and the use of several valuable seeding accessories.
As no-tillers, you don’t need anyone to tell you that no-tilling is the best thing you can do to ensure your soils are protected and are helping the environment.
Finding time and money savers is always a top priority for no-tillers. It’s actually two of the reasons why most farmers switch to no-till in the first place. At least it was for Les Auer of Broadview, Mont.
When our forefathers first sailed to this country and started working American soil for food, they had no idea that their methods were actually hurting the productivity of the soil. After all, the vast prairies of this continent had millions of years to build up proper carbon, nitrogen and potassium levels. If tilling the soil was actually draining those nutrients and hurting its productivity, it certainly wasn’t apparent to early settlers.
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Franck Groeneweg, who no-tills a variety of crops on more than 12,000 acres near Three Forks, Mont., shares how his massive Johnson-Su bioreactor system allows him to apply compost extract in furrow during planting season.
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