An innovative approach that offers major Farm Bill conservation and environmental benefits is really built around tripling the current no-till acreage.
Since the 1980s, Ray McCormick has seen that the major benefits of no-till include saving fuel, curbing erosion, building soil organic matter, boosting wildlife numbers and protecting the environment for future generations.
No-tillers are keenly aware of the benefits that cover crops can provide to their soil, yet a recent survey funded by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture indicates that cover crop usage lags.
Moldboard plowing, lots of secondary tillage and costly, environmentally damaging soil erosion were natural partners on our land in the late 1970s. At that time, I was taking over the family farm located on the Canadian side of Lake Erie, about 60 miles east of Detroit.
Several successful organic vegetable growers in southeastern states are combining the benefits of cover crops, reduced tillage and smart marketing. Here’s a brief look at two family operations that have been guided by the work of pioneering researchers such as Virginia Tech’s Ron Morse (see accompanying story). Both families are active participants in the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Work Group (SSAWG), a 12-state, non-profit organization.
“HELP!” Horticulturist Ron Morse remembers the day nearly 30 years ago when that message, scrawled by a county extension agent on the bottom of a snapshot, arrived at his Virginia Tech University office. The photo showed a mud slide blocking a rural Appalachian farm road. What was left of a cabbage patch planted on a steep sloping field was mired in the mud.
Although it has been available for several years, an often-overlooked, environ- mentally friendly slug-control product is gaining popularity in the United States and could provide an alternative to metaldehyde- based products for no-tillers.
Does precision farming, with page after page of information generated by automated devices, really make your no-till fields more productive? Or are you about ready to unplug it all in frustration?
Soil scientist Richard Mulvaney and several colleagues at the University of Illinois believe they have developed a reliable way to determine the optimum nitrogen fertilizer application rate for crops.
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On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, Brian and Darren Hefty, fourth-generation farmers and hosts of Ag PhD, share tips for treating tar spot in corn.
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