Limited rainfall and plenty of warm chinooks moving east off the nearby Rocky Mountain range in late winter create an environment in which properly managing moisture is essential for Alberta growers.
Dwayne Beck is known for a lot of things, perhaps crop rotations most of all. This Pierre, S.D., no-tiller manages the Dakota Lakes Research Farm at Pierre, S.D., and dedicates a lot of his time to studying the improvement of no-till operations with the help of crop rotations.
When farmers switch to a no-till system, it often takes 5 years or more to see dramatic changes since the soil is recovering from decades of mismanagement.
A good no-tiller is apt to be a patient person. In Kansas, that virtue has been tested to the extreme as we work our way through one of the worst droughts of the past 75 years.
When compacted soils become a problem, as they can anywhere in the country, cover crops can be an effective solution, according to experienced no-till farmers. But you need to know which crop will work in your area to provide the kind of long tap roots needed. Visitors to Farmer’s Forum, the message board of No-Till Farmer, offered a number of possibilities recently. We share their ideas here, as well as thoughts about an assortment of other topics.
Will a cover crop residue roller – considered essential in South American no-till fields – add value in the northern Great Plains? Dr. Dwayne Beck is studying that question under environmental conditions that are the equivalent of being several hundred miles north of tropical Paraguay and Brazil.
A strict no-till corn-and-soybean rotation leads you down a path to trouble. The more practical kind of diversity that you can work into your no-till system, the better.
A South American researcher maintains combining cover crops with effective crop rotations is a must with no-till to avoid concerns with disease, insects and weed carryover.
Progressive No-Tillers in Latin America have discovered that green manure cover crops are the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture and are always included in any sound no-till crop rotation, says Rolf Derpsch.
When it comes to making a decision on whether to purchase an air seeder or drill for no-tilling soybeans, small grains or other crops, don't expect to reach any quick and easy answers.
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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.
Needham Ag understands the role of technology in making better use of limited resources within a specific environment by drawing on a wealth of global experience to overcome the challenges facing today's farmers, manufacturers and dealers.
The Andersons grows enduring relationships through extraordinary service, a deep knowledge of the market, and a knack for finding new ways to add value as we have done for nearly 70 years.