In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with retired no-tiller Bob Featheringill of Attica, Ohio, who began no-tilling more than 40 years ago on highly erosive clay soils 25 miles from Lake Erie.

Don Thurston grew up on a farm, but by the time he took up the practice as a young man, his father, Herb, who had farmed from the 1930s until 1978, had already retired and sold his equipment.

Seed and crop protection selection has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, but crop nutrition planning is sometimes based on past history rather than on knowledge of the soil and needs of the crop (“it’s what I’ve always done.”)

Clearly, phosphorus (P) is important for growing crops, and is involved in many functions within a plant such as energy storage and transfer (ATP/ADP), protein synthesis, photosynthesis, nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) synthesis, nutrient movement through cell walls and many more processes. Therefore, it pays to make sure P does not become deficient in plants.

In agriculture, there are always a few factors that are out of our control — specifically Mother Nature. This proved to be true in 2019 with widespread flooding and extreme temperatures — both highs and lows.