Re: Need Your Opinion on No-Till

Posted by Paul in Mich on October 07, 2004 at 06:20:12 from (66.188.26.29):

In Reply to: Need Your Opinion on No-Till posted by Allan in NE on October 06, 2004 at 10:10:40:

Allan, We began No-tilling nearly 20 yrs ago. We did it primarily because we farm over 3500 acres with 1400 being MBS international airport property, of which 700 acres are inside the fence along the perimiter and along runways. MBS requires low growing crops and won"t allow tilling due to birds and seaguls. At first it was a disaster because the equipment hadn"t caught up with the theory of No-till. As planter technology improved, results also improved. wheat planting isn"t so critical, because it is planted in the fall, but beans and corn require warm ground. The first no-till systems did not properly disturb the ground thus warming it to the extent that seed would germinate properly. Culter depth and distance was found to be a critical factor. Now we are able to get on ground in the spring that we wouldn"t if we had to wait for ground to dry enough to spring plow or plowed ground to dry enough to till down. We are able to control weeds better, and while we farm everything from heavy to light ground, No-tilled ground we find holds moisture during the hot summer months when we in Michigan get very little rain fall. Obviously we make fewer trips across the field which saves fuel, and it required fewer tractors and less overall equipment, although no-till planters are much more expensive than conventional. Our yields are very much in line with those farms around us who till their ground, in fact on some of the marginal ground we are exceeding the yields of tilled marginal ground. Having said all this, my favorite job was always plowing and fitting ground. It was never boring, and I loved the smell of the fresh earth. That aspect is gone except for occasional disking of wheat stubble and evening the ground we cut up due to getting stuck or rutting in muddy conditions during harvest. We also quit growing sugar beets because they are not a no till crop, although some farmers do limited no till whereas they till only after the beet crop which rotates everyb 3 or 4 years. If I were farming 100 or 200 acres I wouldn"t do no till, but then I would be farming as a hobby and not expecting a living off 100 acres unless I was growing wacky weed or mushrooms.

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