An All-Star panel discussed the future of conservation ag during last month’s Conservation in Action Tour. Our Mike Lessiter served as moderator for the session. He asked the panelists for their biggest no-till success stories. Brian Hefty shared a personal one of helping his dad move away from full tillage in north central Iowa.
“Now, for my dad, it I think physically hurt him every time he had to drive past the field and see that the field didn't look perfect all the time. He could not stand the residue out there in the spring. It drove him nuts. But as we looked at it throughout the next couple of years, we had a lot less erosion.”
“And the other thing that I mentioned right away with my grandpa is we have the technology today that he didn't have. So, herbicides were mentioned, the equipment, there was no no-till planter, no-till drill, there's no way you could do it back then.”
“And the other big thing I talk an awful lot about is drain tile properly placed. I'm not saying draining duck ponds, but when it's out in a normal field situation to keep the water table down, well, now we don't have to do the tillage to dry the field out. That top two feet is dry and now it gives us more opportunity to do strip-till and no-till and those kinds of things.”
“So, when I step back and I think about, like for my dad, that was a massive change. And without my brother and me here, I don't know that he would've made that change. I mean, he's a smart guy and wants to do good things and everything else, but if you look at why did soil organic matter decrease in the United States for like 100 years in a row, it's because of the massive tillage we did.”
“We have to figure out, how do we reduce tillage? Doesn't necessarily have to be no-till. Strip-till is a great compromise, I think, but we have to reduce tillage somehow, some way.”
“And the big thing anymore that I talk to farmers about is soil organic matter is good. If we have good soil organic matter or the soil's more spongy, less likely to compact, we have more nutrient release, we just raise better crops and our ground is worth more.”
Great story from Brian there. The panel also featured Carrie Vollmer-Sanders, president of Field to Market, and Brian Chatham, agronomy manager for Ducks Unlimited. Listen to the full conversation on No-TillFarmer.com
Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.
