The National Association of Conservation Districts gathered for its Summer Meeting in Milwaukee, July 28.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Wis. Governor Tony Evers were in attendance for the keynote presentation featuring No-Till Farmer’s Mike Lessiter, who spoke about the key elements of no-till history and why it’s a blueprint for future change. Lessiter shared some of the many benefits of no-till with the audience.
“Water management, this is a real-world picture of conventional and no-till ground following the same rain event on adjacent farmland. Everyone who's running side-by-side plots can show this very story by turning on the pivots and watching what happens. We've got detailed summaries of farmland following tremendous storm events, and conventional farmers can lose five tons of acre virtually overnight. Meanwhile, a neighboring farmer with no-till and cover crops might lose just 200 pounds in the same rainfall. Very significant.”
“I imagine most of you have seen a no-till water demonstration here that clearly depicts what water looks like coming off conventionally-tilled grounds versus no-till versus no-till with cover crops. A great story on water.”
“The soils, the organic matter, the soil structure, the benefits of earthworms, no-till fields will have 10 times the earthworms as conventionally tilled soils greatly improving soil structure, moving and depositing nutrients and all the biological activity.”
Watch the full presentation on No-TillFarmer.com.
Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.
