One of the most popular speakers to ever appear on a National No-Tillage Conference program, Dwayne Beck, will be in Des Moines to share his highly innovative no-tilling ideas with you at next winter’s 12th annual National No-Tillage Conference. For more effective no-tilling when it’s too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry, Beck will have many of the no-till answers that you need!

Here’s a sneak preview of 13 of the “best of the best” ideas, opinions, observations, viewpoints and philosophies that the manager of the Dakota Lakes Research Farm at Pierre, S. D., and an agronomist with South Dakota State University will share with no-tillers from Jan. 7 to 10, 2004, in Des Moines, Iowa.

1. No-till always conserves moisture — period.

2. What is important is not the amount of rainfall that you get, but the way it interacts with the soil and your particular climate to produce vegetation that is native to your area for more profitable no-tilling.

3. The trend to more “true” no-till will continue unless we experience a dramatic shift in farm policy or other unforeseen economic factors.

4. We need a better system for accurately placing fertilizer 2 inches away from the seed with low-disturbance no-till drills.

5. Using a variety of no-till rotations and rotational sequences will allow you to take advantage of variable weather.

6. No-till earns its stripes in the driest years.

7. If you know only one thing about soil, you need to know the organic matter…