The math is pretty simple.

For central Indiana farmers, diesel fuel cost 85 cents per gallon in April of 1999. A year later, it was $1.20.

For a farmer cropping 2,000 acres, here’s how much extra it will cost in diesel fuel expenses to farm this year compared to a year earlier:

• It costs $1.02 more per acre in diesel fuel to no-till this year. Added fuel costs for 2,000 acres: $2,040.
• It costs an extra $1.74 per acre in diesel fuel to minimum till this year. Added fuel costs for 2,000 acres: $3,480.
• It costs $2.34 more per acre more in diesel fuel costs to conventionally till again this year. Added fuel costs for 2,000 acres: $4,680.

As a result, no-tilling will save $2,640 in diesel fuel purchases this year compared to using conventional tillage on 2,000 acres of crop ground.

Looking Back 20 Years.

In the July, 1980, issue of No-Till Farmer, we analyzed the fuel cost savings with no-till. Most of these Michigan State University figures for growing corn in 1980 still hold true today:

• Conventional Tillage: Eleven trips across the field with 6.68 gallons of diesel fuel per acre to chop stalks, fertilize, moldboard plow, disc twice, harrow, spray herbicides, plant, rotary hoe, cultivate and harvest.
• Minimum Tillage: Eight trips required 4.96 gallons of diesel fuel per acre to chop stalks, fertilize, chisel plow, harrow, spray herbicides, plant, cultivate and harvest.
• No-Tillage: Five trips needed 2.92 gallons of diesel fuel per acre to chop stalks, fertilize…