Bill Mckibben believes in the many benefits of no-till. He’s put on numerous meetings for interested farmers. He promotes it to clients—but he does so with a realistic picture of the no-till conversion. “Some universities promote no-till but forget about minimum tillage,” he says. “We use it as a good transition from conventional tillage to no-till.”

This Bluffton, Ohio, crop consultant focuses on helping interested farmers move toward the ultimate goal of no-till. But he doesn’t want to give them any false hopes either. Making a drastic change from moldboard plowing to no-till can be difficult—and it’s not only because of the soil.

Getting Started

“What I tell clients is that there should be absolutely no one doing conventional tillage, but I will not say everyone should be doing no-till,” he says.

“Maybe they’re not at the point of no-till because of their equipment or soil fertility, but we all should be heading in that direction. How close you get to the no-till goal is completely up to the individual.”

McKibben says minimal tillage is an important tool in the no-till transition and definitely helps when new no-tillers would otherwise be taking yield cuts.

“I can’t expect my clients to take a 10 percent cut in yield when they’re in transition,” he says. “Everyone can no-till provided they transition properly. With minimum tillage, they are forced to deal with residue and learn how it affects weed control, nitrogen application and planting.

“If they can deal with these things, they’ll be…