Many coffee shop conversations among farmers after harvest this fall turned out to be pretty much the same as in previous years. When talking about how their crops turned out, the emphasis always seems to be on yield rather than profit among growers still using extensive tillage.

Richard Halopka maintains the emphasis needs to center around net profit rather than yield. To get his point across, the Extension crops and soils agent in Clark County, Wis., shares the story of two very successful farmers who let’s assume were each growing 785 acres of soybeans. The major difference is that one is a no-tiller while the other is still doing intensive tillage.

As  Halopka’s tale goes, the two growers meet in a local coffee shop and the conversation soon turns to comparing soybean yields. As it turns out, the “clean-tiller” had a 10-bushel-per-acre advantage over the no-tiller and remarked, “I told you no-till doesn’t work.”

While the coffee shop story could end here, Halopka says it’s time to gather the facts about what really took place in their bean fields. And to demonstrate how the innovative no-tiller kept costs under control.

Tillage Dollars

The no-tiller only made one pass to plant. The “clean-tiller” followed corn harvest with moldboard plowing, then went overboard in the spring with a disc, followed by a harrow, mulching, planting and even rolling the bean field after planting. At $15 per pass, that’s a $75-per-acre boost in costs compared to no-tilling.

Seed Expense

The no-tiller planted treated…