In explaining why his no-tilled fields looked so much better than those of his neighbors across the road that were extensively tilled, Roberto Peiretti indicated it was because he had simply “done nothing” while others worked their ground. That’s how the leadoff speaker at this winter’s 28th annual National No-Tillage Conference (NNTC) described how he hadn’t done any tillage, which was the reason his soybeans looked so good. Improvements in water infiltration in the no-tilled fields was still another reason.

40 Years of Success

A founding member of the Argentina No Till Farmers Association, which championed the need for no-till, Peiretti has developed a high-powered systems approach to no-till that he’s used successfully over the past 40 years in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The keys have included the use of diversified crop rotations, cover crops, effective fertilizer use/placement, water management and sequestering carbon with wheat, soybeans and corn.

Much of the rapid no-till adoption in South America goes back to what these growers learned from University of Kentucky agronomists and other U.S. educators who made numerous trips to Brazil and Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s.

93% No-Till

As data in the No-Till-Age chart at left indicates, South American farmers adopted no-till at a much faster rate than U.S. growers. An astounding 93% of Argentina’s crops are no-tilled today, with adoption in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay not far behind. In fact, Brazil now produces 23% more soybeans than the U.S., most of which are double-cropped behind wheat. Thanks to…