As the concepts behind conservation tillage becomes more complex, more no-tillers are looking to double their acreage and earning potential with intercropping.
A cropping system with the potential to increase farm income while hedging production risk is Modified Relay Intercropping (MRI). MRI is the planting of soybeans into standing wheat 20 to 30 days prior to wheat harvest. The goal of this planting date is to have a well established soybean plant 6 to 8 inches tall (V2-V4) at wheat harvest.
You can make rope out of it. Not to mention clothing. And diapers, cookies and lubricants. There's even talk of a new "super metal" that's stronger than titanium and lighter than aluminum. In fact, it seems there's not much you can't make out of it.
The type of seed genetics to plant next spring is on the mind of many no-tillers these days. With growing concerns about marketing genetically modified organism (GMO) seed, many people are getting frustrated.
Ask Terry Schneider about the problems holding back the growth of no-till corn and he’ll tell you it’s been a lack of favorable weather conditions during most of the 90s.
Up in Manitoba, a number of farmers have sharply expanded direct seeded acres over the past 5 years. With innovations coming with fall seeding, some may again double direct seeded acres.
In a 17-year Nebraska study, researchers found that conservation tillage gave higher irrigated corn yields and profits than tilled plantings. The average yield increase was 4 bushels per acre, while the three conservation tillage treatments resulted in $8 to $16 per acre less tillage costs than the conventional disc tillage treatment. The conservation tillage treatments were ridge-till, rotary-till and slot-plant, while tilled treatments consisted of chisel, disc or lister operations for the furrow-irrigated continuous corn plantings.
Bob Mcnabb's no-till wheat field just outside the western Manitoba community of Minnedosa was as lush and green as any in these parts. But there was still something noticeably different about the crop.
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On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, Westville, Ind., no-tiller Jeff Herrold provides an update on how planting is going so far, and why a potential problem with slugs is causing some early-season anxiety. Herrold also explains why he prefers to plant soybeans before corn.
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