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Martha Mintz

Martha Mintz

Since 2011, Martha has authored the highly popular “What I’ve Learned About No-Till” series that has appeared in every issue of No-Till Farmer since August of 2002.


Growing up on a cattle ranch in southeastern Montana, Martha is a talented ag writer and photographer who lives with her family in Billings, Montana.

Articles

ARTICLES

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What I've Learned from No-Tilling: On-Farm Testing and Evaluation Lead to 100% No-Till Adoption

Crunching the numbers on no-till and other practices helps the Williams family dial in peak economic farm performance.
By Martha Mintz posted on May 28, 2020 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Cover Crops, Equipment, Nutrient Management, Soil Health
Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s no way to farm. Instead of blindly seeking the highest yields and following conventional management recommendations, my wife, Kelli, and I work to track, evaluate and problem solve on the farm we started together.
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What I've Learned from No-Tilling: A New Legacy of Improving Economy, Profitability and Best Practices

Trent Profit builds on years of conservation practices to take his family farm to the next level.
By Martha Mintz posted on April 30, 2020 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Residue Management, Nutrient Management, Precision Ag
I WAS BORN into no-till and there’s a running joke I wouldn’t know how to drive a tractor straight if I had to thanks to the family’s quick adoption of guidance technology.
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What I've Learned from No-Tilling: Cattle and Covers on Every Acre Help No-Tillers Drive Down Cost

Using cattle to manage corn-on-corn residue helped push this Iowa farm to 100% no-till. Now covers are taking them even further.
By Martha Mintz posted on April 8, 2020 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Cover Crops, Residue Management, Nutrient Management, Soil Health
THE DAY WE realized we don’t need tillage to manage heavy corn-on-corn residue because we have cows to graze it was the day we were able to shift from dabbling in no-till to committing 100% 3 years ago.
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What I've Learned from No-Tilling: Achieving Profits and Sustainability with a Properly Cycling System

In this no-tiller’s book, conservation practices must work for your soils and your bank account.
By Jack Herricks and Martha Mintz posted on February 21, 2020 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Cover Crops, Soil Health, Water Management
The good thing about Cashton soils is they don’t dry out. The bad thing about Cashton soils is they don’t dry out. That’s the saying around here. It’s partly why I use cover crops like cereal rye.
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What I've Learned from No-Tilling: Leveling Up and Paring Down for Better No-Till Results

Integrating no-till, then cover crops, cattle, compost, autoinducers and more are ramping up performance for this Colorado dryland producer.
By Curtis Sayles and Martha Mintz posted on January 24, 2020 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Cover Crops, Nutrient Management, Soil Health
We keep hitting new levels with our no-till system. There’s no stopping and it keeps farming interesting — certainly more interesting than the traditional wheat-fallow rotation we used to follow.
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What I've Learned from No-Tilling: Data-Guided Changes Help No-Till Farm Support Three Families

Equipment, technologies, inputs and more are all subject to evaluation — only the proven are maintained.
By Bryan Tomm and Martha Mintz posted on December 28, 2019 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Equipment, Crop Protection, Nutrient Management, Precision Ag, Soil Health
I'm very goal oriented. I spent 9 years working as a process engineer for ADM before our family made the move to my wife’s family farm in 2014. My corporate experience meant a lot of performance evaluations and structured goal setting, which I now apply on the farm.
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What I've Learned from No-Tilling: Sidestepping Disaster Pushes No-Till Farm Down Bold New Path

Once a mere day from filing bankruptcy, these young farmers got a second chance and are bravely, and boldly pressing on.
By Doug McConnell and Martha Mintz posted on October 31, 2019 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Cover Crops, Nutrient Management, Soil Health
In 2017 the wheels came off, both literally and figuratively. First, and worst, our bank suddenly decided to not renew our operating loan.
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What I've Learned from No-Tilling: Planter Building Proves A Useful Skillset for Pennsylvania No-Tiller

Horse or tractor-farmed fields alike benefit from no-till and a strategically built and well-maintained planter.
By Gideon Stoltzfus and Martha Mintz posted on October 10, 2019 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Cover Crops, Equipment
I think readers will find our experiences with no-till to be equally foreign and familiar. Foreign in the fact that on our family farm, the horsepower that runs our field operations comes from actual draft horses. Familiar in that we've gained many benefits from making the move to no-till.
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Videos

Allan Brooks on Why He Uses a Harvest International Planter

Allan Brooks on Why He Uses a Harvest International Planter

Allan Brooks no-tills 2,200 acres of vegetables in Markesan, Wis. We caught up with him at the 2020 National No-Tillage Conference, where he explained how he came to use Harvest International planters and reveals the new one he had built for the 2020 planting season.
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Events

Milan No-Till Field Day

Date: 07/23/20
Location:
The historic Milan No-Till Crop Production Field Day, presented by University of Tennessee AgResearch and UT Extension, is going virtual for 2020.
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