Home / Authors / Martha Mintz

Articles by Martha Mintz

IMG_0021.jpg
What I've Learned from No-Tilling

Harvesting Sunlight, Feeding No-Till Soils

Jim Harbach and Schrack Farms Partnership is using a diverse no-till, cover-crop system to build up organic-matter levels in rocky limestone soils.
By Martha Mintz posted on January 9, 2015 | Posted in No-Till Farming 101
Our farm perplexed our crop advisor, Gerard Troisi. He consults with many farms in our area of Pennsylvania with a diverse range of production practices. But he struggled to explain how we increased our soil organic matter by 1% in just 3 years while consistently removing virtually all biomass.
Read More
Grazing-covers.jpg
What I've Learned from No-Tilling

Breaking Through the No-Till Barrier with Cover Crops

Adding winter wheat, livestock and cover crops helped Paul Ackley overcome his no-till plateau, simplify his planter and build more productive soils.
By Martha Mintz posted on December 8, 2014 | Posted in No-Till Farming 101, Cover Crops
I never was one to like tillage. It just didn’t make sense. You would go through and make a perfect seedbed to plant into and then, without fail, you couldn’t get back in the field with the planter before it would rain. Then you would have to start all over again.
Read More
cover
What I've Learned from No-Tilling

Donning No-Till Armor To Save Soils

Lucas Criswell is pushing his 30-year no-till system another step higher by seeding row crops into taller cover crops and using precision technology to safeguard nutrients and the environment.
By Martha Mintz posted on November 1, 2014 | Posted in Cover Crops, Nutrient Management
I wish I could rewind and start over no-tilling with what I know now. The longer we no-till, the more we learn about what was really happening in our fields as we made the transition, and what we could have done then to take our soils farther, faster.
Read More
IMG_0489.jpg
What I've Learned from No-Tilling

When Wet Or Dry, No-Till Rotations, Covers And Cattle Are The Answer

The Cowans adopted no-till because of drought, but found intense rotations and cover crops helped them deal with today’s excess moisture.
By John Dobberstein and Martha Mintz posted on October 1, 2014 | Posted in No-Till Farming 101, Water Management
My father, Art, truly stumbled into no-till by pure happenstance. In the early 1980s he decided he needed to get away for a day or two so he took a drive to North Dakota.
Read More
2014071Burns-2001-insert.jpg
What I've Learned from No-Tilling

Bucking The Tillage Trend In An Alpine Desert

No-till practices are saving Colorado grower Billy Burns’ soils, and even helping his fields recover from a tragic herbicide mistake.
By Billy Burns and Martha Mintz posted on September 1, 2014 | Posted in Cover Crops, Soil Health
As no-tillers we are definitely an oddity here in the highly productive San Luis Valley of Colorado. While we strive to keep our acres covered and undisturbed, the farmers surrounding us move masses of earth with every crop.
Read More
Schneckloth-7-2.jpg
What I've Learned from No-Tilling

Reaching A Generation Without Tillage

While Iowa No-Tiller John Schnekloth Can Remember Wading Through Every Form of Tillage Over the Years, His 27-year-old Son, Hans, Struggles to Even Name Tillage Implements.
By John Schnekloth, Hans Schnekloth, John Dobberstein, and Martha Mintz posted on August 1, 2014 | Posted in Nutrient Management, Soil Health
A common point of discussion in agriculture is how many generations removed most consumers are from the farm. In my household we’re starting to talk in terms of generations removed from tillage.
Read More
What I've Learned From No-Tilling

Breaking Through The Plow Pan, Taking No-Till To New Heights

Ralph Upton Jr. didn’t know how his early gamble on no-till and cover crops would pay off, but he’s reaping the rewards for his sustainable investment.
By Martha Mintz and Ralph Upton posted on June 1, 2014 | Posted in Cover Crops
If we're talking cover crops, I could keep a person up all night. Cover crops are truly amazing in what they can accomplish, and the number of different hats they can wear on the farm.
Read More

Top Articles

Current Issue

NTF_June_2024_Cover.jpg

No-Till Farmer

Get full access NOW to the most comprehensive, powerful and easy-to-use online resource for no-tillage practices. Just one good idea will pay for your subscription hundreds of times over.

Subscribe Now

View More

Must Read Free Eguides

Download these helpful knowledge building tools

View More

Videos

Last-Minute Planter Prep for No-Tillers & Strip-Tillers

Last-Minute Planter Prep for No-Tillers & Strip-Tillers

On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, precision specialist Chad Baker, co-owner of Baker Precision Planter Works in Orangeville, Ill., helps a first-generation no-tiller with planter setup, and later encounters a couple problems with a strip-tiller’s new 24-row planter. Plus, veteran agronomist Brad Forkner checks in with a couple tips for farmers to keep in mind before they take the field.

View More
Top Directory Listings
Needham Ag Technologies logo

Needham Ag Technologies, LLC

Needham Ag understands the role of technology in making better use of limited resources within a specific environment by drawing on a wealth of global experience to overcome the challenges facing today's farmers, manufacturers and dealers.
Titan Goodyear

Titan International, Inc

Titan offers a full line of wheels, tires and undercarriage products for a wide variety of off-the-road equipment.
Andersons

The Andersons PureGrade

The Andersons grows enduring relationships through extraordinary service, a deep knowledge of the market, and a knack for finding new ways to add value as we have done for nearly 70 years.
View More