Since its start in 1837, John Deere has been the major manufacturer of moldboard plows. But that came to a halt in February of this year as the company’s last plow, a six-bottom unit with a price tag of $67,000, rolled off the Deere assembly line.
In a presentation to the Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil and Healthy Water, Frank Lessiter shares stories about the past, present and future of no-till farming, including some of the crazy contraptions that got no-till started, obstacles that threatened the viability of the movement, global successes and challenges and more.
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.
A 2015 inventory found 46% of South Dakota cropland uses no-till practices, and 65% of cropland uses a cropping system that leaves at least 30% of residue coverage, the NRCS reports.
Farmers don’t like being told how to run their operation. But like it or not, there’s more scrutiny of U.S. farms than ever by state and federal lawmakers, the mainstream media and the public.
With no-till used on 55 million acres, this highly popular reduced-tillage practice turned in a dramatic increase of nearly 3.2 million acres during the past 2 years.
While some people have suspected that the no-till acreage has been declining, results of a recent survey in Iowa indicate it was virtually unchanged between 1997 and 1999. Even so, the number of Iowa farmers who are using valuable soil conservation practices appears to be leveling off.
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On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Titan International, a big piece of equipment is unveiled at the Kinze Product Innovation Day in Williamsburg, Iowa.
We have engineered and developed the most advanced concave system that threshes all crops, eliminates rotor loss, improves grain quality, gives you a cleaner sample – all with one set of XPR concaves.
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