The Shirley Plantation traces its roots back to 1613 as the oldest continuous farming operation in North America. Charles Carter, the 11th generation of the family, says it has turned into an extremely diversified, highly innovative no-till operation.
No-tillers in the Chesapeake Bay would benefit financially if Congress passes legislation that establishes nutrient trading to improve water quality, the World Resources Institute says.
Virginia “never-tiller” Paul Davis sees a faster increase in soil organic matter, a reduction in applied nitrogen and improved yields from cover crops.
A machine that can inject dry poultry litter and composted cattle manure below the soil surface in pastures and no-till fields is on order from a research coalition across five Chesapeake Bay states: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. There are currently no machines on the market that can do this.
David Hula captured top no-till yield honors in last fall’s National Corn Growers Association contest with a yield of 319.3 bushels per acre. While this Charles City, Va., no-tiller’s result was about double the current national average, 300 bushels is a yield some industry leaders are anticipating as being typical just 20 years from now.
Necessity pushed Luther Welch into no-tilling. “The profits kept getting smaller and smaller, so we needed to farm more acres to survive,” he remembers.
With the concentrated dairy industry in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, crops there are often grown on land fertilized with liquid manure that is hauled into the fields in tanker loads. While the manure is valuable for its nutrients and organic matter, the weight of the tankers concerns those who understand the dangers of soil compaction.
When it comes to the future of the planet, Rattan Lal doesn’t beat around the bush. “Increase no-till farming practices across the planet or face serious climate, soil quality and food production problems in the next 20 to 50 years,” says the soil scientist at Ohio State University.
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Capturing sunlight and keeping living roots in the ground as long as possible is the goal of Beaver Dam, Ws., no-tiller Marty Weiss. The co-chair of the Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil & Healthy Water talks about strip-cropping and interseeding cover crops at a field day in the summer of 2020.
The 29th annual National No-Tillage Conference is going virtual! Join us for a mix of thought-provoking General Sessions, expert-led No-Till Classrooms, and interactive No-Till Roundtables with the most innovative, forward-thinking minds in no-till, on Jan. 12-15, 2021.
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