Jack Maloney used to be your typical farmer when it came to managing soil and fertility. He relied heavily on his local co-op for recommendations — after all, their agronomists had spent years in school studying science, chemistry and biology.
A recent report from Caterpillar indicates no-till should not be attempted in fields with excessive erosion unless the ground has been deep ripped for at least 2 years.
No-tillers may choose not to rip their soils, but some situations make a strong case for the practice, suggests Dean Holst, who farms 1,700 acres of hilly but productive ground near LeClaire, Iowa.
A no-tiller's soil has been getting harder every year and he wants to know what he can do to loosen it and develop a more normal root system. So, he asks fellow no-tillers on the No-Till Farmer sponsored Web site Bulletin Board. This and other questions have produced a flood of discussions lately.
While there are certainly many concerns about no-tilling corn into cold and wet soils, it always seems to come back to the fear of reduced yields which keeps more farmers from giving this idea a try
A veteran no-tiller who’s definitely been successful with both no-tilled corn and soybeans is Dean Holst of Le Claire, Iowa. He’s been so successful that he expected to no-till 5,000 acres of corn and soybeans this spring.
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No-tiller David Groff from Cedar Meadow Farm in Holtwood, Pa., talks about the farm’s experience this year no-tilling hemp and the cover-crop mix and fertility plan they followed during the growing season.
The 28th annual National No-Tillage Conference offers a mix of general sessions, No-Till Classrooms and invaluable No-Till Roundtables. Just as important is the chance to profit from unlimited hallway networking with the most innovative, forward-thinking minds in no-till during next January's event in St. Louis!
Finding solutions to the problems farmers face is what inspired Harry and Etta Yetter to open a small machine shop in west central Illinois in the 1930s. Today, four generations later, Yetter continues the tradition of solving agricultural problems to meet the needs of producers all over the world.
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.