Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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No-till farming on the rise
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060928/NEWS/609280323/1
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Farmers say method saves time, money

By JENNIFER CHRISTOS
jchristos@journalandcourier.com
and RENI WINTER
rwinter@journalandcourier.com

Two-thirds of soybean fields in Tippecanoe County went untilled this year
as a growing number of farmers forego traditional soil preparation for
no-till methods.

Some decided decades ago to stop tilling their land, while others are
trying it out for the first time. But all are exploring it for the same
reasons -- to test the technique that federal and state agencies claim is
not only better for the environment but is easier, cheaper and more
time-efficient for the farmer than traditional farming.

"The yield potential is higher using no-till," said Barry Fisher, Indiana
conservation tillage coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Fisher and other government and Purdue farming experts recently arranged a
four-hour conference at Purdue's Throckmorton Agricultural Center in
southern Tippecanoe County to support farmers using no-till and encourage
others to try it. Tillage is the No. 1 reason for soil erosion, according
to the USDA.

In 1990, 11 percent of soybean farmers in Tippecanoe County used no-till
methods. This year, about 67 percent of county farmers do so on their
soybean fields, according to the 2006 county conservation tillage transect
survey, a visual survey done in the county each spring.

Josh Cox, 25, of Lafayette, uses no-till for most of the 650 acres he farms
on six properties south of Lafayette and near Dayton and Mulberry. He does
so because it's environmentally friendly and it is less expensive, which
makes his overall profits higher, he said.

"I don't have to spend money on depreciable assets like expensive tools and
tilling equipment," he said. "It also conserves diesel fuel, requires less
labor and uses fewer chemicals."

While according to the survey only 16 percent of the corn in the county is
grown using no-till methods, Cox is among farmers who apply no-till to both
his corn and soybean crops. The only drawback is that no-till practices
require more intense ground management in terms of sampling and testing for
nutrients and temperature to ensure they're optimal.

"Tilling warms up the soil, so the ground stays cooler longer with
no-till," he said. "Since it takes heat and moisture to make seeds
germinate, you have to use starter fertilizer and increase its exposure to
the sun to get the plants off to a good start."

He has heard conflicting reports from farmers about the effect the method
has on the crop yield.

"This is my first full year doing no-till with 100 percent of my crops, so
I guess I'll find out what the yield is going to do myself," he said.

Cox learned about no-till farming from his father, Carl, who owned land
that the USDA required to be no-till because the soil was considered prone
to erosion due to the degree of its slope.

One financial benefit to the method is the potential for government grant
money and other incentives to supplement farming costs.

The USDA and the state have several programs in place to pay farmers to use
no-till and other conservation farming practices. Among them are the
federal Conservation Innovation Grants and Conservation Stewardship
enhancement grants and the state Soil and Water Conservation District's
Best Management Practices cost-share program.

Chuck Shelby farms about 5,000 acres in Tippecanoe and Montgomery counties.
During the past 25 years, he has converted about 80 percent of his crops --
corn, soybeans and wheat -- to no-till.

"I still have to do a little tillage when I grow corn after corn, or if
there are deep trenches in the ground left from tire tracks or animals from
the year before," he said.

He said almost all the farmers he knows have already begun to use no-till
methods, at least to some extent.

No-till farming is not just about not tilling, said Jerry Frankhauser,
director of Purdue's Agricultural Centers.

"The transition may take some time, and involves preparation not only of
the soil but of the farm equipment and the farmer's planting calendar as
well," Frankhauser said. "It involves a series of steps that start one year
before harvest."

Those steps include spreading the harvest residue evenly across the soil,
testing the soil and using an environmentally safe weed-killer before
planting in the spring.

Soil management is a high priority in making no-till efforts successful,
according to Steve Sprecher, USDA resource soil scientist.

Soil that is not tilled may need less in the way of fertilizers because
crop residue, including the roots from last year's crops, break down and
help provide nutrients. Earthworms also help the process.

"Earthworms do vertical tillage, allowing water and air to move down into
the soil," Sprecher said.

And while erosion removes nutrients from the soil, reduction in erosion
reduces the amount of nutrient loss, which increases the productivity of
the soil.

There are no mandates requiring farmers to use no-till methods, except in
areas with highly erodible soil, but many farmers are voluntary switching
over, Frankhauser said.

"A combination of good science and technological advancement in farming
equipment," Frankhauser said, "has allowed no-till practices to become more
widespread in the past decade."