Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Economics drive many farmers to no-till planting
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_415344.html
Blairsville Dispatch
Friday, January 20, 2006

NEW ALEXANDRIA - The rise in fuel prices has affected many in business, and
the agriculture sector is no exception. But how the farming community
responds to high fuel costs and today's economy can vary.

Fuel costs may be one of the reasons why there has been a resurgence in use
of the no-till farming method.

No-tilling refers to a long-term cropping system that utilizes a maximum
amount of residue cover and very little soil disturbance.

No-till farming is not a new concept--just one that is being utilized on a
much wider basis due to the economic factors of agriculture. 

"This isn't something brand-new," said Fred Slezak, a no-till farmer for
many years. "It's been around for a long time."

According to Kevin Fry, Penn State Cooperative Extension agronomist,
between 10 and 20 percent of the farmed acreage in Southwestern
Pennsylvania is no-till.

"It's such a grand subject," Fry stated. "It warrants a lot of attention,
and it's going to garner more attention because of the fuel prices. It's a
lot bigger."

Slezak grew up farming with the no-till method. His father, Fred Slezak,
began using the procedure in 1972, when he established shared ownership in
a no-till corn planter.

"That (corn) initially was the focus," Slezak said of his father's
investment.

But many other farmers haven't embraced no-till farming as the Slezaks
have.

There are various factors, one being that farming know-how often is handed
down from generations, and many farmers don't see the need to change their
systems. Those who do, don't always like the results.

"The thing is, people will come and ask me what I'm doing, take it back to
their own operation, adapt it and not get the same results," Slezak said.

"If you looked at my own operation, it's an evolution," he pointed out.
"We're always evolving. We're at the point where, to me, it's almost like
I'm pretty fanatic about it.

"You have to keep the faith when you start this system."

It was actually a St. Vincent Archabbey monk that introduced Slezak's
father to no-till farming. The Slezaks rented crop land near the archabbey
south of Latrobe--they still do, in fact--and Slezak's father worked
closely with Father Furman, the last acting farmer manager at the
archabbey.

A conservation-minded man, Furman urged the elder Slezak to give no-till
farming a try.

One of the necessities in crop farming is the ability for the plant roots
to breathe and get water.

Said Fry, "Every time you plow, you break up the soil structure that allows
water to move through the soil."

Whereas tilling causes compaction and destroys soil structure, Slezak said,
"After long-term no-tilling, you definitely impact the structure of the
soil.

"It's not just inorganic matter. It's water, air space--plants need to
breathe."

Tilling also destroys the biological component of the soil--namely, the
earthworms that are quite handy to farmers. Tilling can destroy the worms
as well as their burrows.

One of the touted advantages of the no-till farming method is a decrease in
soil erosion and improved soil nutrients, because the ground remains
virtually undisturbed.

With tilling, the chance of erosion can increase because of the loose
topsoil.

Slezak farms 1,200 acres of land, mostly rented properties within 10 miles
of his own farm. Of that acreage, at least two-thirds of it is planted
using the no-till approach.

Slezak's largest crop is corn, used for grain. But he also plants soybeans,
wheat, oats, barley and alfalfa.

As Slezak explained, there are different levels of no-till farming. Some
involve tilling just the very top layer of soil, not down to the root
masses.

In the past few years, Slezak has evolved his no-till operation to include
strip tilling, with the use of anhydrous ammonia. This gas is applied to
the soil as fertilizer, and aids in the production of nitrogen, which many
crops depend on for growth.

"With the increase in the costs of natural gas, nitrogen has gone up," he
explained, noting a 100-bushel yield cost him an extra five cents per
bushel over last year's cost.

With no-till, "Your big savings are the trips across the field, diesel fuel
and less use of equipment," Slezak said. That can also result in less
manpower needed to run the farm and equipment.

Economics are a driving force in the recent no-till farming boom. With the
price of fuel ever on the rise, it costs farmers more to run their
equipment. With no-till farming, there is less equipment used, and for a
shorter time.

"Economics drive people to change," Slezak remarked. "At $2.50 a gallon for
gas, people are thinking differently about how they do things, and it's no
different on a farm."

Fry said economics have played a huge role in the growing numbers of
farmers attending educational programs. They're looking for other options,
he noted, and no-till farming takes less equipment and manpower to execute.

In the traditional practice of tilling a corn crop, Fry said, a farmer
would go through a primary tillage, then apply a second tillage to smooth
over the soil.

Depending on conditions, the land may need a third tilling until its
prepared for planting. The planting process requires another pass over the
fields with heavy equipment.

"So even before you plant, you have two or three passes over the field,"
Fry pointed out.

A website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has an energy
estimator that farmers may use to calculate how much fuel they will use in
the span of a year. By plugging in their zip code and the number of acres
for each crop, the energy estimator gives them a figure of how many gallons
of fuel they may use in one year.

For example, a farmer in the Blairsville area planting 100 acres of corn
will use an estimated 648 gallons of fuel for one year using the
conventional tilling method. But he would consume only 197 gallons if using
a no-till method, according to the estimator--a savings of 70 percent.

Many farmers, though, are reluctant to try no-tilling because it can take a
long time to adapt the soil.

"The problem I have, someone will ask me, 'How do you no-till?' It's a
trial and error process," Slezak said.

And no-till farming might not work for everyone, depending on the type of
farm and the soil it contains.

Soil types change in different areas. On Slezak's farm, there is a lot of
clay soil, "which can be very sensitive to what you run on them," in
regards to equipment, he said.

The method can also be more difficult for those running animal farms.

"When you're working with animals or manure, it brings a special challenge
to the no-till system," Slezak said. "Not that they can't overcome that,
but it takes a lot of adaptation, investment in new and different
equipment."

Many farmers use manure to spread over the soil as a fertilizer--"which is
a good thing," Slezak noted.

But that adds to the equipment traffic on the fields, which can contribute
to compaction of the soil, making no-till a harder task.

Incorporation of the manure--mixing it into the soil, rather than letting
it sit on top, also poses a problem.

Dairy farmers who grow forages may have a tougher time with a no-till
system because they usually have to track more equipment over the land for
chopping corn silage and harvesting hay.

"That can cause a lot of problems," Slezak said. "They have a lot more
equipment traffic than I do, and traffic can lead to soil compaction."

Those who have success with the no-till system praise the method.

But, Fry pointed out, "early failures do happen, and that can be
discouraging to farmers."

Fry said there is a two- to three-year curve for changes in soil
characteristics to appear once a no-till system is established.

With farms becoming more concentrated in terms of land, for dairy and beef
farms, the cows have a smaller area of land on which to graze. That
combined with the added traffic to remove and apply manure even further
compacts the soil.

Tilling helps to loosen and oxygenate the soil, but in many cases, that is
not necessary.

With a no-till system, there is better infiltration of water, which causes
the soil to dry out more quickly, thereby allowing farmers to get out into
the fields quicker.

When operating equipment in muddy conditions, farmers run the risk of
damaging machinery as well as their fields.

To get the soil to that ideal infiltration level takes a lot of time,
though.

And, as Slezak pointed out, "Many farmers aren't willing to chance losing a
crop."

With any type of farming, "You've got one chance of being successful in 365
days," Slezak said.

"You only have one chance to plant crops once a year. With no-till farming,
though, you increase the chance of getting the crop planted more timely."

No-till farming doesn't necessarily give an advantage over the weather.

As Slezak put it, "Some years, a no-till farm will fair better in a
drought, and some years it doesn't."

One advantage of the no-till system is the increased chance of success when
planting double crops.

A farmer can plant barley on a section of the no-tilled land, take that
crop off when it comes time to harvest, then plant soybeans, thereby
harvesting two crops in one year.

"It doesn't always work, though," Slezak warned.

The reason no-till has an advantage over tilling when planting a double
crop is the moisture factor.

The no-till method helps the soil retain moisture in the drier mid-summer
months.

"With no-till, you can take a crop off and directly plant again," he said.

Moisture often is removed from the soil when it's tilled.

"With double cropping and no-till, you conserve a lot of moisture."

One important factor in no-till farming is the soil's pH level.

With no-till, "pH becomes more of a factor because you're concentrating on
the top layer of soil," Slezak said.

Using a pH test kit, he analyzes his soil once every three years to ensure
normal acid levels.

Another major element of the no-till method is the use of cover crops to
protect the soil.

Cover crops do just that--they are used to cover the ground during the
winter months.

Rye is a popular cover crop among no-till farmers, but lately, Slezak has
been experimenting with buckwheat.

Rye produces one-third more root mass than other fall grains, and the root
mass is what's important in the improvement of soil quality.

Cover crops "help keep the soil together, and the root systems are actually
acting as your tillage," Slezak explained.

These crops are not harvested--they simply help to hold in nutrients in the
soil and act as a cushion should there be a manure application.

Farmers often have to experiment to see which cover crops work best with
each harvest crop.

"We had some problems establishing no-till wheat into oat stubble," he
said. "Every crop is different."

No-till farmers also can use what Slezak called "trash" or
residue--remnants from the last crop that are laid on top of the ground
instead of being incorporated into the soil through tillage.

Crop rotation also aids in no-till farming.

The no-till method may intimidate some cost-conscious farmers because
specialized equipment is needed in order to begin the operation.

But some ordinary machinery also may be adapted for no-till farming.

"Equipment can be retrofitted, things added on," Slezak said.

The one specialized piece of equipment that becomes most important to a
no-till farmer is the planter.

"The planter is paramount to the whole success of the operation," Slezak
said.

After the no-till corn planter, "The next significant development in
equipment was the development of the no-till drill," Slezak said.

"The drill has the ability to establish narrow rows of crops in a no-till
system.

"It's very important," Slezak said.

The drill can plant any crop except corn.- Slezak has his drill set at a 7
1/2-inch spacing to form crop rows.

The method of penetration on the drill is a single disk blade that slices
the soil, while another apparatus on the drill, called a frogger, pushes
the sliced soil apart to widen the hole.

Once the seed drops into the hole, a cast iron closing wheel pushes the
soil back together.

Slezak's farm keeps him busy, but the time he saves using the no-till
farming method has been invaluable to another aspect of his business.

"I am a farmer, but I do a lot more," Slezak noted.

Besides farming, he owns and operates a farm service business, Lone Maple,
offering customized application of pesticides and consultations on nutrient
requirements for crops.

He also sells pesticides for crops.

Slezak laments what he sees to be a loss of communication between the
farming community and the general public.

"At this time, there is much confusion about the public perception of what
we're doing in agriculture," Slezak said.

Part of that has to do with the gradual removal of farm connections that
people have.

"It used to be that everybody's grandma had a farm," Slezak said.

"We need to bridge that gap."

He called for farmers to work together to keep the non-agricultural
community informed.

But, he acknowledged, "Many operations are under so much pressure, they
don't have time to talk to the public.

"It's a lack of communication. When you don't communicate, there is a lot
that can go wrong."

One common issue that the farming community and general public clash over
is manure odor.

Many farmers are put in a predicament where urban sprawl is creeping up on
property that has been farmed for many years.

That is why Slezak, since becoming an advocate of the no-till farming
system, has given presentations on the method through the Penn State
Cooperative Extension.

Though he hopes the general community embraces no-till farming as a
conservation-minded option, he also wants to educate area farmers on what
the no-till system could bring to their own operations.

Slezak acknowledged there are some drawbacks to the no-till method.

"Sometimes things become very critical," he said.

"No-tilling increases the amount of maintenance that has to go into
equipment, into the weed control program, and all aspects of crop
production become more intense.

"You need more intense management, weed shifts, changes in pesticides.

"The end result is, it's a more efficient system than tillage.

"There is no way I could farm the amount of acreage I do with a tillage
system."

According to the Penn State Cooperative Extension, no-till farming is
defined as a long-term cropping system with maximum residue cover and
essentially no soil disturbance.

The no-till method is believed to reduce soil erosion and runoff, while
water infiltration, soil organic matter content and soil biological
activity are all increased.

In a no-till system, tillage is generally accomplished using specialized
equipment for these purposes:

# The injection or shallow incorporation of manure.

# Establishment of cover crop.

# To address specific compaction concerns.

Crop rotation is an important factor in no-till farming. Rotation not only
helps to increase crop yields it has the following other benefits:

# Provide sufficient soil cover--50 percent or more soil cover is
recommended.

# Facilitate soil warming--a balance must be sought to provide sufficient
soil cover while also achieving early-season soil warming to aid in crop
growth and yield.

# Stimulate biological activity--In other words, work with nature, not
against it.

Soil cover and the absence of soil disturbance can be beneficial for many
soil organisms that, in turn, are beneficial to the crop, such as bacteria,
fungi, earthworms and plant roots.

# More efficient nutrient use--To avoid unnecessary loss of nutrients,
rotating grains with legumes is a good choice. For example, corn that was
grown preceded by soybeans showed less of a loss of nitrogen during the
winter months.

# Break pest and disease cycles--crop rotation is essential to remove
certain perennial weeds that can be problematic with no-till farming.

It also helps to avoid the development of herbicide resistance in weeds.

Also important in no-till farming are cover crops, for the following
reasons:

# To capture nutrients;

# To fix nitrogen;

# To provide weed control; improve soil.

Gina Delfavero can be reached at gdelfavero@tribweb.com.