Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>]

Marty,

 

As I have said before "The problem is in the farmer's head not in the field."

 

A no-till cotton farmer [7th crop] uses wheat for his winter cover crop.  Knocks it down and plants his cotton using a no-till planter.  If the farmer is growing winter wheat, plant a summer cover crop, knock in down and plant the wheat using a no-till drill. If he is growing Spring wheat, harvest it, plant the winter cover crop. Wheat is $8 per bushel, highest in many decades.  70 bushels@$8=$560x300=$168,000 gross.  His cost are: plant the wheat, harvest the wheat, plant the cover crop, knock down the cover crop, plant the wheat.  He can fish/hunt/volunteer work for 50 weeks a year.

 

The cotton farmer told me that his cost are so low, that cotton will never be so cheap that he will not make a profit. 

 

Ken H

 

TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net> wrote:

> My personal take on it: If the crop he's growing needs tilling or
> herbicides, then why grow wheat or cultivate 300+ acres? I'd also be
> interested to know if he's even making a profit. Cultivating also brings
> more weed seeds to the surface to germinate. Probably he's never heard of
> weed-suppressing cover crops. 
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>
> On 12/22/2007 at 1:10 PM Marty Kraft wrote:
>
> >I talked to my friend who grows organic wheat this morning. He says 
> >that he can't suppress weeds unless he tills. He farms 300+ acres. He 
> >believes that the promotion of no-till methods is a furtherance of
>  
> >chemical dependent farming.
> >
> >When I talk about no-till I'm talking about a much smaller scale than 
> >planting acres and acres of wheat. I have no experience beyond 
> >vegetable gardening. Does anyone know how to organically grow large 
> >acreage of wheat without tilling. I'm sure my friend would like to know.
> >
> >I also do not want to inadvertently be promoting the idea chemical 
> >dependent farming when I say no-till is good.
> >
> >Marty Kraft
> >On Dec 15, 2007, at 7:38 AM, E. E. Mitchamore Jr wrote:
>
>
>
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