El2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 3,1984
Delaware farmers have
achieved an important distinction.
They are number one in con
servation tillage. Information
released by the Soil Conservation
Service puts Delaware at the top
percentagewise in the number of
crop acres utilizing some form of
minimum tillage. Maryland is No.
2 on that same list.
To be number one in any phase of
agricultural production is im
portant, but to be first in the
adoption of techniques that reduce
erosion and improve the soil is
quite an accomplishment.
Minimum till, no-till and all those
other phrases that describe the
many forms of conservation tillage
were virtually unheard of a couple
of decades ago. And then for a
variety of reasons, farmers started
trying some of the new technology
and toe rush was on.
It would be nice to honor one
individual as the father of no-till
farming on the Delmarva penin
sula, but it’s not that simple. No
SELF LOCKING
FEED THRU FENCE
★ All cows can be released at one
time or individually
★ When handle is in lock position,
cow automatically locks as it
enters
★ No more chasing cows
ALSO AVAILABLE
• Standard Free Stalls • Fencing
• Gates (38” - 48" - 54” • Automatic Head Gates
high)
PAUL
Hardware • Farm Supplies
Custom Manufacturing
Crane Service
Farm
Talk
Jerry Webb
Delaware Extension
one farmer can say he started it,
nor can a researcher, extension
worker, industry rep, or anyone
else claim the credit. Conservation
tillage in some of its forms has
been around for a hundred years,
but only in the last two or three
decades has there been a con
centrated effort to pull the best
information together and then
spread the word.
Most of the early information on
conservation tillage in these parts
was borrowed from Kentucky.
Researchers and extension
workers at the University of
Delaware started experimenting
in the late 60s and early 70s. In
novative farmers were reading in
the farm magazines about this new
technology, and some of them were
starting to give it a try. The whole
thing just sort of snowballed. The
technology was available and the
reasons for using it, primarily
energy saving, appeared at a time
when a lot of farmers were in a
mood to make the change. And,
★ Heavy duty construction
★ Stabilizer on bottom of yoke for
extra strength
★ Custom built to your specifications
★ You can release all cows or hold
cows that need treatment.
• Automatic Gate Latches
B. ZIMMERMAN, INC.
Box 128 R.D. #4, Lititz. PA 17543
Wood Corner Rd
1 Mile West of Ephrata
above all, it worked.
There are places where many of
the forms of conservation tillage
aren’t very practical, but here on
the Delmarva peninsula soil and
cropping conditions seem to be just
right. So one farmer would try it
and tell another, and he would try
it and it spread very quickly from
one end of the peninsula to the
other. And by the early 80s, there
was hardly a farmer who hadn’t at
least tried some kind of minimum
tillage and not many who weren’t
practicing it, at least in a limited
way.
Some farmers went whole hog.
After a year or two of ex
perimenting, they sold their plows,
bought no-till planters and drills
and parked their cultivators.
Others moved more slowly to the
point where virtually all of their
acres are now involved in some
form of conservation tillage.
The paybacks aren’t great. Sure
there’s an energy saving and in
some cases slightly better yields.
There are also added expenses
more chemicals, new and more
expensive planters and perhaps
bigger tractors. And yet it seems to
suit the style of most Delmarva
farmers. They can get their crops
planted quicker, cover more acres,
doublecrop where before it wasn’t
practical. And the bottom line, as
they say, is a better profit picture.
The long-range payoff, however,
THREE
SIZES:
SMALL -
For Calves
UpTo 15
Months Old
ADJUSTABLE -
For Heifers & Cows
8 Months And
Older (Pictured)
LARGE -
For Cows
15 Months
And Older
POWER
•Air Cooled Units: 2 - 20 KW
Maxi-Power Generator has over 325 automatic
units in South Eastern Pa. Why not check with
the leader before buying!
Sales
Service
Rental
★ Used Units
* Trade In
Allowances
* Switch Gear
jiUM
may not be as obvious when
looking at a profit and loss
statement. Farmers are doing
something for their ground that
they were unwilling or unable to do
before. They’re actually im
proving it. Not only is soil erosion
in its many forms reduced, but the
soil structure is actually being
improved, water-holding capacity
increased and the general feel of
the soil much better. That is truly
important when you think a few
decades ahead to a time when
those conservation tilled acres will
be needed for all-out food
production once again.
It’s really nice when a
technology comes along that helps
farmers make money and at the
same time serves an even higher
purpose. Conservation tillage is
just that. Farmers like it because
it works for them. Society likes it
because it saves the soil. And best
of all, it hasn’t required any
Chester contacts continue
WEST CHESTER - Farmers
within the Octoraro Creek
Watershed in Chester County who
have requested conservation plans
through the Chester County
Conservation District will continue
to be contacted during March by
Soil Conservationists from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Soil
Conservation Service (SCS) office
m West Che^tor
Generator Sets
Manufactured for Agriculture
government programs,
bureaucratic boondoggling, oi
political rhetoric to make it hap
pen.
Conservation tillage is a classic
example of what can be done when
farmers, researchers, extension
workers, educators, industry
representatives, the whole
agricultural complex starts to
rally around a concept. A lot of bits
and pieces are fitted together to
create a working system.
Chemicals are developed to control
insects and diseases. Production
systems are researched and
tested, and information exchanges
go on among farmers and others
that enabled the state of the art to
move ahead.
Conservation tillage is still
sweeping the country. There’s
hardly a state where it isn’t an
important crop production
technique. It just so happens that
Delaware is ahead of them all.
The SCS conservationists will be
arranging meetings with in
dividual farmers to help the far
mers develop conservation plans
on their farms. Cost-share funds
for implementation of con
servation plans may be available
through the U.S.D.A.’s Agriculture
Conservation and Stabilization
Service (ASCS).
•Water Cooled Units: 7.5 - IOQQJIW
imatic
<sfer
lid State
)ntrol
ogic