Raise Worms For Better Crops
(Continued from Pag# A 1)
tomorrow’s demands are for no-till
farming as it has developed to
today contrating on establish
ing earthworm populations and
beneficial soil microbials through
the management of crop residue.
Jim Kinsella. manager for the
BASF Corporation Development
Center in Lexington, 111,, presented
a slide show and speach of his
more than 15 years experience on
his own farm with no-till farming.
His talk presented a practical
illustration of how a no-till system
works and he provided testimony
that the method is superior, in the
long run, to current traditional
practices.
Though his Midwest farm is
comprised of large rectangular
fields and deep soil, he said that a
no-dll system can be adapted to
Eastern farms, though modifica
tions must be made in the system
depending on the chaiacterisdcs of
each field.
Hie gist of the presentation was
that tradidonal tillage-based culti
vation is a long-term deadend,
while the practice of no-till
methods offers long term benefits
of increased yields, extremely
decreased erosion, operating costs
and time spent in the field.
In addition to Kinsella, speakers
at the conference included Dr.
Gary Steinhardt, an agronomist at
Purdue University who reviewed
research on compaction and yields
following practices to eliminate
compaction and maintain a low
compaction program; Lynn Hoff
man. a Pennsylvania State Univer
sity agronomist who discussed no
till machines, seeding rates and
effects; and Dr. Lester Vough,
with the University of Maryland’s
Department of Agronomy, who
talked about various forages,
combination-plantings and the
resulting feed values.
Also offering programs were
Dr. Ron Ritter, also with Maryland
university’s agronomy depart
ment, who spoke on weed control
with conservation tillage; Dr. E.
Scott Hagood, a weed specialist
with Virginia Polytechnic Institute
who talked on controling specific
weeds; and David Schertz, a
national agronomist with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) Soil Conservation Ser
vice (SCS), who updated particip
ants on die current trends in
Washington.
The day finished with ji
quesdon-the-experts panel discus
sion. Kinsella received most of the
requests for informadon.
Kinsella has authored a manual
for no-dll fanning in the Midwest,
which was published by the BASF
Corporadon. Kinsella works for
the BASF Corporadon’s Agro
nomic Development Center,
which is located on his farm.
However, the master's degree
holder said the company does not
subsidize his fanning income,
even though he uses his farm as a
testing grounds for practical appli
cations of no-till theory.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 21,1991-A25
Jim Kinsella, manager of BASF Agronomic Development
Center, and author of a no-tlll user’s manual, tells of his
experiences and love of earthworms.
The catch to Kinsella’s system
is that he allows at least three years
before a field being cropped with
traditional plowing responds to no
till practices. He said it takes about
three to five years for the soil and
the soil worms and microbes to
build up the tilth, tunnels and
humus that can build the soil,
instead of allowing to wash away.
Not on Kinsella, but other
speakers as well, spoke of the
severe need to reduce soil erosion.
A field that has been developed
under a no-till system can be virtu
ally erosion proof, according to
Kinsella and others.
Showing slides of his fields,
crops, soil and earthworm popula
tions, Kinsella seemed to describe
a garden plot approach to raising
crops and forages, rather than the
crop field approach used.
According to Kinsella, the prob
lem with establishing a no-till sys
tem is overcoming the threshhold
of damage done to a piece of earth
when it was initially used for
Euiopean-style agriculture.
Nutrients and elements which
are locked in the organic mass of
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