10 Tips For Improving No-Till Success
Greg Roth
Penn State Professor
Crop and Soil Sciences
Growing no-till com success
fully can be a challenge some
times, but many new innova
tions that have come along
during the last 10 years and our
increased understanding of no
till com are making the prac
tice something more farmers
should consider.
I have had the opportunity to
visit and get to know many suc
cessful no-till farmers and also
to plant no-till com for the last
14 years in my research trials.
This has given me a good ap
preciation for both the potential
problems as well as some of the
key issues to consider in grow
ing no-till com. I’ve put togeth
er a short list of things to con
sider for being successful
growing no-till com;
• Plan a system for no-till
success. Most successful no-till
farmers have developed some
sort of system that they use to
help make no-till successful.
This usually involves a rotation
with different crops and some
system for manure manage
ment. By planning ahead they
can make decisions on varieties
and management practices that
help to contribute to successful
no-till production.
• Stick with it. Most farmers
and crop consultants tell me it
takes 4-5 years before they real
ly see no-till soils develop that
are easier to manage. Typically,
this results from increased or-
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ganic matter levels in the soil
surface and better structure and
less potential for soil compac
tion.
• Pay attention to your plant
er. No-till is much less forgiving
than tilled systems to a planter
that is not adjusted properly or
that has some worn parts and is
not placing the seeds at a con
sistent depth and spacing in the
row. Shoot for a seeding depth
of 1.5 to 2 inches deep.
• Be diligent about weed con
trol. Since you are not using
tillage to control weeds, often
the potential weed pressure will
be higher. Over the long term,
mediocre weed control can lead
to the development of perennial
weed problems and heavy an
nual weed pressure, making
control difficult. New herbi
cides and Roundup Ready
crops make this problem a lot
easier.
• Consider your soils and
plan accordingly. Different soils
lend themselves to no-tilling
differently and require different
tactics. Wet soils dry out slowly
and often require zone tillage.
Deep soils result in heavy crops
with lots of residue. Shallower,
rocky, soils are ideal candidates
for no-till.
• Select hybrids that are
adapted to no-till and your sys
tem. High yield potential, good
disease tolerance, and good
early season growth are factors
to consider. Consider Bt hy
brids on double crop com and
Roundup Ready hybrids where
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weed control is challenging or
expensive. Don’t push maturity
on hybrids this may delay
harvesting and promote more
compaction. Pay attention to
refuge requirements.
• Consider row cleaners.
Row cleaners are particularly
useful where you have lots of
com stalks, soybean residue, or'
manure that can interfere with
good seed-to-soil contact. Avoid
using them in standing green
rye or other cereal crop resi
dues.
• Be prepared to plant when
the soil is fit. Try not to plant
when soils are too wet. Often
this leads to problems. When
soils are fit, be ready to plant as
much as possible. Many no-till
ers are successfully planting
very early when soil conditions
are right in an effort to extend
the planting window.
• Consider using a starter
fertilizer. On higher fertility
soils, I have had success with
higher N starter fertilizers to in
crease the N availability early
in the season. Some growers
put UAN or urea at planting 4
inches off the row and then
skip the starter or add some
pop-up at 3-S gallons/acre on
the seed.
• Take advantage of the
labor savings. For many no-till
ers, the advantage is not in
higher yields, but the ability to
devote more time to other activ
ities. This could include crop
ping more acres, attending to
livestock, or working at another
job.
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CWT Program Begins
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Starting this month, participat
ing dairy farmers will have 5
cents per hundredweight taken
off their milk checks toward the
national Cooperatives Working
Together (CWT) program.
The down-scaled program was
“officially launched” at a Na
tional MUk Producers Federation
(NMPF) board of directors meet
ing July 8, according to Shahnna
Williams, NMPF executive secre
tary.
NMPF officials reported July
3 that they had reached their
goal of having 70 percent of the
nation’s milk supply in the pro
gram.
The proposed assessment was
recently lowered from 17.9 to 5
cents per hundredweight after a
number of farmers and indepen
dent cooperatives voiced signifi
cant resistance to the one-year
program designed to raise farm
milk prices across the country.
Alan Wagner, editor of the
USDA’s Fluid Milk and Cream
Review, said in his July 2 report
that “sharply higher cheese
prices, lower cow numbers, and
below year-ago milk output”
have been cited as reasons for the
failure of the original program.
Ken Bailey, Penn State dairy
economist, has been reporting
that overall dairy markets are
Animal Health Safeguards Crucial
For Expanding Trade
WASHINGTON, D.C. Protec
tion of the U.S. cattle herd is a top
priority for the National Cattle
men’s Beef Association (NCBA),
and very important in considering
expanded trade both imports and
exports.
Cattle producers are looking to
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) and
Food Safety Inspection Service
(FSIS) to ensure appropriate safe-
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improving. In his June 27 report,
Bailey wrote that Chicago Mer
cantile Exchange Class 111 milk
futures peaked at $l3 per hun
dredweight in September/
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The new CWT proposal will
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reduce milk supplies by a pro
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next 12 months. According to the
NMPF, that should boost all
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cents per hundredweight.
The assessment will be taken
from milk produced beginning
July 1, according to Williams of
NMPF.
Farmers/members of partici
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Dairy Farmers of America and
Land O’ Lakes, will have the 5
cents/hundredweight automat
ically removed from their checks.
Independent farmers and
members of independent co-ops
who want to participate, how
ever, need to sign up. Sign-up
forms for these producers will be
send out by the end of July, said
Williams.
guards are met to prevent the intro
duction or spread of foreign animal
diseases.
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