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Scranton | I would LOVE to have covers all the time and protect the soil.
There was a post by some county's soil and water service in iowa (maybe Jasper county) circulating last spring showing supposed water quality differences by putting soil from a till field and from a long term no till field in water. The tilled soil dissipated turning the water brown while the no till water with soil in it was clear. Probably somewhat accurate. Much discussion evolved with many folks who don't own land saying there should be laws forcing cover crops and no till. Typical America.
Finally though, the original posters came clean....they said the farmers involved told their average yields of corn over the past x years...and the tillage guy's yields with similar soils was 25? bpa higher...like 212 vs 187. 25 bpa. You know what most people call that? Their profit. Their land payment. etc. 150$ per acre is a lot of $$ when repeated yearly.
I do some covers over much of my land. Do no till over a chunk where it works for me. I don't want or like to see my soils headed down the creek. But the thing that those folks don't understand. They are (at least as of now) MY soils. If they want to have land covered and no tilled, they are more than welcome to buy their own. (not saying you are this same mind set)
But since I didn't start out with a silver spoon or a land base, my first priority is to establish said land base for my son to take over. In order to do that I need to maximize my profits first. Not gonna farm it for free. | |
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Soybean tillage
