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| I know, I once no-tilled for 10 years, I was a true believer and thought I was really changing the world. Funny thing was that I hired a elderly neighbor who still farmed a little and helped me on the side. He was not into making the ground black but would always work the ground and use NH3. Every year he had better crops than I did, I kept telling him "no-till takes a few years" Well about 8-9 years ago I said enough and went to strip-till with a shank machine and back to NH3, wow that first year I could hardly pull the machine, next year I could pull it a little better but still struggled, now after 7-8 years the machine pulls easy and my yields have went way up (along with cheaper fertilizer through striptill, price out a liquid 10-34 with zinc and sulfer compared to MESZ and 46-0 vs NH3)
Not saying somewhere further south that no-till isn't the answer, only that for me, I tried it and my yields were not keeping up, but now that I went away from it I am getting better yields and spending less on fert. Now before someone starts harping on me that I should have added cover crops I'll say this, I farm in the North where the ground is frozen for 4-5 months and as soon as the ground is fit in the spring, corn and beans get put in the ground, both crops are alive right up to the first killing frost in the fall. Now some of my neighbors who still play around with a few small grains will try cover crop after, but for a corn and bean guy it just doesn't work. | |
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Hard no-till ground
