With any crop, the most limiting factor is usually water. Nutrients can be added and weeds, insects or diseases can be controlled but soil moisture is the key ingredient to start the crop and keep it growing. Zero till can have a positive effect upon the amount of moisture in the soil for germination and early crop growth.

Research has shown that soil moisture was increased by leaving stubble standing on a field. In years that are dry going into winter, this could really help next season's crop yields.

This is moisture you can count on when seeding starts.

Stubble full to the top with snow is a guaranteed source of readily available soil moisture for spring seeding. Research in North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba found that the moisture from stubble trapped snow was important. Stubble 8" - 10" high full of snow accounted for 1" -2" of soil available water under these experiments. Every extra inch of water can mean as much as five extra bushels of wheat.

While holding extra snow on a field is one of the benefits of the stubblecover left by zero tillage, a number of other things contribute to the positive side of the soil moisture picture.

• Standing stubble reduces the amount of water which runs off a field. Not only does this reduce erosion, but it also holds more water on the field to soak into the soil.
• Precipitation (both rain and snowfall) tends to stay where it falls. Reduced snow drift and water movement means that every part of a field -including slopes- enjoys the benefits.
• Once the water has soaked into the soil - the mulch at the surface in a zero till field reduces water loss from evaporation.
• When tillage is eliminated, soil moisture loss is reduced. Cultivating dries the soil down to the depth of tillage. This amounts to as much as 1/2 inch of lost moisture per tillage operation.

In a wet year, excess moisture could delay seeding; but most seeding equipment used for zero- till can handle wetter conditions. Some producers in cooler, moister areas find fall banding can make spring seeding operations go more smoothly. The exposure of some dark soil caused by the banding operation often causes the surface to dry out enough to allow timely seeding.

Picture a field of no -till with millions of miniature dams on it - they will pond the water and let it infiltrate before it runs off." Luther Bernston Adams, North Dakota

"When we get a two_inch rain - the water seems to go into the ground real well. We don't have the potholes and we don't have the erosion like conventional farmers do. " Myron Hahn, Gardena,, North Dakota

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