DROUGHT--A GOOD
REASON TO STICK WITH NO-TILL |
Rain or no rain, tours go on as usual at the new BASF Agronomic Developmcnt Center (ADC) in Lexington, IH., where Farm Manager and veteran no-tiller Jim Kinsella has been practicing conservation tillage for many years. Much of his land has been in no-till corn and beans continuously for 10-14 years, making the site an ideal place to show the long-term benefits of the system.
BASF completed construction of the ADC facility early this summer. The Center is on about one acre of land adjunct to the Kinsella family farm. Visitors can step out of just about any door of the ADC building and see no-till corn and beans growing successfully on Kinsella's central Illinois farm.
Kinsella feels that the farm is ideal for demonstrating no-till procedures under various soil conditions, since 13 different soil types span his 400 acres. The slopes range from zero to eight percent.
Despite a total rainfall this growing season of only 2.6 inches, Kinsella says his no-till fields are yielding equal to or higher than those of many of his conventionally farming neighbors--and he spends $15 to $20 less per acre.
A NEW FACILITY
Kinsella, who's worked in the midwest for the past 13 years for BASF, hosted a June 22 dedication of the new facility. The ADC building includes indoor shop facilities, conference rooms and offices.
The ADC is open to visitors year around, and since June, approximately 1,600 people have walked through the doors and into the fields for a first-hand look.
"I feel the greatest value of the Center, to date, is that it's become a focal pont for discussing and learning about workable no-till practices. Collectively, the visitors bring an enormous amount of knowledge and experience on no-till farming. Every tour ends with a discussion of problems and solutions, and the input of the participants has been a buildin block of knowledge for the Center. Practicl solutions are suggested for every problem raised.
A MISIDENTIFIED PROBLEM
Most of the attendees with no-till experience have agreed on one point-no-till has received a lot of bad press in this yearÌs drought, and most of itÌs been unwarranted. Many of the problems are with no-till corn and not with soybeans, and often the cause of the problem has been misidentified. ÏThe most common failure being reported is corn that was no-tilled into a cover crop or a legume that was killed just prior to plantin,Ó says Kinsella. The reason the corn didnÌt grow was due to a lack of moisture--not because it was no-tilled, he says.
According to Kinsella, the spring crop robbed the soil of what little soil moisture was there, thus leaving the newly-planted corn no moisture to draw upon. "If the spring cmp would have been plowed under, chances are the conditions would have been even worse," he says.
Other problems being reported as no-till
failures are actually management problems like 1)nitrogen fertilizer remaining
on top of the ground and volatilizing in dry weather, 2)no-tilling into previously
compacted soils, 3)planting too shallow in a dry year and 4)adjusting equipment
improperly for no-till.
TOUGH YEAR FOR FIRST-TIMERS
Many growers who wcre trying no-till for the first time this year were already unhappy with the system by mid-June. According to Kinsella, people who no-tilled on fields that have been under intensive tillage for the past 30 years have experienced problems, especially with compaction. Some transitional deep tillage is usually required to loosen the soil in and above the old plowpan. "Many of the compaction problems have been blamled on no-till, but in fact have been caused by the last 30 years of intensive tillage," says Kinsella.
You have to prepare your soil for no-till, he explains. The following procedure outlines some steps Kinsella uses for switching a field to no-till:
A COMMON MISTAKE
Another practice that's giving no-till a bad name is the tilling of "no-till" ground on occasion. According to Kinsella, no-till fields must be continuously no-tilled in order to reap the benefits of the system. Tearing up the ground every fifth year or so destroys everything that the grower has been working towards by no-tilling, he says.
Continuous no-tilling creates a rich layer of organic matter on top of the ground and large pores in the soil from earthworms and decaying roots. "Once you get the soil into this condition, it would be counter-productive to start tilling again," he says.
Research conducted by L.D. Norton and W.M. Edwards (see September 1988 Conservation Impact) of the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory in West Lafayette, md., shows that the porosity, a no-till benefit, doesn't actually increase until after the fifth year at which time it makes a dramatic increase.
The earthworm, a significant contributor to field porosity, is one of Kinsella's favorite subjects. By conducting water absorption demonstrations and examining soil pits in no-till fields, Kinsella will show any ADC visitor the value of the earthworm.
"We are now able to infiltrate 5 inches of water into the soil in less than 10 minutes in any field that's been no-tilled at least 10 years," says Kinsella.
GETTING STARTED
A lot of thought needs to go into switching from a conventional system to no-till. The ADC welcomes first-timers and veteran no-tillers alike who are interested in learning more about the system. Kinsella also recommends starting with your local field experts in the Soil Conservation Service or Extension Service as well as soil testing before making the change.
Anyone interested in scheduling an individual or group tour of the ADC, or in obtaining a no-till procedures manual can write to Jim Kinsella, BASF Agronomic Development Center, P.O. Box 138A, Lcxington, IL 61753, or call (309) 365-2111.