On behalf of the directors, advisors, and general manager of the Manitoba-North\Dakota 0-tillage Farmers' Association welcome to our 11th annual workshop.

As we look over the past year we hope it is one that will never be repeated. It was a grim reminder that Mother Nature still rules, despite the latest in high-tech and research. However it is also a year we saw 0-till fields benefit from conserved moisture and residue cover which prevented the terrible wind erosion we saw last spring. A lot of attention was focused on the need for soil conservation. Whether you are a novice or veteran 0-tiller we hope the information you gain here helps achieve the goal of eliminating soil erosion.

For the first time we have held our Workshop in conjunction with Manitoba Ag Days. I would like to thank Manitoba Agriculture for the co-operation they have given us. I also thank those who have participated in our program.

As well as organizing our Workshop we held a very successful summer tour in the Minnedosa area in Manitoba in July. Work is nearly completed on a 0-tillage crop production manual. I also wish to thank our retiring general managers, Banks and Evelyn sieber, for the contribution they have made to the association over the last four years.

As we enter the second decade of 0-tillage we must look at the progress

of the last ten years. Machinery for seed and fertilizer placement has been revolutionized. The area of winter wheat production has been expanded to the

most northern parts of the Prairies. Farmers have proven that cereals, oil-seeds, pulse crops and forages can be successfully 0-tilled. 0-till farmers have shown they can survive and prosper economically while protecting their soil resource. At the same time we acknowledge much more information is needed, such as research into more suitable 0-till varieties, new post-emergent herbicides, more effective use of our present ones, and investigation into changes occurring in our soil structure and microbiology, to name a few. The 0-till Association can take credit for much of this success. As awareness of the need for soil conservation rises, experience gained in the last decade ensures our Association will continue to play an important role in agriculture.

In closing I would like to say the Manitoba-North Dakota 0-till Farmers' Association is without doubt the most respected 0-till association in the Northern Great Plains. Much of the credit must go to the early members who had the foresight to organize a truly International Association which has drawn on the resources, researchers, and farmers of two nations and channeled our efforts towards achieving the most worthy of goals.

1988-89 EXECUTIVE