Garth Butcher

Soil Conservation Specialist

Manitoba Department of Agriculture

Shoal Lake, Manitoba

Adaptation of zero tillage in the Northern Great Plains of North America has been slow at best. Guarded acceptance of a system that rejects the tradition of tillage that "won the west" and has been in place ever since is not unexpected. But there have been a lot of other obstacles as well that were significant enough that a great deal of early adapters decided against the no-till system.

In contrast to many producers that tried zero tillage in the late 1970's and early 1980's and decided against the system, was group of producers that made the system work. Added to this is a new wave of adapters that are zero tilling for the first time and are making it look easy as well as profitable. Observing what these successful new adapters are doing could give good insight into what it takes to make it work for a producer who is just starting into the system.

Three of these recent adapters farm within a fifteen mile radius of Birtle, Manitoba. These producers have moved their entire acreage into a zero tillage system over the last three years. The ease with which they have adapted the system compared to the difficulty experienced by many producers during the first wave of zero tillage is interesting. Therefore, I am going to take a very localized look at making zero tillage work since the approach that these producers have used is probably valid anywhere.

The first wave of interest in zero tillage in the area began in about 1977 and continued for several years. This early contingent of zero tillers saw many casualties and that fact alone has probably slowed adaptation significantly. Many producers were left with the impress on that the system was not very workable. After the body count was taken, there was only a couple of producers still enthusiastic about the system. By luck and some good management they had received the necessary positive reinforcement to continue.

There is some increase in interest in zero tillage again in the area, an interest which seems to be evident in a lot of the northern Great Plains.

The three producers I have alluded to are Ron and Murray Bell of Isabella, Wayne and Harvey Sotas of Solsgirth and George Wady of Birtle. Their average farm size is 2000 acres, all of which is being zero tilled now.

Ron and his father Murray Bell seed with a Bourgault air seeder equipped with narrow- banding knives on 8" spacing. Included with the system is the Bourgault poly V-packer system, which provides on-row packing. The picker gangs are attached to the medium duty cultivator frame in the same fashion that mulchers would be attached. This is a five row unit with lots of clearance.

Sotas' are using a Flexicoil 5000 air drill which is a four row, high clearance hoe press drill with 7" spacing and steel V-packers. The openers are very similar to the Bourgault unit and this unit has air delivery of seed and fertilizer.

George Wady is using Morris M-11 hoe drills with narrow openers and an on-row steel packer system, which replaces the rodweeder attachment that is typical of these machines.

One thing these producers have in common is that they had already established good agronomic habits, which they have very successfully transferred over to the zero tillage system. Over the past ten years they all had reducer tillage gradually. They were at the stage where the system they were using would be described as minimum tillage. Having had a good look at minimum tillage they decided that zero tillage made more sense. This is in contrast to many of the producers who initially tried zero tillage. These producers were gene-ally coming from a system that might be described as conventional. After having difficulty many of them decided that a minimum tillage system must be better.

Al I three producers stress the disadvantages they see in the minimum tillage system; the extra field operations necessary to develop a good seedbed after tie initial tillage operation, and the moisture loss from the tillage. As well, they all are enthusiastic about substituting random packing with direct on-row packing and the reduction in green foxtail (pigeon grass) that goes with that change.

The main reason for switching to zero tillage, which was stated by all three producers, was for the increased yield possible from an improved moisture situation. One producer felt that zero tillage provided "summerfallow" yields while continuous cropping. Improved germination because of moisture near the soil surface was also seen as a plus. Other important factors included simpler trash management than in a minimum tillage system, and reduced operating time and costs for equipment. They felt that the seeding period had become simpler and less stressful due to the reduction in field operations. Fewer problems with stones both as far as picking and damage to equipment was also noted. They also felt that erosion was no longer a concern although because they were coming from a minimum tillage system, erosion had not been particularity evident anyway.

Many producers who tried zero tillage during the first wave in the late '70's may have been too focused on the concept of low disturbance seeding. Because of this focus they often set aside many good agronomic practises that they had already included in the conventional farming system they had been using at the time. These practises fall into the following areas; residue management, seed placement, fertility, weed control and rotation.

What are these successful recent adapters doing now in these areas compared with their unsuccessful predecessors.

RESIDUE MANAGEMENT

Early adapters very soon realized that they should have better ways to handle crop residue given the ability of early zero tillage seeding equipment to handle trash, but often did nothing about it.

Things have changed, the Sotas brothers have jobber chaff spreaders on the two combines they operate and have modified the straw chopping and spreading capability of their combines (1482 &TR 70). The list of short line manufacturers producing straw and chaff spreading equipment is growing. George Wady has made a homemade modification to handle straw and chaff from his 1660 Case IH combine. This modification cost less than $100.

Information on this type of modification is quickly being passed around. Ron and Murray Bell's R60 Gleaner combine is factory equipped to do a good job of handling straw and chaff. They have further improved the chaff spreading be extending the fins that distribute chaff as it comes off the sieves. (John Deere and New Holland are also offering chaff spreaders on some recent machines).

Interestingly enough, all three of these producers are featured in a video on residue management produced with funding from the "Farming for Tomorrow" soil conservation program in southwestern Manitoba.

EERTILIIY

Nitrogen fertility was often compromised in early zero tillage attempts. Producers would apply as much nitrogen down the spout with the seed as they felt was safe. This was all the early equipment was capable of doing. The remaining requirements may or may not have been broadcast. Producers were often looking at zero tillage performance that was either under-fertilized or where uptake efficiently was sometimes less than average.

Two of our featured producers use fall banding of anhydrous ammonia while Bell's use fall banding of granular nitrogen and phosphate as well as sulphur if necessary. These are low disturbance operations using narrow 5\8" banding knives. This is not to say that this is the optimum strategy, but it does get fertilizer into place, allows the seedbed to "heal" over winter, and allows these producers to concentrate on seeding in the spring. Fall banding is probably much preferred to spring banding which must be done when a producer should probably be seeding and in most cases is much more disruptive to the seedbed than is a fall operation.

Perhaps the most attractive application method is side banding fertilizer during the seeding operation. All three producers are watching developments in equipment that might make this practical.

SEED PLACEMENT

Excellent seed placement is a priority for all of the three producers that we are profiling. It is common to see these fellows kneeling behind their drills with a jack knife or screwdriver assessing seeding depth across the width of their machine. When discussing seeding depth they use fraction of an inch increments to describe what they are doing. They seed extremely shallow and see this as one of t e major advantages of a zero tillage system. One half to one inch would be typical.

They are all using hoe type drills because of the very positive seed to soil contact possible, although hoe type drills do forfeit some of the advantages of low disturbance seeding.

Again, with manufacturers coming up with improved disc systems these producers are also watching their progress.

Early zero tillage producers often compromised good seed to soil contact when using the early disc type drills. When coupled with inadequate residue management, hairpinning and poor placement under tough, high residue situations were common.

WEED CONTROL

Confidence in applying a burn-off treatment at seeding time has increased greatly over the last ten to fifteen years. Several factors have affected this.

Firstly, glyphosate costs less than one-half what it did ten years ago. Early adapters were spending up to 10% of the expected gross return for a crop on a treatment they were unsure about. Avoiding a treatment or using inadequate rates was very tempting. With any quackgrass present it was also common to wait for a sufficient growth to get the maximum benefit from an expensive application. Seeding was postponed and yield was often affected. Early zero tillers were probably operating with a less than adequate sprayer and marking system as well. Again things have changed.

Successful zero tillage farmers today have more confidence in the rates they are using. They are comfortable with .51 (1 pt.) of glyphosate and realize that fairly regular treatments at these rates will control quackgrass as well as the other weeds they are targeting. At today's price of glyphosate, spraying is much more cost effective, especially when compared to the cost of the tillage that it is replacing.

Performance of the product has also been enhanced. All three of our producers are using 4-5 gallons of water and ammonium sulphate to improve the activity of glyphosate. For equipment, they are using trailer type sprayers with spring and shock absorber suspension on the gauge wheels and a marking system that takes the anxiety out of straying. They are prepared to spray and treat most fields with a burn-off although they do not spray if there is no weed growth. They are aware that application to clean well-exposed planes improves the efficiency of glyphosate.

The confidence they are developing in their burn-off program means that their seeding program determines their spray program. That is, they seed early for optimum yield and design their spray program based on this strategy. They are in the business of growing a crop with the maximum return, not in the business of eradicating quackgrass from the face of the earth. If seeding and spraying at the right time means less than 100% control of a minor quackgrass problem, they realize that there will be another glyphosate application next year. The problem will not get out of control.

CROP ROTATION

Crop rotation has become a much more important management factor for Bell's, Sotas', and Wady, although all three admit that they have not reached the ultimate rotation. All three have included field peas as well as canola and flax as broadleaf crops between the cereal crops that they grow. They all realize the benefit of a good mix in their rotation and hope that farm programs will not force them away from good agronomic practices. A good rotation coupled with a system that provides extra moisture can mean maximum yields. Our growers also have noticed that they can seed cereals earlier on special crop stubble with low residue. This ground warms up and dries up sooner than cereal stubble. This is important in a growing area that almost has the shortest growing season in the Northern Great Plains. Again, this strategy fits well with the fact that cereals can be sown very early due to their frost tolerances. As well, these crops realize their optimum yield when sown early.

Our profiled producers have taker a better approach than early zero tillage adapters in all aspects of implementing zero tillage. This fact has probably affected their success the most. They have taken a very studied approach and have concentrated on each aspect of the system in a step by step fashion. They have looked after all the details on their first try. Coming from a minimum tillage system meant that the leap was not too great.

Good information has always been important to their success. There is much more good information available than there was ten years ago. The important sources they describe include the Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Tillage Workshop, an event that all interested producers should attend. Courses and seminars are always worthwhile. As well, the manual published by the association has given some good basic information for producers in this region. Agricultural Representatives and county agents are another source. It is important to contact them for information. If they don't have the information they can find it. And if producers start asking the questions, our departments will start taking zero tillage seriously.

Another very important source is a local zero tillage producer. They are very interested in what they are doing and are willing to share their experience. This is extremely valuable information as zero tillage at Brandon, Manitoba has somewhat different constraints than at Fargo, North Dakota. Things must be done different based on different climate, soil type, weed spectrum, and crops grown.

Making zero tillage work is much simpler than it was years ago, but it does take a studied and thorough approach. Paying attention to all aspects of the system and modifying the system for your own farm can mean successful adaptation for most good farm operators.