My farm is located about 30 miles SE of Minot. 161/2 inches is the average annual precipitation that falls on my moderately rolling Williams Loam Soil. I planted my first zero till field in the spring of 1980 with the switch to 100% zero tillage in the spring of 1990.

I. RESIDUE MANAGEMENT:

All good zero till programs been with residue management. Step 1 is doing a good job of spreading both the straw and the chaff. If you combine a 24' out, your straw spreader needs to be able to spread a uniform 24'. Chaff is light and you probably won't be able to spread it 24', but do the best you can. Chaff spreading is just as important as straw spreading. Step 2 is stubble height. I plant my small grains with a Wilrich Air Seeder which under heavy residue conditions is always most likely to have residue clearance problems with the anchored straw (standing stubble). In

other words, the shorter I cut my stubble the less likely I am to have trash clearance problems. A 40 bu. wheat crop cut at 8-10" would be a good match. I plant my row crops with a John Deere Max Emerge Planter. This type of planter is most likely to have problems with unanchored straw. Consequently, 12-15" of stubble works good with this planter. Doing a good job of residue management at harvest can eliminate a multitude of spring time problems.

II. SEEDING EQUIPMENT:

My small grains are planted with a Wilrich Air Seeder which after 10 years of blood, sweat and tears has finally evolved into something I am comfortable with. My seed openers are 2" wide and modified to a 9" spacing. This move was made to accommodate a rolling coulter and knife assembly so I can now dual band anhydrous and dry fertilizer at planting. The knife is 3/4" wide and places the fertilizer about 3 1/2" deep. This type of seeder has 2 major pluses:

1. Stand Establishments: Assuming relatively normal conditions, this planter will get a good stand every time.

2. Cost Effective: It's cheap to own and cheap to operate.

Excessive soil disturbance is my biggest dislike of this hoe type air seeder. The less you disturb the soil, the lower

your annual weed pressure tends to be. Low planting speed (around 421 mph) tends to minimize soil disturbance.

I plant my row crops with a John Deere Max Emerge Planter. After several years of using the planter "as is", I ran into a hair pinning and inadequate furrow closure problem this spring. To cure this, we lined up the straight coulter off the fertilizer assembly on the air seeder, to cut a slot in front of the seed opener. This worked very well. Next year some type of slot opening coulter will be a permanent addition. I am also contemplating adding some type of fertilizer banding equipment. Personally, I can't see me ever owning a planting unit that is incapable of banding anhydrous. The lowered cost and excellent fertilizer placement where the roots can grow right into the fertilizer band are just too important.

III. ROTATIONS:

Dwayne Beck's concept of rotation sanitation and competition sounds good to me but I do have 2 problems with it. Economically spring wheat and winter wheat have been my best producers lately. The second problem is the farm program. My farm is a little over 2/3 wheat base, which basically forces me to plant wheat on wheat almost half the time. If I have to plant wheat on wheat, my first choice is winter wheat, followed by spring wheat on spring wheat with my last choice being durum on durum. I include 5 lbs/acre of potassium chloride at planting on all wheat to help suppress root rot. On my wheat on wheat, I sometimes include a 1/2 label rate of Mancozeb when I spray my broad leaf herbicide. For a cost of about a bushel/acre, these two treatments go a long way to offsetting the poor short term rotation.

I grew Seward Winter Wheat for the first time last year and it appeared to be a solid improvement over North Star. Straw strength and disease resistance are much improved. Although I have never had a problem with Wheat Streak Mosiac on my farm it's a disease I watch for very closely.

My current preferred rotation 1/3 spring wheat, 1/3 winter wheat and 1/3 sunflowers. The sunflower part of this rotation is absolutely vital for breaking up disease problems after 2 years of wheat. Sunflowers have caused some serious weed control problems, but after several years of trial and error may finally have a handle on the problem.

I have grown barley and oats under zero tillage in previous years, but economically these crops have a hard time bumping one of my main 3 crops out of the rotation. Volunteer grain is also a problem following, these crops.

In the summer of 1990 I had the misfortune of learning soybeans are extremely sensitive to hail. Soybeans appeared

to have a lot of positive aspects, but they also had one other major negative, a total lack of snow catch. Under continuous cropping a good snow trap is a crucial first step to getting the "gas tank" refueled by springtime. Any crop that can't do at least a fair job of snow trapping is going to have a very difficult time finding a home in my rotation.

Dacold, a new winter rye variety was planted into wheat stubble in the fall of 1990. This crop does seem to have some potential, especially if it is competing for acres against barley, oats and flax. Like winter wheat it is very cheap to grow, very competitive, and the perfect spot in the rotation to follow with a high value high moisture using row crop.

Durum is being dropped entirely from the rotation for 3 main reasons:

1. Price: The durum market is in the cellar and I just don't see it changing any time soon.
2. Yield: While my local experiment station hasn't had any problem getting zero till durum to yield as well as zero till spring wheat, I have. The last few years my durum has yielded a solid 10 bu/acre less than my spring and winter wheat. I have had enough.
3. Weed Control: Durum has very few foxtail control options.

One crop auditioning for a spot in my rotation for the first time this spring will be corn. My main reason for trying corn is weed control. Corn has near unlimited weed control options where as sunflower has very few.

You may have noticed I leave no room in my rotation for summerfallow. That's just the way I like it. I don't really feel comfortable saying I hate anything, but summer fallow comes close. The economics are terrible and the water use efficiency is worse. What % of all soil erosion is directly or indirectly related to fallow? This would be a very high number.

IV. WEED CONTROL:

In general, I no longer use burn down herbicides prior to spring planted small grains. These sulfonyurea herbicides (Ally & Express) have given me the confidence to be able to do this. These herbicides are so broad spectrum and so deadly that if I make a mistake and end up with a broadleaf nightmare I feel they can pull me out of any situation. My air seeder also kills a high percentage of tiny weeds at planting. Typically the grass weeds begin to emerge in mid May. This makes the burn down decision much tougher. In 1991 my last planted wheat (May 27) was the only field that required burn down. Essentially all stubble fields get a fall burn down of 8-12 ozs/acre of Round Up.

One of zero tills strengths is that in a normal year you have moisture right up to the surface. This tends to make weeds very healthy which in turn make them very susceptible to herbicides. The shallow rooted pigeon grass is a good example of this. I've used Tiller herbicide for 2 years at 1/2 - 3/4 pt/acre (labeled rate is -95 pt/acre) with nothing but excellent results. I have also used Poast in sunflowers at 1/2 - 3/4 pt/acre (labeled rate is I pt/acre) with similar results. If I am on time, on target, and have good growing conditions I feel very comfortable with these rates. The negative side is if you have a failure, it's your problem.

My sunflower program consists of 3 pints of Prowl in mid May followed by 1/2 pint of Poast. Prowl has proven to be too inconsistent on foxtail to stand by itself. This package is not cheap ($l5/acre plus 2 applications) but it does give me weed control I can live with. 12-16 oz/acre of Round Up is used for burn down.

Brome grass invading from the borders is my biggest weed control problem at this time. To fight this every border gets a high rate of Round Up (quart/acre plus) at least once a year.

V. EARLY PLANTING:

I feel that early planting of small grains is so important it deserves its own special section.

1. April planting guarantees me no field wide preplant burn down will be necessary. This saves significant $/acre.
2. I have a better chance of getting through the critical 4-5 1/2 leaf stage at lower temperatures. This is when head size is determined. In my area this year recrop wheat planted April 20 out yielded recrop wheat planted May 20 by more than 10 bu/acre. It just gives me a better chance to beat the heat that I know is coming in July.
3. Wheat will germinate at 40 degrees F. Very few weeds will germinate at this low temperature. My grandfather

1. and father used to "wait for the weeds". I want my crop out of the ground ahead of the weeds. I just don't have a wild oat problem.

1. Early planting means early harvesting, which gives me a wider window to catch late summer rains to get the ground recharged for the next crop.

VI. ECONOMICS:

I first began zero tillage for 2 major reasons, soil conservation and moisture conservation. The economics of the system has now forced itself into the spot light. In small grains my costs are significantly less than most conventional till operations. For the 2 year period of my spring wheat winter wheat part of my rotation the total preplant and post harvest weed control cost is around $I5/acre (2 fall burn downs and borders). Economically, zero till row crops seem to be about even with conventional row crops. It is much easier and cheaper to zero till today than it was 5 or 10 years ago. Fuel, labor, repairs and machinery ownership are just a few examples where expenses can be dramatically lowered.

Some other general thoughts:

1. I never skimp on seed or fertilizer.
2. My earthworm population has virtually exploded since I quit killing them with tillage. Earthworms are a vital part of increasing moisture infiltration. As they burrow through the soil, they leave little tunnels just right for moisture to run down.
3. How do you get fields planted in a wet spring? I have no more problems in a wet spring than a conventional farmer. The main difference is that in a zero till field rain soaks in fast. It doesn't have a chance to run off and pond up in the low spots (see item 2). Hill tops and low lands dry out at the same speed.
4. Without a doubt, zero till is the champion of moisture use efficiency. Any moisture that evaporates out the top, leaches below the root zone (fallow), blows off (snow), or runs off (rain) is basically worthless. Zero till gives every rain drop and snowflake a chance to end up as a kernel in the hopper.
5. The buzzword in agriculture today is sustainable. Which to me means can you protect the soil and environment and still keep economically competitive? Zero till is very strong in all these areas. I use no more active ingredient/acre of herbicides than the average conventional farmer.

Man has farmed the earth for thousands of years, wearing out the soil and moving on. There is no more raw land. Our generation is the first to have a chance to pass on land that is equal or better than when we started farming.