Elmer Stobbe

Vice President, ICMS Inc.

2267 Taylor Way

Abbotsford, B.C. V2S 4T2

Although zero tillage crop production is not a new idea, the current interest in zero tillage was initiated with the development of herbicides. Herbicides have allowed weeds and other vegetation to be controlled before the crop emerges (non-selective herbicides) and in the growing crop (selective herbicides).

Zero tillage as a cropping practice was first adopted in corn in the USA, since excellent weed control could be obtained with atrazine, and planters could be modified to allow good seed placement in untilled soil.

The introduction of paraquat by ICI (Zeneca) in the early 1960's allowed for vegetation management before planting, and zero tillage cereal production was then possible. In western Canada, the first zero tillage trials were begun in the mid-1 960's, and was first adopted by the farm community as a cropping alternative in the mid 1970's. The adoption rate was slow in the early years, since planting equipment was not readily available. The establishment of the Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Tillage Farmers Association created an awareness for this new cropping practice, and in time, farmers together with industry developed a wide range of seeders, and straw management equipment suitable for zero tillage crop production.

During this time when farmers in Canada and USA have been adopting zero tillage crop production, great changes have also been taking place in other countries. I will not attempt to give you a complete overview of changes in cropping practices throughout the world, but rather present you with anecdotal information on my experiences as I talked with researchers and farmers from around the world.

In New Zealand, John Baker observed soil loss due to water erosion on the steep pasture slopes following tillage for pasture renovation. An engineer, he designed a planter that would cut a slit in the sod, place seed on one side of the slit and fertilizer on the other. A packer/depth control wheel firmed the soil above the seed, and left the field with the appearance of seed and fertilizer "zippered" into the soil. This planter worked well on the volcanic soils in New Zealand, but on the heavy clay soils of the prairies, the openers tended to push the soil and straw, and plug up the planter.

During the past 15 years, many changes have occurred in Australia, and zero tillage has been widely adopted. During my visit to south Australia in 1980 I saw a rather interesting cropping practice. The rotation began with a wheat crop under seeded to medic. A slow growing biennial, medic did not compete with the wheat, but formed a dense canopy after the wheat was harvested. During the second season the medic was used as a pasture, with sufficient seed production to maintain the stand. The medic was then killed by tillage (or herbicide), and wheat was planted. Medic seed in the soil again formed an understory in the wheat crop. This rotation provided excellent conditions for soil erosion control, and the medic, a legume, provided nitrogen for itself and the subsequent wheat crop, truly a sustainable system. This rotation has been introduced to many areas, particularly northern Africa, which have similar climatic conditions to southern Australia. Unfortunately, I never was able to find a suitable legume to include into such a cropping system in Manitoba.

As many of you know, I spent 2 years in Kenya in 1982-4. Zero tillage has been adopted on some of the large farms operated by the white community. Similar to our problem in the prairies, farmers in east Africa have not found suitable planters to seed the crop. There are, however, some sparkling examples of successful zero tillage cropping. Eddie Fernandez has been a leader in zero tillage cropping in Kenya. He farms on the north slope of Mt. Kenya, where rain water can cause massive erosion problems. Eddie's straw management has been a flock of sheep that forage on the crop residues. Zero tillage has allowed him to grow more annual cereal crops with little concern for soil loss due to erosion.

In most developing countries, access to appropriate herbicides blocks the development of zero tillage These countries have a shortage of foreign exchange, and with the high demand for gasoline, agriculture chemicals are frequently difficult to obtain. Since 1984,1 have made 3 trips into Ethiopia to discuss zero tillage cropping practices. Since the herbicides required to make zero tillage a success are not readily available, zero tillage is still a research idea. Researchers, however are coming up with some interesting cropping ideas.

The greatest untapped soil resource in Ethiopia is the upland vertisol soils. The main problem with these soils is excessive moisture. Researchers are developing the broadbed concept for producing crops on these soils, and yield increases are more than 100%. At the moment, they are using an oxen-powered tool to shape the broadbed. Since they are still using traditional tillage practices, the broadbed must be reshaped each year. Think of the potential energy savings when these farmers can adopt zero tillage cropping practices on these broadbeds.

Back in 1989, your association invited a farmer from Zimbabwe (Brian Old rieve) to address your conference. It has been my privilege to visit Brian on two occasions, once during wheat planting season. Brian is the manager of a large farm and has adopted his unique form of zero tillage Brian grows two crops per year. The summer crops include soybean, peanuts , corn and cotton. The field I saw was planted was to cotton the previous season. Seedbed preparation included mowing down the cotton crop, killing vegetation with paraquat (15 nozzle sprayer), dribbling seed on the soil surface, and initiating germination by frequent application of irrigation. Brian actually uses a seed drill, but has little or no soil penetration. Researchers at the farmer owned research station find that broadcast seeding with a fertilizer spreader works well. During my visit to Brian's farm in June 1989, his neighbors told me that Brian, in a 6 year period, had converted a run down, severely eroded farm into a show place for the community. In fact, Brian won a prize for the best corn crop in Zimbabwe, and a free trip to Iowa.

Hand planting and harvesting characterizes much of China's agriculture. How does zero tillage fit into such a cropping system? Li Pu, a weed researcher in Changsha developed his own form of zero tillage cropping. In his area, farmers grow three crops per year, two rice crops, and a rapeseed crop in winter. In his system, one crop is seeded using tillage, but the other two are planted/seeded without tillage In the spring, following the harvest of rapeseed, the field is tilled to allow rice to be transplanted into the paddy. The second crop of rice is transplanted without any tillage, and after the harvest, rapeseed is spread on the untilled paddy soil surface. This new cropping system does require some additional vegetation management using herbicides, but greatly reduces the labor requirements for the Chinese farmer. In addition, crop yield using zero tillage are higher than with the conventional cropping system. You may ask, how successful has Li Pu been in getting farmers to adopt his new cropping system? When I spoke with Li Pu in 1991 he told me that 1 million mu had been planted using zero tillage When you consider that the average farm size in the Changsha region of China is 6 mu, you can see that more than 130,000 farmers have adopted this revolutionary new cropping system! Considering the population of China, Li Pu still has a lot of work to do.

In South America, the river Platte forms the border between Uruguay and Argentine. At Buenos Aires, the river is 40 km wide. The headwaters of the Platte are located in northern Brazil. Old timers in Uruguay tell me that 30 - 40 years ago the river was clear blue, and children could safely swim in its waters. Today the river is a muddy brown from shore to shore, with plant debris floating down stream. Much of the soil particles in the water come from newly broken forest lands in northern Brazil to make way for agriculture. Researches in Passu Fundo, Brazil, have done an excellent job to develop zero tillage cropping practices for the northern Brazil region. They have demonstrated that under zero tillage soil erosion can be reduced by 99%, and the crop yields are higher than using conventional tillage In addition, they have found that straw residues are not a problem, since they have a native beetle the bores a vertical channel into the soil, and pulls the straw into the channel to make a "nest". These vertical channels, up to 50 cm deep, also allow for water percolation into the soil. How successful has the adoption of zero tillage crop production been in northern Brazil? During my visit in 1993,1 was told that 10% of the farmers in the region were now using zero tillage Extension staff told me that they do not seem to be able to 'break through" the 10% adoption level. In addition to farmer reluctance to adopt new technology, the availability of adequate seeding equipment has been a limiting factor.

One of the more interesting encounters happened to me during a visit to Colonia, Uruguay. I was visiting my graduate student who was conducting his research on zero tillage crop production in Uruguay. One my own, one evening I went to a little cafe to have supper. Since I could not speak Spanish, my dinner conversation consisted of sign language. Somehow I was able to order a chicken dinner. During dinner, another fellow entered and ordered dinner. I asked if he could speak English, and he replied, "Yes". I asked him what he did, and he told me that he was a farmer, but not an ordinary farmer, but a zero tillage farmer. At the time, he was the only zero tillage farmer in Uruguay what a coincidence

Since that time, farmers in Uruguay have been adopting zero tillage to plant cereals and canola into established pastures, in order to renovate pastures without soil loss. They have formed a zero tillage farmers association, and are in contact with your organization for information and moral support.

During the past couple of years I have spent some time in Ukraine. During the 1930's, Stalin, by staging artificial food shortages, suppressed the will of the Ukrainian people, and enslaved them into Soviet style communism. Most of Ukraine agriculture still operates with collective and state farms. Since independence, foreign exchange has been in short supply, and farmers have been able to purchase little new equipment. In addition, the old "seven year" crop rotation still characterizes much of Ukrainian agriculture. Sugar has always been considered a "must crop", even on sloping lands, and soil erosion on these fields is severe. (You must realize that home brewed vodka is made from sugar produced on the collective farm.) I spoke with many researchers and farmers about zero tillage crop production. In general, they felt it was a good idea in western Canada, and even in Kazahstan, but that it would not work in Ukraine. I guess we've heard that one before!

The one area where the government has a keen interest in developing zero tillage crop production is in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. In this area, soil loss due to erosion could contaminate "safe zones" with radioactive pollutants. So far little progress has been made in this area because the government lacks foreign exchange funds to initiate projects in this region.

Whenever I meet farmers and researchers from outside of North America, I discuss zero tillage cropping practices with them. Most have heard about zero tillage, and are looking for ways to adopt it in their region. It would surprise you how many of the people that I meet know about your organization, the Man/Dak Zero Tillage Farmers Association. You are considered world leaders in growing cereals under zero tillage keep up the good work!