2016 CROPPING SYSTEMS CONFERENCE (PNDSA)

      The Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association has just pulled off another fantastic conference at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, WA.  The facility is top drawer for a gathering of this type, and with the new Marriott Hotel connected to it, it's even better.  Gabe Brown, a farmer/rancher from Bismarck North Dakota, gave a compelling presentation for introducing Cover Crops into our cropping system to rebuild soil health.  He was well received, and the leadership had to move his breakout session to the main auditorium to accommodate everyone who had expressed an interest in hearing more.  The breakout sessions were five meeting rooms where different subjects were presented and discussed at two different time periods each day in the two day session.

      In one of these rooms several farmers gave presentations on how they managed their direct seed operations.  It was very interesting for me this year to hear all the different ideas presented for why they are doing what they are doing.  In prior years I have struggled with these farmer to farmer exchanges.  I have viewed these presentations as methods to survive while removing cultivation from the cropping system.  I had been there, done that, and know these were short term fixes.  Many will view successful direct seeding as the goal, but I have come to the realization that direct seeding is only a step to a higher goal of restoring the natural productivity of the soil.  Our operation is now beyond successful direct seeding.  We can now concentrate on improving soil health, on our way to the ultimate goal of sustainable crop production without chemical inputs.

       Recognizing for several years that surface residue, on undisturbed soil was key to protecting soil and retaining moisture (the goal at the time), we struggled to successfully seed into that environment.  For years we did not seed a spring crop because of seeding difficulties that resulted in poor yields.   Now, that is all behind us, --what a relief!  The stripper header allows us to keep our high residue producing grain stubble long and intact to reduce air movement which helps preserve moisture, and the CrossSlot drill allows us to successfully seed and emerge our cash crops (spring or fall) in the most adverse seeding conditions we are, or likely will be, faced with.

                32 foot stripper head harvesting barley.

 24 foot CrossSlot seeding spring wheat into a tangle of heavy (23,000#/ac) winter wheat residue that was stripper headed.  This amount of residue was developed from winter wheat on fallow averaging over 100 bu, followed by winter wheat on winter wheat averaging 85bu.  Wind and winter snow flattened much of the residue in which we are seeding soft white spring wheat.