Left pic: --one pass low disturbance Right pic: --a good no-till drill in tillage
drill in undisturbed field. prepped field.
For many years I have heard farmers express a willingness to include a "no-till" practice within a tillage system. It blows my mind every time I hear it, --these are two completely different (maybe polar opposite) systems. To me it's like mixing oil and water, --a mess.
Advantages:
--The potential for soil erosion from water, wind and tillage is significantly reduced during the period that the soil is not tilled. Un-tilled soil allows old root systems to remain intact along with the surface residue. These elements resist erosion. Any tillage that follows negates this advantage. As years of no-till add up, and as you move from high disturbance to low disturbance no-till, the advantage of no-till increases, --meaning: as time passes and you gain knowledge on soil biology and apply that knowledge, your soils will gain health and productivity instead of continuing to degrade under a tillage system.
Disadvantages:
--You may expand the number of weed species in your field. There is a weed shift with no-till. China Lettuce and Russian Thistle can be problem weeds in chem-fallow. Every plant type has a preferred environment. Changing that environment by introducing no-till, or diversifying crops, or even reducing the number of tillage passes will change weed types and populations. Those of us experienced in no-till use that fact and exploit it in our management of the system.
--You will probably need additional N. If you take soil samples and use an N budget, it will include a factor for N production that relates to the percent of OM in the sample. Tillage stokes the furnace; making N, by mixing oxygen (air) with fuel (OM) and soil temperature to break down the OM. Without tillage this process is slowed way down by not introducing oxygen (air) into the soil profile, creating less N from the soil source. It varies, but somewhere around 3-7 years of continued no-till, N release becomes similar to tilled soil. When you start building your soil OM, than you can start reducing your commercial applied N, and other plant nutrients.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
When you finally quit making excuses and admit to yourself that the productivity of the land you are stewarding is being flushed down the creek and/or blowing away and decide to change, --CHANGE!!!
Start slowly, --take a field that is large enough to bring in a custom no-tiller to do your seeding, dedicate the field to no-till, and learn the system. Expand across the remainder of your operation as soon as you get some comfort level with the system. Don't make comparisons with your tilled fields. These comparisons only slow down the process of positive change. It is a proven fact that tillage destroys soil productivity, and unless you change, your soil will become dirt, and unproductive. It's just a matter of time. In a little over a 100 years we have lost ~50% of our soils natural productivity. Evidence of this happening sticks out all over the Palouse Hills region by observing the skimpy/no crop on some ridge lines. Change has never been easier than it is now. Most no-till issues have been experienced and solutions found, --meaning: no-tillers are experiencing fewer problems as their experience and knowledge increases. Most experienced no-tillers I have been around are quite willing to talk about their experiences and help others.
FUTURE:
No-till controls the bleeding by stopping erosion through protecting the soil surface and building back soil structure. You can accelerate building soil productivity by increasing soil biology, --a subject beyond this post.
No comments:
Post a Comment