“In about 40 counties, staff reviewed several hundred sites totaling nearly four million acres of corn and 2.5 million acres of soybeans after planting last spring. That’s a pretty good indicator that farmers are seeing the benefits of planting no-till,” said Steve Chick, NRCS State Conservationist. No-till planting means the soil is left undisturbed from the previous year and the new crop is planted directly through the residue into the soil in the spring.
Smaller, but still significant no-till farming gains were found in wheat and sorghum crops. There was an estimated six percent increase in wheat planted no-till and a seven percent increase in sorghum planted no-till. Most of the wheat gains were in fall-planted wheat in southeast Nebraska.
“These numbers are not scientifically collected, but are an indicator of what we hope is a bigger trend statewide,” said Chick. “There isn’t any other data like this available. Staff time commitments just didn’t permit us to collect data from all 93 counties this year,” he said.
Another great benefit of no-till is the fuel savings. For example, our figures show a 500,000 acre increase in no-till corn planted over the two years in the 40 counties. “Total corn acres planted remained about the same. Depending how those acres were planted the year before the minimum fuel savings would be 470,000 gallons. At $2.50 a gallon, that’s a savings of $1.2 million to those farmers,” said Chick.
“There are more benefits like the build-up of organic material in the soil, less soil erosion and less time of the farmer spent planting,” said Chick.
“It’s important to recognize these gains now at harvest time. Leaving this year’s crop residue on the soil surface is the start of the “no-till” season. Any cultivation from here on destroys these gains,” said Chick.
Source: Natural Resources Conservation Service
