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No-till can save time, money and provide better yieldsNebraska "In 1987 when I got started with no-till, I was 35 years old and still single. I had better things to do than till fields to kill weeds that weren't even there yet," said Dan Gillespie, no-till specialist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service. In the 20 years since then, Gillespie has used the no-till system on his own land. He says no-till saves money and leads to better crops. He has seen a large reduction in soil erosion, an increase in soil organic matter and moisture holding capacity and a decrease in the time he spends in the field. Lately, he has spent some of the time he saves helping others get started with no-till practices. The initialization period offers some challenges, Gillespie said. In 1987 when he started, one of the challenges was doing something different than his neighbors. Some people aren't altogether comfortable with that. During that period, residues lay on top of conventionally-tilled soils. That combination can be hard to work. Gillespie said that another initial challenge was learning how to plant in cooler, moister soils. "You can smear the seed furrow side walls; you can get compaction; you have to be patient knowing this is a different system that has more moisture and maybe go to a different farm that doesn't have so much moisture." Gillespie said all of these were adjustments he made during the early period of no-till. He recommended pop-up, in-furrow fertilizer. "If you get a warm spring, you don't need it, he said, but it's the cheapest insurance policy available." For more information about no-till, Gillespie recommended looking up a neighbor who has already switched to a no-till system. Otherwise, get a few interested neighbors together and go to the local extension or NRCS office. "Say you need more information on no-till and the Paul Jasa, Dan Gillespie and Mark Watson show will come your way," he said. 8/4/08 Date: 7/30/08 Advertisement
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