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What Can We Expect When We Change to No-Till (Dr. Pete Sexton)

January 20, 2017 Video

In this second video of our time Dr. Pete Sexton, SDSU farm manager at the Southeastern Research Station Beresford, SD, Dr. Sexton walks us through some of the broad brush strokes of a change to no-till. While the overall cost of no-till is lower, the immediate impact being a reduction in tillage expens, there are things that one needs to pay attention to. Let’s face it, a change to no-till is not trivial! Dr. Sexton wants new no-tillers to learn from the experience they have had in Beresford namely: (1) a small increase in nitrogen demand as the soils adjust to no-till (more microbes in the soils), (2) a changed weed regime, and the importance of a good burn-down at or before planting. (3) ensuring that the combine is distributing residue properly and not leaving windrows and (4) ensuring the planter is set up for the no-till conditions. One somewhat less talked about benefit of no-till is this idea of trafficability – the experience in Beresford is that they are able to get in their no-till plots (right next to the tilled plots) sooner for field operations. An extreme example is the clip of Dick Nissen (Vermillion, SD) in his field (planted with soybeans) and a neighbor’s field. The neighbor was forced to prevent-plant because of a wet spring.

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