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Texas Agriculture Archive

June 6, 2003

To till or not to till?
Biotech varieties help answer the question for many farmers...

Field Editor

Tillage has been the time-honored practice for fallow weed control. For generations, that has been the tradition, and to many farmers, there is still no better smell or prettier sight than freshly broken soil with seedbeds prepared for the season's crops. But the costs of tillage operations have increased over time. Today, a cotton farmer using conventional methods might till the soil between 9 and 11 times in a growing season, depending upon rainfall. Equipment and labor costs have soared while commodity prices paid to producers have failed to keep up.

Too, evidence suggests that frequent tillage increases the possibility of soil erosion and compaction which can hurt production potential. All of these factors combined have caused a number of farmers to implement conservation tillage practices, ranging from minimum-till to no-till.

Unlike conventional tillage, no-till systems do not use tillage for establishing a seedbed. Crops are simply planted into the previous year's crop residue. No-till planters are equipped with slicing coulters that slice the soil, allowing a double disc opener to place the seed at a proper depth. The slot is closed with a spring press wheel. Herbicides are typically used as the sole means for weed control in no-till systems.

A minimum-till regime, on the other hand, might include: (1) post-harvest shredding and light disking, (2) root plowing, and formation of low-profile beds in the same operation, (3) knifing in fertilizer, (4) planting, and (5) one cultivation.

According to its proponents, conservation tillage can reduce erosion, energy costs and soil compaction and increase water retention, organic matter and yields.

No-till saves trips across field

Jay Beckhusen of Buckholts, who farms 2,000 acres of sandy loam bottom land in Milam County, says conservation tillage saves him fuel and labor costs. Beckhusen, a former Milam County Farm Bureau president and current Milam CFB director, farms with his father and the help of three full-time employees. His entire operation comprises 3,200 acres, with 1,800 acres of corn production—500 acres of it no-till—and 900 acres of cotton, with the balance devoted to wheat and hay. He also runs 650 mama cows. Four years ago, Beckhusen's usual routine involved heavy plowing twice before planting. But his methods have changed.

"Now we plant all Roundup Ready® Corn and Roundup Ready® Cotton," says Beckhusen. "We no-till corn over cotton. In January, we ran a field cultivator across with fertilizer and yellow herbicide (Roundup), for burn down, and then we came back with corn. Going no-till saved us three trips across the fields."

Following harvest last fall, Beckhusen terminated cotton growth by using a stalk puller, which creates only minor soil disturbance and allows the field to be in compliance with the requirements of boll weevil eradication regulations. He then shredded stalks.

Combining a good rotation program with conservation tillage also helps him maintain yields and control weed problems.

Beckhusen was not all that impressed with conservation tillage efforts a decade ago, prior to the advent of biotech varieties, which he says is key to his success.

"We're sold on Roundup Ready®. We don't plant grain sorghum, because of the wind, the drift," he says, explaining that there is not a Roundup® resistant sorghum variety.

Beckhusen's dryland corn yields 120 bushels in the river bottom in a normal year–80 bushels on the high ground.

"In this bottom, we can make 150-160 bushels easy with rain. I expect 100 bushel corn this year. It's suffering from lack of rain," Beckhusen notes, adding: "The advantage of no-till really showed up at planting time. The no-till corn held moisture, and we were able to jump in and plant three days quicker than we could the other land."

Biotech crops drive no-till

A comprehensive study by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC), released last fall, indicates that nearly all of the 35 percent growth in no-till acreage can be attributed to herbicide-tolerant crop varieties. According to the study, conservation tillage and the Conservation Reserve Program have reduced soil erosion by 1 billion tons per year–that's a 30 percent reduction since the early 1980s when traditional plowing methods were more common.

The study credits reduced tillage practices with a $3.5 billion savings in 2002 in water treatment and storage, waterway maintenance, navigation, fishing, flooding and lost recreation costs. Farmers are using 306 million fewer gallons of fuel per year to power their equipment, the report says. Conservation tillage also reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air by as much as 1 billion pounds per year over traditional plowing.

Better wildlife habitat and improved topsoil are additional benefits. No-till fields have three to six times as many soil loosening earthworms. No-till does not up the risk of soil pathogens. In fact, cotton root rot is less of a problem under no-till than conventional till.

By some estimates, conservation tillage on cotton can save as much as 9 percent over conventional tillage. Many farmers are also reaping the benefit of savings on equipment costs–investment in conventional tillage equipment, and replacement costs when it wears out. But it requires planning and commitment, and changes in farm programs make some producers reluctant to switch tillage practices. Another drawback is although conservation tillage reduces trips across the fields, it may also limit opportunities to correct mistakes. There is no guarantee that reduced tillage will improve production, but it does free up time for farmers to devote to management, especially marketing. But in the case of Beckhusen, he has a marketer to help him fetch the best price for his crop.

"We harvest the first week of August. Normally, the weakest price is at harvest. Last year, it went downhill, $3 corn down to $2.50, or $2.40," he recalls, indicating that aflatoxin-affected corn last year didn't bring much less than unaffected corn.

Due to dry weather, Beckhusen expects 650 lb. cotton yields in 2003.

"We usually make 1-½ bale dryland. Last year, we had an excellent 1,000-1,100 lbs. Eradication is doing the job of taking the weevils out," he says.