For this topic, the husband is up to bat... Enjoy!
Here we go again.
Mother Nature is tempting farmers, and those with green thumbs, due to the recent temperatures hovering above 10 degrees celcius. It's time to start thinking about the upcoming cropping season.
Well, "start thinking" is actually not an accurate statement.
Most farmers have been thinking about spring 2017 long before the harvest of 2016. Truth be told, a lot of them have thought about what to plant since sowing their seeds in the spring of 2016.
A large percentage of farmers grow two crops: corn and soybeans. Both these crops have an excellent economic return and are fairly easy to grow.
If you use a tillage method of cropping, you plow in the fall turning the top 6-8 inches of dirt upside-down. Whether you are competent with the plow or a hired seat cover that can drive, the precision of the job will determine how much work is required in the spring to cultivate. Tillage farmers then use a cultivator in the spring to soften up a seed bed. For corn, it generally takes two passes: one on an angle and one straight up and down and; two or three times for soybeans. The amount of passes you make will depend on the quality of the plowing in the fall.
In the spring, moisture dictates how deep you will plant your seeds. Corn requires at least an 1.5" and soybeans 1-3".
There you have it. That's the gist of the tillage farmers play book for growing a crop. Sounds pretty straight forward doesn't it? Even a child could do it.
That may be a dig to my tillage buddies, but I digress.
Since the age of 10, I was following my fathers and grandfathers guiding words on how to farm using tillage. I was the one in the cultivator making that seed bed perfect. It was easy peasy and it's what everyone in the county did, so year after year they continued to till because "That's what you do".
About 4-5 years ago, sometime around 2013, things changed... (Man, time flies!)
I can't quite recall why I signed up for the Innovative Farmers Conference, maybe it was supposed to be a day with the farming buddies (the tillage ones) where we just wanted to hear a few speakers and then ditch early to throw back a few beers. In any case, we were at the conference in London, Ontario trying not to fall asleep until a certain individual got on stage.
Enter Mr. David Brandt.
He said,
"You don't have to plow... In fact, you don't need any of those tillage tools... Use cover crops"
Who did he think he was claiming there was another way?
As soon as he started talking cover crops I was ready to walk out."Why would I put seed in the ground that I'm not going to get a cheque for? This guy is nuts".
He lost my buddies attention, they were likely sitting on their phone's for the time following, one probably looking to see when his favourite trashy bar opened, the other looking at auction sites to spend his weekly budget.
Mr. Brandt may have lost their interest, but I was enthralled.
What was this sorcery? It all made so much sense.
Diversity.
Soil Health.
The soil as a living thing that requires care and fuelling.
We need to change.
I was so overcome with the concept that I spent numerous hours on Youtube, researching the use of cover crops every night for months. David Brandt, Gabe Brown, Gail Fuller and Dwayne Beck were all names that became familiar with fast.
My wife said this new found concept was the mistress of our relationship.
But, the idea of feeding the soil to increase it's health long-term would obviously have impact on the health of the crops planted in it.
Why are we beating the ground and disrupting a natural cycle of decomposition? Why aren't we mimicking what happens in the ecosystems naturally?
What a game changing idea.
To be fair, it's not that some 'natural' methods haven't been used in the past, but not to the extreme Mr Brandt was speaking about.
No-till means not using tillage equipment, which means not turning the soil spring and fall. For a David Brandt style of no-till, you diversify by using cover crops as well. You use a three or more crop rotations of corn, beans and wheat, while also seeding in cover crops (diverse mixtures). The cover crops grow into fall either between the corn that is harvested in the fall, or after wheat is taken off in July. The cover crops then grow, much like wheat, until the winter months and cold temperatures force it's dormancy or end of growth. With this method, you plant in the spring into the "trash" from the harvest/fall which has usually decomposed decently over the winter because the bugs in the soil utilize it. The trash that's there helps to retain soil moisture and optimal temperatures while providing nutrients and organic matter for the bugs and future crops.
I've never written a blog post, so maybe this requires a part 2 or 3, because I could ramble on about this stuff for quite a while but for now, I'll end part one.
I have taken a lot of criticism throughout our farm changes and I can only imagine what some may be saying at the coffee shop but, it's all fine and dandy because I'm ok with what I'm trying to do. I also know that even Einstein had critics and we all know their names, oh wait, we don't!
;)
~ Mike
Since that conference we've injected the use of cover crops and have been phasing out tillage. This year we are hoping to have success with 50% no-till corn again and 100% no-till beans and wheat. My husband is as happy as a kid in a candy shop now that he's sold our plow and replaced our planter. He's proving that he believes in this method wholeheartedly. 2018 will see 100% no-till-everything.
Now it's up to his management techniques to make it all work. We will knowingly take a yield decline on our corn because it doesn't adjust well to no-till initially, but from our experience, the hit wasn't so bad that it couldn't be done knowing the gains we will have down the road.
Farming is clearly as much of a long-term game as it is a short-term one.
Although Mike has received a lot of criticism over the last few years about changing the accepted style of farming, more farmers in the area are following suit and the skeptics from the conference, though they may not admit it, like to pick his brain for cover crop info regularly.
Fingers crossed for good weather, good yields but mostly, good luck!
