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Conservationists celebrating “no-till November”
Midwest conservationists are celebrating “no-till November” by reminding farmers of the benefits of no-till management plans.
Illinois State Conservationist Ivan Dozier tells Brownfield the name is a spin-off of the popular no-shave November and they continue the play on words by encouraging farmers to “leave the stubble.”
“That stubble intercepts the energy rom those rain drops so you don’t get the detachment necessary for erosion and then it slows the runoff coming off of the fields. It can increase infiltration to reduce flooding and even helps from losing carbon.”
He says tillage was needed in earlier farming days to remove native vegetation and prepare a seed bed, but times have changed.
“That’s just the way we did things for hundreds of years. We now know that we just don’t have to do it that way and there really are a lot of benefits when trying to reduce the amount of disturbance.
Dozier says no-till management can also save farmers time and money as less passes through the field means less fuel and wear on equipment.
