UK vs US - No Till

[Stupot70]

Hi all,
I had a question from one of my friends and wanted to get a more educated answer than mine (only been in the industry a few years) Any help greatly appreciated.

In the US they do a lot of no-till farming compared to the UK. I wanted to know what the difference is here about the process or the soil and why you till so much and so deep here??

Thanks

 

[jh.]

Hi all,
I had a question from one of my friends and wanted to get a more educated answer than mine (only been in the industry a few years) Any help greatly appreciated.

In the US they do a lot of no-till farming compared to the UK. I wanted to know what the difference is here about the process or the soil and why you till so much and so deep here??

Thanks

Because we are all cabbage patch farmers over here with a passion for shiney kit and making ourselves look busy . Now I'm away to grease my mouldboards ready for next time

 

[Brisel]

US no till was helped by herbicide tolerant crops where weeds would normally be killed by tillage. Europe does not have such biotech crops, relying on more herbicides though by the look of US GM spray programmes, they seem to be going back to the older herbicides thanks to resistance building up. Different climate here, and our crops yield more with our maritime climate and Gulf Stream helped warmth which means more crop residue to deal with. No till does seem to be gathering pace but not as quickly.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Survival, too, the family farm has long been an endangered species in the US.

It's a necessary adaptation to survive against government-backed corporate farms, without financial support from above you need a more resilient system for commodity production.
No-till systems promote resilience.

 

[yellow belly]

the traditional combineable crops in the us are more likely to be spring planted and autumn harvested
and the use of gm rr crops

 

[deleted user 837354]

They use no-till in the USA because if they don't they are either bankrupt or loose vast areas of topsoil. We are talking about land that may have once been prairie- native grasslands that have been tilled for generations, there is little or no backbone to it, no trees to shelter or protect the land from extremes of weather and if you tilled it to death the first good wind might see the topsoil gone.

Not only that but the economics of the job just don't allow for £75 of cultivations, £60 of fertiliser or £100 of chemical bill.

 

[7610 super q]

No, really ? Has the US fallen into the trap of No-till too ? ?

 

[Tomr10]

I believe they burn a lot also

 

[Chae1]

Its strange, doesn't seem to be many US farmers on here laughing at us.

Seems to be plenty from other countries. Perhaps the US ones have better things to do.

 

[Deerefarmer]

Its strange, doesn't seem to be any US farmers on here laughing at us.

Umm, about that

 

[teslacoils]

Humidity. Drier, colder winters. Drier, hotter summers.

Winter stops. It gets dry. It stays dry. None of this damp, maritime climate bobbins.

My family in South Dakota start irrigating not long after the snow melts. My family in North Oregon have weather more like ours and don't direct drill.

 

[Chae1]

Umm, about that

Edited it for you!

 

[Bury the Trash]

Slugs and roundup , yuck.


Cant be about fossil fuel savings can it ....

 

[PostHarvest]

I believe that in quite a number of US states, ploughing is illegal due to measures to prevent dust-bowl soil loss. In addition, big tractors with wide min-till seed drills dramatically cut the time and cost of crop establishment. Cereal yields in the USA and Canada are much often much lower than ours, so mouldboard ploughing is not economical.

 

[Lincsman]

Many places in north america get frost down to 2', it does the subsoiling and cultivating for them free.

 

[suffeks]

you plough a field that's 5x5 miles lolllll

 

[Dead Rabbits]

I believe that in quite a number of US states, ploughing is illegal due to measures to prevent dust-bowl soil loss. In addition, big tractors with wide min-till seed drills dramatically cut the time and cost of crop establishment. Cereal yields in the USA and Canada are much often much lower than ours, so mouldboard ploughing is not economical.

I can guarantee you plowing is not illegal, it’s just that mold boards are to damn slow. The lessons of the dustbowl were not learned unfortunately.

No till by itself is not really a solution to soil degradation. It helps reduce and slow it though. Soil ain’t meant to be uncovered and dead for 7 months of the year.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Zero till became the norm & the default cropping system before any GM / herbicide tolerant crops.
As it is, the only GM glyoho resistant crops grown here are cotton ( a relatively small, specialised area ) & canola. From what I gather, the uptake of roundup ready canola has been a bit “disappointing”, with not that high a % if farmers taking it up. There are other control options available & there is a lot of legislation / auditing involved in growing a GM crop here. Personally, I see no advantage to growing it over non gm canola, especially if trying to keep it segregated, or missing out in non gm markets. I wouldn’t bother with it.
I am 54, & the bulk of my farming career for about the last 30 years ( as an employee, a farmer & a planting contractor ) has ALL been zero till.
The only GM crop I have had any involvement in has been cotton, but the BIG uptake in that was for insect control, not necessarily herbicide resistance

 

[Farmer Roy]

the traditional combineable crops in the us are more likely to be spring planted and autumn harvested
and the use of gm rr crops

zero till became the standard system in MANY areas long before the introduction of GM or RR

I know there is massive uptake of RR in the US, but that certainly isn’t the case here, where zero till is the “norm”
We also have multiple cropping seasons, we could be planting & harvesting in all 4 of our seasons, but divided simply between cool season crops & warm season crops.
I keep hearing this line about zero till & GM RR, but it is just a lame excuse & a furphy


furphy - a lie

 

[Farmer Roy]

Further to the furphy of GM, RR, herbicide tolerance etc, Gabe Brown is just the most obvious example, but there are plenty of people in the US who are zero tilling with NO herbicides at all.
Here in Australia, there is a lot of interest in the same, but needs tweaking & experimenting to find ways that suit our climate. Col Seis is the most well known example, with his Pasture Cropping.
The general experience with zero till ( by that I mean keeping all crop residues & ground cover, none of this bare soil DD sh!t ) is that herbicide & fertiliser use reduces over time & soils become much softer & friable

The BIG difference between the UK attempt at zero till & how we do it, is we aim for maximum stubble retention & ground cover. Ground cover IS KING !!!!
You NEED to retain that straw . . .