The 1996 National No-Till Conference was held in St. Louis Mo. in January of this year. Since I was invited as a minor speaker, I thought our members deserved to know how the two countries compare on the subject of direct seeding.
The conference was attended by about 850 participants that filled out a survey on their operations.
Comparing the results to the previous conference in 1995 the results showed that the average cropped acre by those attending rose to 1775 from 1330 while the acres no-tilled increased to an average of 1250 from 1080. They grew something like 92% corn, 86% soybeans and 59% wheat.
89 % actively operated the farm and their average age was 45. The number of years no-till was eight. 52% applied their own herbicides while 17% had custom application.
67% of the farmers looked to dealerships for their primary information concerning no-till, while 35% looked to other sources. Agriculture publications represented 32% of the 35 in this category.
When questioned whether there were benefits to no-till, 67% said yes compared to about the same for the previous year. Most saw this in terms of labor and money.
When asked to name the challenges for no-till, 33% responded that weed control was number one, 15% said wet soils, 14% said cold soils, 10% said corn yields and 8% said fertilizer placement was their biggest challenge.
Involvement in precision farming showed 28% totally involved , with 18% doing field mapping, 11% utilizing G.P.S. systems and 10% applying variable rate fertilizers as a result. Some 40% of those attending would be planting a biotech crop in 1996, mostly involving corn.
Of those that no-tilled the land, 86% owned the land, with 70% cash renting additional land and fully 20% were operating under a long term lease( about 1/2 were on a 50/50 basis with about 15% on a 60%tenant/40% landlord system) When asked if no-till influenced the lease arrangements, 6% said yes and 94% said no.
Interesting statistics coming out of this U.S. conference led me to wonder just where a Saskatchewan based conference would compare in the numbers columns. In talking to some of the farmer participants, most felt there was a need to work on the machinery aspect of no-till or direct seeding, as we prefer to call it. American farmers still feel they must do a positive job of moving aside the residue, then place the seed, and then cover the seed again in their field seeding operations. Many were quite envious of our ability to single pass seed and fertilize with one piece of relatively uncomplicated machinery. They, therefor are very interested in acquiring some of our machinery in many field crop seeding situations, especially the air delivery components. The technology is originating in our prairie region, in conjunction with the prairie based machinery manufacturers, and is being exported to not only the U.S. but other parts of the world in an ever increasing number.
The concept is working and you are on the right track; I'm convinced of that. We just have to make sure we work on perfecting all the parts, and the world will begin to beat a path to our doors.