The Importance of Quality Continuous No-tillage

About the webinar

No-till on the Plains and GeoAgro had the pleasure to organize this inaugural webinar for the No-till University. The vision for the No-till University project came about because of the need and a desire to have top-quality information at the fingertips of producers worldwide so that continuous no-tillage (CNT) production will continue to expand and increase in quality. Its initial deployment is being funded by a Conservation Innovation Grant awarded by the USDA NRCS Oklahoma State Office.

In this inaugural Speech, Dr. Rolf Derpsch gives an overview of present issues and opportunities for no-till adoption in the United States.

Currently no-tillage has reached a plateau and in many cases is not sustainable. Under current practices it seems difficult to move the system a step further. This presentation deals with the different aspects that differentiate practices currently being applied in no-tillage technologies and quality continuous no-till. It analyzes the reasons why farmers in the US are using rotational tillage and show why permanent no-till systems with full stubble retention show advantages over the traditional system.

Also, it reviews some examples of poor quality no-till being applied by farmers and will address the necessary steps to be able to move no-tillage to the next level and make it a truly sustainable agricultural system.

This material is based upon work supported by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under number 68-7335-0-40. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Webinar Presenter, Panelists & Participants

Presenter: Dr. Rolf Derpsch. Please visit http://www.rolf-derpsch.com for more information on Dr. Rolf's background and research work.

Panelists included:

• Ed Di Pollina, GeoAgro Team Leader
• Brian Lindley, No-till on the Plains Executive Director

There were 190 registrants to this  webinar from North America, Europe, Oceania and South America. Click on the map below to see their distribution.

Webinar recording

Part 1 - Introduction - The No-till University

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Part 2 - The importance of continuous quality No-tillage - Part 1

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Part 3 - Questions and Polls - Part 1

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Part 4 - The importance of continuous quality No-tillage - Part 2

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Part 5 - Questions - Part 2

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Polls

The following polls were carried out during the webinar:

It is unavoidable to plow the soil to redistribute P concentrated at the soil surface or to incorporate lime in a NT situation

In a No-tillage system it is good to bale and sell part of the crop residues to have an additional income

To achieve the goal of quality no-tillage the most important thing is to apply a lot of fertilizer

Farmers in the US use rotational tillage because