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The Huron Expositor, 1985-07-31, Page 6B6 THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JULY 31, 1985. New tillage technique taught to farmers BY ALAN RWETT Farmers from across Huron and Bruce gathered with a little curiosity to see and hear first hand about conservation tillage, a relatively untried technique of farming. In order for farmers to get a better understanding of the process, Soil Con- servation Day, organized by the Huron Soil and Crop Association, was held last Tuesday at the farm of Ray and Mildred Hogan in Ashfield Township. Area farmers received a chance during the day long event to tour different fields on the Hogan farm using ridge till, and no till, two types of conservation tillage, and con- ventional tillage for their white bean and corn crop. In addition, there were displays of machinery used in soil conservation, as well as four guest speakers from the U.S. who are involved in the practical applica- tion of conservation tillage. According to Jane Sadler Richards, OMAF's senior conservation advisor, there are three basic types of tillage, namely, no till, ridge and minimum till, which is an um- brella term which encompasses chisel plow- ing, discing and cultivating. The basis of conservation tillage, she says, is to leave the residue from the previous crop on the field rather than plow- ing it under using conventional tillage. The, residue helps to control soil erosion by in- tercepting the rain drops so the soil does not become detached by the rainfall. The residue serves as a dam which slows down the speed of the water and keeps the land moist for a longer period of time. The process is especially useful on the tops and side slopes of hills where top soil would ordinarily wash away and crops would suffer. "The residue helps toikeep the soil where it should be," she said. "No tillage, the most extreme form of con- servation tillage, is where tillage prior to planting is eliminated. The spring planting can therefore be done in May using a modified planter and tillage is Unified to a 2 - 3 inch strip. Ridge tillage, a syst m of put- ting five to six inch hills in which the crop grows, is used mainly for soybean and corn crops although there is experimentation done to make it useable for cereal crops," said Sadler Richards. Filter Queen "IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN VARNA" 482-7103 PECK APPLIANCES "IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN VARNA" •FILTER QUEEN SALES & SERVICE •VACUUM CLEANERS• Males 9erv1re to Most Mal..1 • FM COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS !For F.,m O Du•1nr••I • WHIRLPOOL APPLIANCES • WOODS FREEZERS •CENTRAL VACUUM SYSTEMS •INSECT & FLY KILLING UNITS IF of Indoor Outdoor Ua,l •GIFTS ar MANY MORE ITEMS VARNA, ONT. 482-7103 "There are a number of benefits to using the alternative tillage methods," says Sadler Richards. One of the obvious benefits is the reduction in soil loss due to erosion. The system also saves on fuel costs as well as time and labour. She says farmers using the system are generally "very happy" with the system and the yields are comparable or better to those using the conventional tillage system. Although the ridge and no till systems are relatively new, the farmer must be patient with these systems. "You've got to give it a fair shake before you decide if you're happy with it," she said. "Farmers should try it for between two to four years before deciding whether or not to continue with the systems," she said. ...Profit from using alternative... One of those convinced of the benefits of the alternative tillage systems is Dr. Howard Doster, an associate professor in the department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University in Indiana. He spoke about the economic returns from alter- native tillage programs, to the crowd on hand at Soil Conservation Day. Dr. Doster, after 20 years of research into alternative tillage methods in Indiana, released a scientific paper on the subject. He, along with three other professors from the university, found that the profit from us- ing the alternative tillage on corn and soy- bean plots varied from $20 to $40 per acre; The experiment also revealed that the no till system produced profits comparable to those of the ridge till on well drained, slop- ing soils. However, no till was found to be unfavourable compared with other systems on other soils. The tillage systems that were tested were, fall plow, fall chisel plowing, BACHERT MEATS ' Call us for your custom slaughtering needs SLAUGHTER DAY TUESDAY 'For your freezer, sides of Beef. Pork. Lamb or Veal We specialize in home cured meats and old fashioned country style pork sausage no fillers added All meat Gov't Inspected 1 mWIlealton eoal 887-9328 d REPAIRS TO • TV's — RADIOS • SMALL APPLIANCES • ELECTRICAL TOYS • VIDEO GAMES • ELECTRICAL TOOLS fts ETC. ill RADIO & TV Drummond St.. BLYTI4 523-4559 LARRY BOLGER PROP. (Formerly BIH Hull Ras.) spring plow, spring disc, till plant or ridge till and no till. Erosion connected with the systems turn- ed out to be the severest with the plow systems, to a lesser extent with the chisel and disc systems and minimal with the ridge till and no till systems. The experiment concluded that the alter- native tillage systems are an economical alternative to the conventional or moldboard plow system for corn and soy- beans in Indiana. Most importantly, Dr. Doster said the types of soils found in In- diana are relatively similar to the soils found in Huron County. Doster said farmers may be deterred from using the new tillage systems because of the cost of selling or replacing existing - equipment xistingequipment. He said a farmer may not want to take a loss when selling the conventional equipment in order to buy the' equipment suited for alternative tillage. However, much of the same equipment may be used as a conventional planter can be adapted to no till planting. However, Doster stated ridge till and no till are still in the experimental stages and "there is not yet stability in precise adapta- tions for equipment". He says those who have used it for thepast couple of years and have made equipment and soil adjustments are now getting the benefits of these tillage 'systems. "There's lots of balls in the air and there is certainly a lot more to be Learned," said. Doster. Carl Epply, a farmer from Wabash, In- diana, has been using the ridge till system for the past years and gave insights into the system for the approximately 200 who at- tended Soil Conservation Day. Mr. Epply found that his corn and soybean yield were reducing every year under the conventional moldboard plow system. After consulting with the rural conservationist for the area, he discovered that his yield pro- blems developed because of compaction in the soil after spring plowing. Your Money Can Really ADD UP 9�% 1O°'° 10½00 1 YEAR Guaranteed Investment Certificates 2 YEAR Guarantee Investment Certificates & 4 YEAR Guaranteed Investment Certificates 103/4°1° 5 YEAR Guaranteed Investment Certificates RATES SUBIECT TO CONFIRMATION A Federally Chartered Trust Company/Member Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation STANDARD TRUST Peter M. Shephard - Manager 138 The Square, Goderich, Ontario, Telephone (519) 5247385 237 Josephine St., P.O. Box 850 Wingham, Ont. NOG 2W0 Tel: 357.2022 Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday; Friday till 6 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 12 noon Under his present system, he does no plowing in the fall and plants on a 6 - 8 inch ridge directly into the corn stubble in the spring. After five years, he has found that the compaction problem was alleviated. "It made me feel pretty good that we were able to improve the soil with a new method of far- ming," he said. Since he began ridge tilling in 1979, the yield has increased dramatically. In that year, the corn yield was 156 bushels per acre while in 1980, a dry year, resulted in a yield of 145 bushels per acre. He said he has ex- perienced an 18 bushel per acre increase since switching from conventional plowing. In 1981, the yield increased to 155 bushels per acre. The bean crops have also been in- creasing with the ridge till system. ...uses only one tractor He says he saves on fuel because he uses only one tractor at planting time and he saves a lot of time because he does all the planting by himself. He says the saving amounts to between $40 - $60 per acre by us- ing the ridge till system. `Before, I could see nothing but trash, but now it bothers me to see clean tilled fields," he said. Rosemary Epply, a former broadcaster in the Wabash, gave a recitation on the soil and how it affects each of us. She also spoke on the hazards of stress on the farm and how more and more farm marriages have ended in divorce when 20 years before farm mar- riages were rare. She said this stress ac- cumulates at planting time. With her husbands use of conservation tillage, the working hours at planting time are greatly reduced which eases the tension which farmers feel at this time of year. Ben Edmunsden, a farmer from Clayton, Indiana, has used the ridge till system since 1982. he says he is reducing the costs with every year on the system and the pressure' to get the crops in is greatly reduced with conservation tillage. "When we get up in the morning we just start planting. We find this a pure and sim- ple delight," he said. "We just plant day after day with nothing to hold us up." He says his corn yield is at 160 bushels per acre while his soybean return is at 45 bushels per acre. However, he says farmers must believe in the system "120 per cent" to make it work. "We feel like we're making some great in- roads and we hope to keep working on this," he said. Ray Hogan, who hosted Soil Conservation Day this year, has used conservation tillage for the past six years. This year he has 300 acres of corn and 50 acres of edible beans planted using ridge till. Another 110 acres is planted using conventional methods. He says by using the conservation tillage systems he is growing corn for $25 an acre less than when it was done conventionally. He used the conservation tillage in earnest with small acreage and found that it worked well on his farm. Before this he used a reduced tillage system where no fall tillage was done and discing would be done ahead of the planter in the spring. He says, however, if farmers are prepared to embark on a conservation tillage system, they should experiment to find what system works best for them. I With all the positive results in the United States with conservation tillage, he believes it should gain more acceptance in Canada. He hopes that some of the farmers who at- tended Soil Conservation Day will try it on their farms. "If 25 or so go home committed, it will have been worthwhile," saielHogan. Town life from. a city perspective In the event my naivete hasn't given me away yet, I've been here long enough to make an announcement: I' m not from Seaforth. For me, Toronto will always be home. That doesn't mean I'm not enjoying myself here. Quite the contrary, in fact. For an urbanite like me who had never been closer to a farm than his mother's backyard tomato garden, the move can require quite an adjustment. I was prepared to come up here and be bored out of my skull. But that hasn't happened. I've discovered you can find entertainment in a small town. You may have to work a little harder to get it, and be ready to do things you might never have seen yourself doing, but it's there for the asking. Like bingo, for instance. To me, bingo had always been an activity associated with dingy church halls and eighth birthday parties which took place on the one day of the year when the bowling alley was dosed. After living here since the beginning of the summer, however, I've really come to understand its attraction. It's a lot of fun. And you can win money. Which makes it even more fun. I find it amazing how quickly the human being can adapt to entirely new surround- ings. For example, after about two or three weeks up here. I went home for the weekend. i decided to go downtown on Saturday afternoon with my friend, which is something we'd both been doing for about 15 years. I spent more time on Yonge Street during my youth than just about anywhere else. I thrive, TILL WEDNESDAY by Larry Till even to this day, on its hum of activity. But that day I went with my friend, after being in Seaforth less than a month, I found it completely overwhelming. For the first time in my life, I actually noticed how many people there were. And it made me feel like I was on the midway at the CNE. Another thing I've noticed about small- town life is how intimate it can be, which I suppose is related to my new feeling about Yonge St. in some strange way, Because you're more likely to see people you recognize in a town like this, you really have to watch what you say and do. For a city -trained journalist, that can be difficult. I was accustomed to the anonymity of Metro Toronto's faceless millions. It never occurred to me I was writing about real people - until I came here. I think that makes the journalist more accountable. which is good not only for him or her, but for the readers. There is a story which illustrates what I mean. A couple of weeks ago, I did a review of Stratford's performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. Having grown up in the city, I was used to writing reviews and getting no reaction to them except from my immediate contemporaries. TAKING THE JOB HOME WITH YOU? WHY DON'T YOU TAKE TIME OUT AND RELAX WITH A COPY OF 401.Pkisitor � X527-0240 FOR A SUBSCRIPTION CALL 527-0240 When I went into the bank one day last week, the teller proceeded to let me know exactly what she thought both of my review and the show itself. Strangely enough, I enjoyed her honesty. As a reaction, such a sign of life was wonderfully refreshing. I didn't even mind that she disagreed with me. I was so thrilled at the thought of somebody actually taking the time to read my stuff, it didn't matter. Any reaction is better than no reaction. One final incident cemented my opinion about small-town life. I was having a problem a couple of weeks ago with a small appliance I took it into a store here in town to show them the problem, and the owner sold me the piece with which to repair it. As I was about to leave, he took the appliance and fixed it for me on the spot - at no charge. I was not only grateful, but shocked as hell That would just never happen in the city. Negative stereotypes can be awful. When they're shattered and the truth emerges. you feel as if you've unravelled some deep mystery of the universe And that always makes you happy. Win . (Continued from page B1) On Thursday the ladies are host to a ladies pairs tournament starting at t :30 p.m with a potluck supper. On Sunday August 4 Seaforth will host the Lome Dale trophy tournament mixed pairs starting at 1:30 p.m. This is a popular tournament each year so all members wishing to bowl should be sure and put your entry in soon. In men's pair lawn bowling held in W ingham on Saturday Fred Tilley and Sandy Pepper won first, taking The W estern Foundry Trophy. Eric Matzold and Art Finlayson placed fifth. Good Bowling to all. Boogie (Continued from page 34) Murray. She received a telephone call Sunday from her son Gilbert and family in Ottawa. Pat and Patricia Murray of London also visited. Mr. and Mrs. W alter Gee of London visited with Bill Miners. Mary Lamont visited Kelly Lamont. Gladys Ruston home for the day on Sunday. Sheila Ryan and children visited with her mother Carol Geddes. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Coulter of Kitchener visited his sister Irene Omand. Mabel Handy celebrated her 83rd birthday on Sunday. Happy Birthday was sung along with best wishes from the residents and staff. Visiting Mabel were her daughter and husband from Clinton, A. Crozier from Seaforth and Margaret Garrett and friend James Lupton. Gladys, Jack and Sharon Van Egmond visited also with Dave and Eva Netzke. W e are sorry to report Verna McClure is a patient in Stratford General Hospital. W e wish her a speedy recovery. L'en Bloomfield visited his brother Morley at Bethany Lodge last week. Subscription hotline 527-0240 FiHuron xpositor