The Rural Voice, 1979-04, Page 40Zero tillage
limited in Huron
Terry Daynard of the University of
Guelph has been running experiments on
the use of zero tillage for corn but in
Huron County zero tillage is pretty limited
according to Mike Miller, associate agricul-
tural representative.
Alternately Huron County is looking at
minimum or limited tillage.
Right in the last year Huron County has
been looking at things like modified tillage
using chisels plows and heavy discs. One of
the intentions of this method is erosion
control and it can also save more time and
energy than a more conventional plow.
Mr. Miller said lots of different methods
are being tried other than the conventional
plow but the early indications are that
there is a yield penalty so they've got to try
to either not have a yield reduction or as
small a one as possible.
"Moldboard plowing is still giving us the
best over all yield, but giving us erosion,
he said.
Mr. Miller said that there's been nothing
really final on minimum tillage but a lot of
data is being gathered and to expect a lot of
answers down the road.
There are quite a few people in Huron
County looking at the minimum tillage
system, he said.
He said some of the implements were
getting good yields in fields where there
hadn't been corn before. He said farmers
were still comparing results.
Mr. Miller said there had been talk that
there would probably be a double system
where some acres would still be plowed
and alternate tillage would be used on
other acres.
Currently on clay soils he said there was
a 10 to 15 per cent loss for no tillage and
approximately 10 percent on modified
tillage.
"We can't tolerate that sort of yield
loss," he said. He also said that on lighter
soils with zero tillage the yields had been
quite comparable.
Don Rader president of the Huron Soil
and Crop Improvement Association says
moldboard plowing still seems to work
best around his area of Hay Township.
He said he has heard dealers say that
moldboard plows outsell chisel plows 9 to
1.
Want to incorporate?
Talk to OMAF first
Incorporating the family farm seems to
be a fairly complicated sort of thing and
according to Mike Miller, associate agricul-
tural representative of the Huron County
Agricultural office the best thing for
PG. 38 THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1979
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