A recent drive from Madison to Baldwin via I-94 revealed that no more than 10% of the cropland visible from the Interstate had received fall tillage. Reasons may be numerous and include later harvest due to slower maturity in 2008, the early onset of winter, or a reluctance of growers to invest in tillage when diesel fuel prices were $4 per gallon.  Many growers are now faced with the decision of tillage or no-tillage; or if tillage will be done how much will be needed. This decision is likely very specific to a particular farming operation and factors such as whether manure has or will be applied, crop rotation, soil type, and if the planter can function in high residue will need to be considered. The final decision should be based on past experience and the expectation that return can be maximized by lowering the cost of production per bushel.

Historically no-till is practiced on less than 15 % of Wisconsin’s corn acres and this practice presents the greatest challenge to producers.   A planter that is designed to work in heavy residue is a must and the operator must recognize that slower ground speed is necessary, along with more down pressure to obtain a uniform stand and seeding depth. Growers that would like to increase the chance of success with a reduced tillage system and lower their cost of production might start by no-till planting corn into fragile residue situations found following soybean or alfalfa. Also no-till seeding of soybean into corn stubble has been shown to be very successful and is practiced on 40 % of soybean acres nation-wide according to the Conservation Technology Information Center.

A recent summary of a ten year tillage/rotation research study at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station that included fall chisel, fall strip-tillage, and no-till offered the following observations. Compared to chisel plowing the cost of production per bushel in continuous corn was lower 7 of 10 years in strip-tillage and 5 of 10 years in no-till. The similar comparison for first-year corn after soybean was 9 of 10 years for strip-tillage and 7 of 10 years for no-till. Where soybean was grown after corn the comparison was favorable 7 of 10 years for strip-tillage and 8 of 10 years for no-till when compared to chisel. More information on this evaluation is available in a Wisconsin Crop Management Conference Proceedings paper prepared by the authors, which can be downloaded from www.soils.wisc.edu/extension/wcmc/.

In summary, growers should carefully consider the need to perform full-width tillage in 2009. Some might want to use the opportunity to make a comparison between standard tillage and alternative practices. Start with situations, such as first-year corn, where the opportunity to succeed with no-till or another reduced tillage system is the greatest and refine tillage management over time.