Skip to Content
Conservation agriculture is a means to sustainable agriculture
Conservation Tillage
Common points in conservation tillage practices
August 18, 2010
A number of common points came through loud and clear by each of the farmers who hosted visitors during a recent field tour. Advance planning prior to the strip-till or no-till corn season is necessary. Laying out appropriately-spaced, shallow irrigation berms is desirable. Selecting and adjusting proper strip-till equipment for specific field conditions is essential.

Strip-tillage under optimal soil moisture conditions is critical, - meaning not too dry, but hopefully not too wet. Using GPS to align planter units with strip-till rows is necessary, as is the timely (usually within one week of corn seeding) application of herbicide. Finally, anticipating and applying irrigations earlier and perhaps more frequently than with standard till systems.
Farmers get a close-up look at a CT farm.
Farmers get a close-up look at a CT farm.
Tags: no-till (3), strip-till (2)
Comments: 0
Tom Barcellos consistently uses strip till in silage
August 18, 2010
Tom Barcellos of Barcellos Farms in Tipton, California, has been in the no-till and strip-till business perhaps longer and more consistently than just about any other dairy silage producer in the entire SJV.

Gordon Foster (pictured at right), a Barcellos Farms employee, has done the bulk of the farm’s no-till and strip-till corn seeding since Barcellos started with CT in 1993.

“The bulk of our corn is now strip-tilled,” he said, “due to the overall advantages we’ve seen with this system.”

Time and costs between crops are reduced. One of the primary lessons that Barcellos has learned through his years of using CT is the absolute need to be on top of water management.

“You may end up putting on less water with CT than conventional tillage systems, but you’ve really got to be prepared for earlier and perhaps more frequent irrigations," has been a learning-curve consideration that he reinforces to folks who are interested in getting into CT.

Tags: dairy silage (1), no-till (3), strip-till (2), Tom Barcellos (1)
Comments: 0
Viewing 1-2 of 2