Corn School: Why do farmers till corn stalks?

[@EDBZ28]

We have slug issues here in WNY and that's why no-till can be a challenge. Disrupting their environment with some sorta tillage, like a VT or speed disk mostly takes care of them.

[@nazzarenoceretti8025]

👍💚😊🙋‍♂️🌈🍀🍀🍀🍀

[@LtColDaddy71]

The bottom line is that BT corn kills soil microbes and the stalks could sit there for a decade if left untouched. My stalks are totally gone after about 100 days, but I have more microbes in a spoonful of soil than all the people who have ever walked this great earth.

[@Yotaciv]

Its only toxic to insects, its fine for bacteria and fungus. They do most of the work anyways.

[@LtColDaddy71]

@@Yotaciv that’s simply not 100% true, and what’s even worse is that it’s not true for the bugs in our gut as well. It’s the cause of autism. Time will prove it. Just wait and see. Our gut flora is essential. We can’t live without it. We need to stop listening to the people who assured us about agent orange and DDT if we expect to thrive as a species.

[@andrewschott3635]

Not happening in ND

[@cowwhisperer8927]

What is BT?

[@LtColDaddy71]

@@cowwhisperer8927 Bacillus Thuringiensis

[@peterclark6290]

Because Regenerative Agriculture is just too many syllables for these farmers. Leave it up to the young guys coming through who haven't forgotten how to read and write. But the old dudes have to be seen being busy and not necessarily being smart. The less you have to do for the same yield is an automatic increase in revenue. The plow (plough) once you've Keyline plowed to get rid of any compaction is a destructive tool; to fertility, to water retention, to the life in the soil, to keeping carbon and decaying matter where it ought to be, feeding the bacteria and fungi who deliver it to the plant; a symbiotic dance that started long before humans thought they could do a better job. A Roller-Crimper is all you need to get rid of the cover crop when it's time to plant. Select a smart cover crop and you won't even need to fertilise (another saving). This all began 70 years ago (Andre Voisin) - leave nature to do what it does best - turn dirt into soil.

[@jasonhessels]

Where do you farm?

[@jasonhessels]

Do you honestly think what’s best you is what’s best for all? I am a young farmer. I couldn’t care less about “been seen to be busy”. I have bills to pay. I’m going to do what is most profitable and sustainable for the long run.

[@peterclark6290]

@@jasonhessels Study Regen and learn how to reduce those bills (esp. farming 'inputs' such as fertiliser and the various -cides, they are evidence of chasing your own tail. The long run is restoring the biological activity in the soil so that anything that can grow there will. When you get to fungal dominant compost extracts you'll be almost there. Here's a sweetener _(sign the back of checks, not the front):_ kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4bQepenZalpY6M