Farm Basics

Brian and Darren Hefty talk about the advantages and disadvantages of a no-till system.

[@gabrielwilson6484]

Aren't all the "cons" in this video exactly why cover crops are planted by most no till farmers? It allows for Deep nitrogen fixation while sequestering more carbon for soil health and fertility. There was not even a mention about that.

[@backdoorslutz9598]

You only addressed one con with cover crops. What about overwintering pests and disease?

[@angelaellis3150]

@@backdoorslutz9598 there are several products that can be put down.

[@mandiegarrett1706]

EXACTLY!

[@stopitmike]

@@backdoorslutz9598 “Insects are natures garbage collectors and diseases are her cleanup crew.” - William. Albrecht

[@tompoynton]

bingo

[@TheNorseTexan]

Fantastic, unbiased, non-religious overview. Much appreciated...

[@nivethaselvam9318]

Just the information I needed. Thanks a lot!😀

[@brijetteromstedt4673]

Just stumbled on your channel and lovin it. Keep it up.

[@bensonboys6609]

I love that you guys mention the cons. For widespread adoption, you can’t just list pros. You have to be honest about what’s holding people back and what their legitimate concerns are. The only way to solve those problems is if you have identified those problems in the first place.

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: on.soundcloud.com/re7bb

[@johnpeters8929]

Great video I finally understand both sides

[@LtColDaddy71]

It’s an old video, but we could go back and forth on the pro’s and con’s all day. I started out on ground that was no till, and cover cropped. The guy was way ahead of his time. He loved his burn down though. It was very fertile ground from the get go, but just as hilly as can be. I worked for old Leon, the farmer who sold me my 1st farm, from the time I could reach the steering wheel from the drivers seat, and I worked a lot with my grandpa. One man taught me that it’s not how much you sell it for, it’s how cheap you can grow it. The other guy taught me you’ll never make any money doing what everyone else is doing, sell people stuff you can make money on. My grandpa never participated in commodity ag. He milled grains for flours, and feed, sold dry beans, red corn grits, blue and heritage yellow corn for a tortilla maker in Chicago. Of course he always had a stream of farm visitors for meat, eggs, milk, cheese etc… Boy he never grew anything on the cheap though. That guy had to be making 10 tillage passes every year. He kept 1/2 the farm in grass with cattle on it, 1/2 in tillage. I picked and chose from what I see others doing who are bullet proof farmers. They are not caught up in the ROI house of cards. When that baby falls, it kills you, or you end up doing a swan dive in to a grain bin, hopping they say it was an accident. We all have to pick what works for us, and live with the consequences. If you want to fix farming, never pass another farm bill, let farming work itself out. Everyone will magically figure it out.

[@joaquin2049]

Hi, watching this from the Philippines 😊☺️

[@davidbass7593]

These practices work really well on home garden practices

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/12-13-21-prepay-risks-and-benefits?si=0ae86872c0234d20974ce00c92074b9f&#t=50:21

[@urielmenalled7931]

Thanks for the great content. It would be awesome if you guys could add some sources to the end of your videos.

[@Ryin88]

I would love to see an experimental small land plot test. No till, no herbicide. Woodchips after harvest. Or have AgPhd work with their green waste management to get their composted waste. Yes they'll be fuel cost. But Im curious if the "living earth" benefit with provide more yield

[@AgPhD]

Thanks for your comments. Brian and Darren addressed them on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/03-30-20-pre-emerge-corn-herbicides#t=42:33

[@philstat100]

Thank You.

[@nebula1919191]

Has anyone tried a controlled burn of the remaining stalks? Seeing as the flame thrower exists and it needs a reasonable application, why not? The Mayans would burn patches of forest and grow corn on shallow limestone bedded fields. I've seen them use this trick to rid railroad tracks of weeds also.

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/10-26-21-lime?si=a5e2b738257b402a9b2148fd7f863d6f#t=30:52

[@nebula1919191]

@@AgPhD well that also explains why my lawn loves banana peels. Lots of K.

[@AgPhD]

@@nebula1919191 Brian and Darren addressed your comment on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/11-02-21-harvest-updates?si=cffaf6d857394e0f92e07c3328d78125#t=58:23

[@bobnewhart4318]

Will all the corn starch breakdown for the next season if using the no-till method or do they have to be mowed down?

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your question on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/04-09-20-alfalfa-production#t=54:54

[@zeusmacafee5097]

Not all of it will break down but the leaves most likely will

[@jeffschmidt8491]

What do you when ur on clay soils and you spread manure what practices would work best with combine tracks

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comment on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/02-21-22-soil-health?#t=16:28

[@faizanmasudniazi4988]

Is no tillage system work on land which not cultivated for 20 years and is we get good production of wheat plz guide me

[@JohnWilliams-iw6oq]

How about a combination of till and no till? On a home veggie/fruit garden scale I use compost in an effort to recycle and build the soil but I also use chemical fertilizers which I apply at the start of each season and at a very low rate in order to protect the soil biota. Perhaps deep ripping every 2 years would help with nutrient penetration?

[@yangcn1263]

but the corn roots stay long time in the soil, how to plant new seeds without taking off them?

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your question on Ag PhD Radio: on.soundcloud.com/XRWH3

[@PADKOTEpradeep]

Adopting no tillage is advantageous ok... But how should we deal with the weeds that rises faster and insects that are protected under the surface of the soil due to zero tillage...can you plz elaborate on this with one more brief video

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/07-01-21-corn-rootworms#t=41:15

[@prjndigo]

It needs to be called "no turn" because you still need to do pan-ripping, slitting, debris chopping and drilling and those are all tillage but not turning the soil. That's what plowing is; _turning_

[@AgPhD]

Brian addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: on.soundcloud.com/W9CN8

[@vivalaleta]

Herbicides kill all the necessary systems. It's a terrible idea. Leaving armor on the ground and then planting through it makes it very difficult for random weeds to find the soil.

[@alroyesserrao]

I guess introducing micro organisms into the soil will help out a lot like korean natural farming

[@commonlinkproductions]

Great intro - although using herbicides is going to kill a lot of the microorganisms you're trying to preserve.

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comment on Ag PhD Radio recently: soundcloud.com/agphd/04-02-19-plant-tissue-analysis#t=5:04

[@kladpapier]

I guess soil compaction might be an issue with no-till as well, since the ground never gets loosened up. Conservation tillage or Strip till seems best, gives you the best of both worlds :)

[@portiaholliday8741]

kladpapier Cover crops with extensive root systems loosen the soil. Radish bring a nice tilth to the soil. I was too late for radish this year so I planted Winter Cereal Rye.

[@kladpapier]

Yes, cover crops to the rescue :) They didn't mention those in this video, but I think that a switch to no-till (or even to minimum-till) makes it inevitable to use cover crops. Yet they did mention in a previous episode that cover crops may not work in dry areas, as they do take some moisture out of the soil.

[@AgPhD]

Thanks for the comment! Brian and Darren addressed it today on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/01-04-18-fertilizer-placement-and-timing#t=56:42

[@farmermatt629]

Why does every guy that likes tillage thinks that no till ground is hard? My notill ground isn’t hard at all... will it support equipment better than conventional ground? Yes .... it’s called soil structure

[@neilrowe119]

Tillage creates hard pan at the level the tines reach down to generally. These guys are missing some of the puzzle pieces regenerative agriculture provides but at least they're a step closer to healthier soil building practices

[@kroneharvester]

you guys ever talk about heavy clay ground soils??

[@svetlanikolova7673]

Heavy mulch takes care of that problem,

[@roflstomps324]

@@svetlanikolova7673 How's that?

[@svetlanikolova7673]

@@roflstomps324 Why don't you listen to a few vids with people that demonstrate and have before and after pictures? Research?

[@svetlanikolova7673]

@@roflstomps324by what I have learned, you have to change the biology of the soil! What I would do is till once. Deep! Add sand and compost ! Plant mulch! After that you can use either goat/ rabbit compost , vermicompost or hey as mulch! Mulch heavy for 2 years! After a few years if heavy mulching , you will see a major improvement! ( As I saw in the before and after school in the videos! I hope that helped?

[@roflstomps324]

@@svetlanikolova7673 I'm asking you. I've done my research.

[@ianutube22]

I have a tiny +1 acre field. A neighbor ran a bush hog over it one season, I burned the field another season (didn't want to bother my neighbor again). Now I have my own bush hog and mowed it. Gonna leave the cut material and let it break down. Just need a way to water it that doesn't require flood irrigating from the irrigation district ditch. It's been building up material over the years, I'm going to disk it, plant and see what nature is made of.

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/04-04-22-visual-nutrient-deficiencies-in-corn?#t=54:33

[@ShermanT.Potter]

If you want to remove residue buildup and deposit it lower in the soil, a moldboard plow works great. I used to use it when I was organic. Be forewarned though, it obliterates soil structure.

[@kansaskristi]

There are no one size fits all farming emethod. What works on even one field may not work on another. About 1/3 of our fields are no tilled but not continuously. Cover crops work well in some years, not others.

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/07-16-21-farmer-friday#t=56:05

[@Beyonder8335]

I agree with you totally, we have some fields that we only VT, and others that we mulch rip every year, it’s whatever works for you

[@jimmyjohnson7041]

Thanks for your answer. But you didnt answer my question relating to no till then tillage. Im relating to tillage in the " row " not total tillage. 3:58 Farmers here in Iowa say they do no till...then in the same breath say they do " VT" ( vertical tillage ) This is tillage ! Anytime your moving ( cleaning the row area ) your doing tillage. I thought no till is when you go in and plant.....period !

[@BroScro]

incorrect opinions. for one he mentions the phosp somehow is in the top 2 inches of his soil. this is because of a hydraulic lift, im not sure how it works, but specifically inorganic salt compounds are lifted in water, to the surface of your soil. those bugs that he’s talking about getting rid of, is the only sign showing there are natural organisms still in that soil and it’s not just dirt, so maybe the inorganic fertilizers like the phosphorus salts u put in the dirt may be retained by micro and macro aggregates created by the bacteria and fungi to retain nutrients and prevent hydraulic lift on inorganic ionic compounds like your conventional farmer’s version of phosphorus.

[@leroyscncwoodworx841]

Check out Gabe Brown Video's from Bismarck North Dakota

[@websonic1000]

This is exactly what one could expect from people who are so used to intensive agricultural farming techniques. Spraying chemicals , adding fertilizers etc... Not even one mention of crop rotation which can serve as pest regulator. You expect to grow only soybeans or corn over and over and over every season? This is just plain silly idea. You can spray as much as you want, same diseases and pest will reoccur every year. Yes there are some problems with not till system regarding soil temperature which requires moving seeding date a little bit later in a spring, but that's it. As for soil getting less fertile, How do you expect that to happen if you spray chemicals over and over and kill microbiotical life???? Living cover crops (dead plants) on the top and spraying compost tea with water cannons over field ideally during or after rain will accelerate decomposition and all those nutrients will penetrate deep into the ground with rain water. I have personal experience with fields which are done with classic agrotechnical methods and fields with cover crops. Fields with cover crops soaks water much much MUUUUCH better that plowed fields. P.S. Making your own compost tea is bloody cheap any you can have thousands of liters in less than 24 hours, cost you just some sugar. .

[@mattlepp6644]

you/re so obviously not a farmer

[@trira1171]

Well said...

[@trira1171]

@@mattlepp6644 He is right. If the farmers dont understand this point, then they are wrong. Tilling, spraying chemicals, hybrid seeds... etc is not the way. It is costly and erodes the quality of soil over the years. Try and mimic the nature...

[@ZealotOfSteal]

@@trira1171 Here is a question tho. Is mimicking nature gonna produce enough harvest? Because all those intensive farming techniques that Matt Lepp mentioned were invented for a reason. At the end of the day farming is a business and you need to make money. I would also note that this "As for soil getting less fertile, How do you expect that to happen if you spray chemicals over and over and kill microbiotical life????" Tells me that Matt doesn't seem to know as much as he thinks he does. First off, a farmer wants to limit spraying stuff as much as possible. Those things cost money and if they don't increase yield enough they won't be used. Further, most farmers grow on the same area for many years. So it is in their best interest for the soil to remain good. Especially if they plan to pass down the business. So spraying random chemicals whilly nilly is just going to lead to bankruptcy. Seriously, most modern pesticides and herbicides don't affect the environment nearly as much as most people think. Effectively modern pesticides and herbicides are precision tools. They are made to affect as few things as possible, so that you target only the plant or pest you want to get rid of and leave the rest of the soil ecosystem alone.

[@tompoynton]

@@mattlepp6644 then why are more and more mainstream farmers turning to no till then, I guess they’re not farmers too?

[@jordan7172]

I have no idea why you’d ever do this for corn. Wheat makes sense but corn seems like you could really mess equipment up without any tilling

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comment on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/01-14-21-soil-health#t=39:41

[@codygolden7074]

Is herbicide safe?

[@AgPhD]

Brian addressed your question on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/06-11-19-prevent-plant#t=57:33

[@crpth1]

Cody Golden - Let me put it this way. My neighbor only spray when the wind is blowing in the direction of my land. NEVER do that when the wind blows in the direction of his house/barn, etc. :-( Care to wonder why?!

[@BoqPrecision]

@@crpth1 dude you need to take him to court...he is poisoning you

[@ianutube22]

@@crpth1 wow, what a douche

[@gardengym496]

Complaining about the bugs in the no-till approach does not seem to be correct. Yep, they might be the issue, but you simply complaining about the nature going back to your fields.

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/05-08-20-farmer-friday#t=58:15

[@gardengym496]

@@AgPhD thanks for notifiying me about it, did not think you guys actually monitor these stuff. However the question was not read properly though, unfortunately. Thanks for notifying though ;)

[@jimmyjohnson7041]

Said no till........then tillage........which is it ?

[@AgPhD]

Brian addressed your question on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/11-29-22-plant-growth-regulators-and-plant-hormones?si=2e9fbe9f638e46859f0fb63b98660c55&#t=43%3A14

[@MrEngineer_]

#savesoil

[@PrestigeWorldWidePWW]

velvet leaf

[@angelaellis3150]

I think these guys were looking for an excuse to conventional farm. They did not farm regeneratively, so plenty of excuses.

[@AgPhD]

Brian and Darren responded to your comments on Ag PhD Radio: soundcloud.com/agphd/10-08-20-reducing-soil-erosion-on-your-farm#t=35:53

[@1Corinthians151-4]

to the non farmers, if youre not going to support your farmer by helping them... then keep out of our business. it really isnt your job.

[@chrisharris4251]

They’re called roots! Making the “ew”sound. Not “rutts.” I don’t even know how to spell that it’s so messed up sounding. Like people who pronounce tomato, tomattow. Or potato, potattow. It’s a dang mater and a tater, roots not rutts. 😁🤘

[@chrisao1987]

If no till was the way to go then farmers wouldn’t spend the money to turn ground. There is a reason they do.

[@AgPhD]

Brian addressed your comment on Ag PhD Radio: on.soundcloud.com/tkRrc

[@neilrowe119]

Please listen extensively to Gabe Brown, Joel Salatin, Charley Massey, etc to weigh up along with what these guys have said. The whole picture of soil health is not contained in this information. The problems these guys had can be addressed.

[@AgPhD]

Brian addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: on.soundcloud.com/8vF1Q

[@vivalaleta]

@@AgPhD I'm gonna listen to your answer but it better be hell, yes.

[@vivalaleta]

@@AgPhD I think you guys are working for big ag.

[@webincomeincome8767]

Emmm. There are no cons of no till.

[@Beyonder8335]

Everything has pros and cons

[@Neeko_Z]

Big disgusting machines. Everyone on earth needs to work for their own food. Period.

[@AgPhD]

Brian addressed your comments on Ag PhD Radio: on.soundcloud.com/hcsHc

[@mikeross4]

Go and tell Gabe Brown how wrong he is!

[@johnhall1614]

So spraying chemicals to kill weeds? I am a certified organic farm.

[@markpiersall9815]

It takes 500 to 1,000 years to create an inch of soil. An inch of soil is lost every 13 to 65 years depending of conditions and techniques used. We will have Saudi Arabian quality soil if we continue with unsustainable tilling practices. Most of the crops grown in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are corn-bean rotation for use as feed for poultry, swine and cattle. Grazing Sheep, cattle and donkeys in a Silvopasture would reduce soil erosion and build the soil. The trees would pull nutrients from below the top soil and the livestock hooves would press the fallen leaves into the soil, creating a drought resistant organic rich soil. The Federal government in 2022 spent $5,500 per farm on average to subsidize crop insurance.

[@vivalaleta]

All the tillage shots were hard to watch, like bloody murder.