By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — One oft-cited advantage of no-till is the crop residue’s decomposition into the soil will gradually add nutrients back for the growth of future seeds. But this is also one of the practice’s biggest challenges, especially when it comes to fertilizer application.

Phil Needham, a consultant with Needham Ag Technologies LLC of Calhoun, Ky., spoke last week about strip- and no-till at the annual National No-Tillage Conference in Indianapolis. With strip-till, he basically said using GPS precision technology to plant and fertilize is the best formula for success.

“Unless you can consistently plant your corn on top of clear strips using precision GPS, I don’t think you’re going to be happy with strip-till,” he explained, pointing out that deviating from the cleared strip by mere inches had resulted, in one study, in a 20-bushel drop in yield per acre.

That tilling presentations would be given at a no-till conference may seem contradictory, but Darrell Bruggink, managing editor of No-Till Farmer – the Wisconsin publication co-sponsoring the event – explained there are levels of tillage among attendees. For this 17th annual conference, he said more than 800 people had registered (266 for the first time) and probably 85 percent of them have worked with no-till in some fashion on their farms.

Others, especially first-timers at the conference, are likely thinking of going to no-till at least in part because of the current economy and their own financial situations. Bruggink said no-till is generally considered lower-cost because of decreased input spending and savings from less erosion and nutrient loss.

As for strip-till, Needham said it’s a better practice for states north of the Farm World coverage area, with the possible exception of part of Iowa; the benefits of strip-till “evaporate” the further south one goes. With good residue management and starter fertilizer, he said a no-till field can give a farmer yields equal to tilling in the same region.

Needham is not a fan of broadcast fertilizer, preferring the injection method to get down under residue and address the plant directly, but said if a grower must broadcast it’s not environmentally sound to do so before seeding.

He warned against using spinner trucks, explaining he prefers air trucks for precision. Among his suggestions for broadcasters was to attach plastic streamer bars to their nozzles for a uniform, controlled distribution of liquid fertilizer.

GPS with record-keeping is one way growers can monitor their soil year to year and know which patches of field need fertilizer and which don’t. Needham said there’s also GreenSeeker, a new technology that uses planter-mounted sensors to gauge the immediate health of plants and need for fertilizer while applying it.