FRANKFORT, Ky. — As tobacco producers move into harvest season, next year’s crop may seem a long way off. But for those looking to try something different in the field, now may be a good time to look at a way to produce the crop that has mostly been grown in the same manner for generations.

University of Kentucky (UK) tobacco extension specialists have partnered with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFW) to conduct research and promote conservation tillage to tobacco farmers. Bob Pearce, UK tobacco specialist, said conservation tillage asks growers to make a big investment in equipment, and until they see it work on their land or their neighbor’s property, they are hesitant to adopt it.

"What the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife is doing is helping get this research out to the growers," he said.

For growers looking to find out more about conservation tillage for their tobacco crop, Pearce said the local extension office is a good place to start. He also noted the KDFW has some equipment available if growers want to try out this method before making an investment. The agency received an environmental grant from Altria to help its contract growers adopt the practices, according to UK. Fish and wildlife environmental scientists Jon Anderson and Brad Brown are working from the KDFW side to assist producers.

For more than two years the pair have worked with more than 100 burley and dark tobacco growers, and have applied conservation tillage production to more than 800 acres of tobacco in Kentucky. Brown said several producers growing no-till this year have reported fewer incidences of washouts and ditches in those fields as opposed to their more conventionally tilled fields, even with the excess rain.

Pearce added the amount of tillage associated with tobacco is really destructive to soil structure and burns up organic matter, so the real advantage to this no-till process is maintaining long-term productivity of the soil.

He said there has been much interest recently about conservation tillage from growers, and many dark tobacco producers in western Kentucky have gone to an intermediate form of conservation tillage known as strip-till.

No-till farming isn’t new, and it isn’t new to tobacco. More than 50 years ago Kentucky set the stage for no-till production with the planting of the nation’s first no-till commercial crop – less than an acre of corn in Christian County. Since then the practice has become the norm for grain crops, but there are some notable differences between no-tillage in tobacco versus grain.

Pearce said because producers are putting a tobacco plant in the ground as opposed to a seed, transplanters have to run deeper than a typical corn planter does.

"There are some subtle differences that we have to understand," he said. "The biggest (misconception) I always run into is that people think with no-till, because the ground is firmer, that maybe they can be on there for planting maybe a little bit earlier than they could in conventional (methods).

"It’s actually the other way around. Because of the mulch and the residue on that surface, those soils actually dry out a little bit slower. We usually have to wait several days after we could start on conventional ground for it to dry a little bit more before we can set."

Other advantages to this method of production include fuel cost savings, some reduced labor cost and a cleaner leaf for producers – something that would be an advantage for producers in a year like this with a wetter-than-normal growing season. Pearce said this collaboration with KDFW has been a great partnership in getting more producers involved in this method of tobacco production.