03 June, 2010

Keith Thompson

The Thompson’s farm in the Osage area of Kansas. They run a 2500 acre continuous cropping operation with the addition of a cow/calf unit on permanent pasture.

Keith and his son Ben use a JD 1890 single disc seeder. They have added residue managers on the front to remove a thin strip of the stubble to enable them to plant into soil for a couple of reasons: no hair pinning & better germination with small grains. They utilise a number of crops; Maize, Sorghum, Sunflowers, Soyabeans, Wheat & Rye in their cropping program.

Like the majority of farmers, they used to have a Wheat:Fallow rotation. They moved to no-till 18 years ago and have not looked back. Keith stated that they have all but stopped this. But have still got a long way to go to repair the damage that the old practices caused. Working with soil scientist Ray Ward from Kearney Nebraska, they have discovered areas of the property that have all of the “A” horizon completely gone.

Both Keith and Ben agreed that they have lowered overall erosion, increased water infiltration, improved soil structure and improved trafficability. Also all of this has a very positive effective on profitability.
Thompson Wheel (star) and Row Packer
Some of the problems that they have encountered include slot not closing so he designed the Thompson wheel to crumb the side of the trench. Also problems with Nitrogen tie up in the first year years of zero tillage and full stubble retention.
Since We Got to The US It Has Rained
Corn Still Growing

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