The day was well attended with over 200 farmers coming from across Great Britain and a couple of French men. Simon Childs & Will Scale were the main organizers. There were 4 speakers on the day. I spoke on No Till farming in Australia and disk seeding systems. Joel Williams spoke on soil Biology. Simon Childs talked abou t his experiences as he has converted over to no till. He purchased a second hand JD disc seeder and has been using that for the last five years. He gave 4 advantages 1. Improved soil structure 2. Reduced costs of establishment. 3 Improved timeliness 4. Increased Yield. He also spoke of some of the fears of reduced yield, increased slug numbers, and high residues that needed handling. To overcome his fears in the first couple of years he increased the seeding rate and put on extra nitrogen.
His work started at harvest with stubble management. He found keeping the stubble long and standing was the better way to handle the large amount of residue. He looked at Soil Structure and there was a large hard pan which the mulboard plough had created. He was told that he should use a chisel plough to break this up before commencing no till. Simon did half and half in his first paddock and found there was no need as the roots were good enough over time to get through the hard pan. He used press wheels followed by gutler wheel at rear to create loose soil over the seed. With this system he feels he needs to have more diverse crop rotations. Diverse rotations are needed to keep weeds & pests “guessing” and therefore not give them an opportunity to create problems and then resistance.
John Landers - Brazil.
Started with Direct drill/ no till in 70’s in Brazil and has seen a widespread adoption of this system throughout Brazil and other South American countries. He put the benefits of increased yields and sustainability to the following reasons. Decreased erosion, decreased runoff and increased CO2
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