Dr Guy Lafond with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has been doing no-till systems research for many years at the Indian Head Research Farm. He spoke at the Landscapes Transformed: The Quiet Triumph of Conservation Tillage and Direct Seeding Conference in late March on “De-mystifying conservation tillage – how myths were dispelled and progress made”. He examined some of the key developments that have led to successful no-till, myths that had to be overcome and future directions, challenges and opportunities.
Dr. Lafond suggested that the following were key developments leading to no-till:
- 1930s research on residue to control erosion
- One way disc seeders – first (very high disturbance) direct seeding
- Noble blade for low disturbance weed control
- Development of selective and non-selective herbicides
- Winter wheat
- Banding nitrogen
He pointed out some of the concerns that were voiced about whether no-till would work and termed them as myths that were dispelled over time:
- Concern that long-term health of soils would be compromised
- Concern that low soil temperatures would seriously hinder crop growth
- Concern that residues would accumulate and decomposition slowed to a crawl
- Scepticism that one pass seeding and fertilizing could work
- Concern that changing weed densities and communities would create havoc
- Concern that soil physical, chemical and biological properties would deteriorate
Looking forward Dr. Lafond looked at what will be the focus of cropping systems, challenges and opportunities:
Going forward he sees us focussing on:
- Enhancing water and nutrient efficiencies
- Fine tuning nitrogen applications
- Robotic scouting tools
- More winter crops
- Pushing the benefits of soil quality
- Soil degradation arrested
- Increasing soil quality
- Improving economics
- Buffering against extremes
- Less equipment costs
Challenges will always be with us. Some that Dr. Lafond sees are:
- An erosion of funding for no-till and conservation agriculture research
- Short term outlook to funding
- How to maintain the focus on soils and crops
- Finding the next no-till revolution
Opportunities also exist:
- Current global movement of conservation agriculture
- Much of the capital costs of no-till have already been incurred
- Environmental goods and services
- Increasing soil productivity
- Robotics
- Crop diversification
