The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is encouraging Wisconsin farmers to keep the tillage equipment in the machine shed during No-Till November.
MADISON, Wis., November 10, 2022 – The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is encouraging Wisconsin farmers to keep the tillage equipment in the machine shed during No-Till November.
First launched in 2017, the NRCS project is a conservation twist on the national cancer awareness No Shave November campaign that encourages people not to shave during the entire month. The NRCS campaign encourages farmers to “keep the stubble” on their harvested crops fields. The campaign has reached more than two million people nationally through Twitter and local media since 2017.
“No-till farming is a cornerstone soil health conservation practice, which also promotes water quality while saving farmers time and money. It is also a key climate smart practice, that helps store more carbon in the soil,” said Wisconsin NRCS Acting State Conservationist, Jamie Keith. “One of the first soil health principles is ‘do not disturb’. This campaign is a fun way to remind farmers about the important relationship between tillage and soil health.”
Father and son Duane and Derek Ducat along with partner Dale Bogart, of Deer Run Dairy, in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, milk 1,500 cows, manage 2,400 acres and do custom work on 1,400 acres in the area. In partnership with the NRCS, through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the brothers joined on as a Demonstration Farm in the Door-Kewaunee Demo Farms Network to try advanced farming technologies like low disturbance manure applications, cover crops and planting green. “The ability to no-till plant directly into living cover crops in the spring helps us save time and fuel on multiple passes over the fields” stated Ducat. “These no-till fields also allowed for easier silage harvest in the fall with less damage done to the fields due to the increased carrying capacity of the ground,” he added. By “keeping the stubble,” farms like Deer Run Dairy are simulating tillage by using cover crops to increase soil health, control erosion, reduce compaction and more. Thanks to their focus on land and animal stewardship, Deer Run Dairy was selected as a 2022 recipient of the Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability award from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.
For more information about soil health and no-till, please go to www.nrcs.usda.gov/wi.
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