Five "No Till Heroes" honored by Conservation Partnership

Implement no-tillage systems and reap the benefits.

Updated 12/19/2007

Five “No-Till Heroes” from across the state of Kentucky were honored at the 64th Annual Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts Meeting held in July 2007 at Louisville, Kentucky. Each landowner received a “No-Till Hero Award” sponsored by the Kentucky Conservation Partnership.  The partnership consists of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kentucky Division of Conservation, Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts, and Kentucky Soil & Water Conservation Commission.

The landowners were recognized for leadership ability, willingness to share information with other landowners, and for an excellent job of maintaining and improving soil quality on their croplands through the implementation of no-till systems.

Most no-till heroes started their no-tillage systems to control soil erosion and time-saving benefits.  As time went on they realized other benefits as well. Fuel savings, smaller and less expensive equipment, fertilizer savings, increased water quality, and better soil quality are additional advantages gained from no-till systems.

These landusers have found that innovative chemicals, fertilizers, new seed technology, and advancements in no-till equipment have made implementing continuous no-till systems feasible and profitable for today’s farmers.

Soil quality is the ability of the soil to function to sustain plant and animal life, maintain and enhance water quality, and support human health and habitation. Soil quality gains are made when landowners implement no-tillage systems. These systems are managed for organic matter (soil carbon) and live roots.

The basics of the system are simple:

1) reduce tillage

2) sow cover crops and/or utilize crop residues

3) implement crop rotations to break disease, pest and weed cycles.

Soil quality gains from no-tillage systems are in the form of physical, biological and chemical improvements to the soil. Physical benefits include; better soil aggregate size and strength which means better soil structure, better infiltration, better permeability, lower bulk density, better water holding capacity, decreases in erosion, and improved water quality.

Chemical benefits include; higher cation exchange capacity (the sum total of exchangeable cations that a soil can absorb), which results in higher soil nutrient holding capacity and greater potential mineralizable nitrogen resulting in an increased soil nitrogen bank.

Biological benefits include increased carbon which serves as a food source for soil microbiology as well as for macro fauna and flora. For example, Glomalin is a protein of mycorrhizal fungi and when produced results in aggregation of soil. Increases in soil physical, biological and chemical properties enhance soil function while improving water quality, plant, and animal habitation. No-tillage system crop yields are very similar to tillage system yields. This means bottom line profits are higher in no-tillage systems.

We would like to congratulate and share the stories of the “No-Till Heroes” of Kentucky.

For more information about individual “No-Till Heroes” and how they manage for soil quality through no-tillage systems, please click on the links below.

R.L. (Bobby) James – Fayette County, Kentucky

Myrel Trunnel – Daviess County, Kentucky

Bob Wade Jr. – Hardin County, Kentucky

Jack Clark – Whitley County, Kentucky

If you have a nominee for a No Till Hero, contact John Graham, Soil Scientist

< Back to KY News...