Tillage Plot on Alan Stahl Farm
A cover crop demonstration plot was seeded on November 2, 2009 at the Alan Stahl farm as part
of an on going demonstration area for improving soil quality through minimum and no tillage
environments. The cover crop seeding was accomplished in late fall 2009 due to the late spring
planting and subsequent late harvest. Standard cut off dates for Annual Ryegrass seeding is October
15 and Cereal Rye is November 15 for south of I-70 in Indiana.

Watch and Learn!

TILLAGE PLOT FIELD DAY JULY 2009
A great crowd was on hand July 30th at the No-till Field Day at the farm of Alan Stahl located in northern Vanderburgh County. This event was sponsored by the Quad County Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) - Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick.

More than ninety (90) land users from the area attended. Presentations began with guest speaker Ron Chamberlain who presented current information on the use of gypsum, a byproduct of energy production, in agriculture. Other guest speakers were Rodney Rulon from Atlanta, Indiana who discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the use of cover crops in a crop rotation. Marion Calmer from Alpha, Illinois discussed the management of crop residue in preparation for a no-tillage environment. Matt Inzeo, Director of Special Projects and Legislative Assistant for Congressman Brad Ellsworth, flew in from Washington, DC to give the latest information on the new Cap and Trade Bill (HB 2454) and its impacts on the local agriculture environment.

 Thank you to our meal sponsors - Daylight Farm Supply and One Way Tree & Land Service – for the wonderful meal catered by Hornville Tavern.
                  
Matt Inzeo from Washington                         
DC sharing information on the
new Cap & Trade Bill.

TILLAGE PLOT FIELD DAY AUGUST 30, 2007
         
           
                 

MAP FROM FIELD DAY AUGUST 31, 2006

YIELD RESULTS GIVEN AT FIELD DAY AUGUST 31, 2006

2006 TILLAGE PLOT RESULTS
WHEAT RESULTS

2005 TILLAGE PLOT RESULTS

TILLAGE PLOT TOUR, MAP, PICTURES AND SOILS TEST DATA

 

  
                                                                             Barry Fisher, NRCS explaining No Till Drill

Vanderburgh SWCD Tillage Plot Soil Test Data
Soil samples were taken from all twelve blocks of the Tillage plot to create a baseline for the soil fertility levels
at the beginning of the five year test. This will allow us to follow over the study how the tillage practices in each
plot affect the soil fertility levels in each plot. Each of the twelve plots was sampled twice, the first sample being
0-4" in depth the second sample being 4-8" in depth. This will allow us to see if there is any stratification of
nutrients in the soil due to tillage not being used to incorporate the fertilizer. Since this field had been in no-till
for many years we expected to see stratification of the nutrients or a concentration of those nutrients close to
the soil surface.

The twelve samples taken from the surface or the 0-4" samples showed Phosphate levels that averaged 107
# per acre while the 4-8" samples for the twelve plots averaged 38 # per acre or nearly a third the level that we
saw in the surface samples. Potassium levels showed a similar, but slightly less drastic result. Potassium levels
for the twelve plots in the surface 0-4" sample averaged 396 # per acre while the 4-8" samples averaged 230 #
per acre. Soil pH levels were similar for the two sampling depths, with the surface 0-4" sample showing a slightly
lower average of 5.9 compared to 6.1 in the 4-8" sample.

After receiving the soil test information back from the twelve plots and seeing the concentration of soil nutrients
near the surface we decided to take a closer look at an individual plot and see how concentrated the nutrients
really were. We examined the soil fertility levels in one inch increments down to six inches to see how concentrated
the nutrients were near the surface. The data in the table below shows that Phosphorous levels were very concentrated
in the top 2 inches, and then quickly dissipated to be nearly 25% of the level at 6 inches as what was found in the surface.
Potassium was again concentrated on the surface, but not to the degree of the Phosphorous and had moved lower in
the soil profile.
Sample Depth 0-1" 1-2" 2-3" 3-4" 4-5" 5-6"
Phosphorous (#/acre) 196 200 137 82 70 55
Potassium (#/acre) 601 579 562 479 424 370
Soil pH 6.0 5.8 5.9 6.0 6.1 6.2

Southwestern Indiana Tillage Plot Unveiled
The 2005 Conservation Tillage Plot cosponsored by Daylight Farm Supply, the Vanderburgh County SWCD
and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA) was unveiled on January 31, 2004.

The tillage plot is a 40 acre site located on Alan Stahl’s farm which is on the east side of Vanderburgh County
adjacent to I-164. Conventional Tillage, No Tillage and Zone Tillage will be demonstrated over a five (5) year period
with a rotation of corn and soybeans on ½ of the plot and corn, soybeans, wheat and double crop soybeans on the
remainder of the plot. Each tillage plot will be replicated six times to insure accurate data is collected. All information
collected from the site will be published in the SWCD Newsletter and on the SWCD’s web site (www.vandswcd.org).

Alan Stahl stated "I quickly agreed to host the Tillage Plot to prove a point. I want to prove to those skeptics out there
that No Tillage will work! The land we are placing the plot on has not been tilled since 1994 and that was only done
because we had a wet fall and harvesting equipment rutted the field in spots."

Stahl Farms have been No Till farming since 1976 with a corn and soybean rotation. Alan estimated 2004 yields for
corn at 185 bushels per acre and soybeans at 55 bushels per acre. Alan stated the only tillage tool ran across corn
acres is an anhydrous ammonia tool bar for side dressing nitrogen.

Alan said "I would rather let the earthworms do my tillage for me! I have better things to do than to set in front of a
chisel plow all fall or spring. No Till gives me time to enjoy my hobby of restoring antique Minneapolis Moline tractors."

"Economics should be moving farmers to plant more No Till crops" stated Alan. "We have seen absolutely no yield
advantage to tillage on flat or highly erodible land" commented Stahl.

Brian Herr of Daylight Farm Supply said" I am extremely interested in the Zone Tillage aspect of the plot to see how
fertilizer placement effects yields in both a No Till and the Zone Till environment." Brian stated "Daylight Farm Supply
will have a Zone Tillage tool available for farmers to rent on an experimental basis." "Farmers typically will No Till one
or two years and not give the practice a fair shake and say that it won’t work for their operation" commented Herr.

"I want to dispel the myths about No Till farming" stated Darrell Rice District Conservationist for the Natural
Resources Conservation Service. "Farmers continually come up to me and say they tried No Till years ago and
it didn’t work" stated Rice. "There are too many operators out there that are No Tilling and wouldn’t change if you
gave them a chisel plow and paid them to plow up their land. They have seen yield increases and savings in both
fuel and soil. All of these things together make the profit margin much better."

TILLAGE PLOT FIELD DAY PICTURES          

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