No-till Farmer Podcast

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we're featuring Josh Lofton, Cropping System Specialist with Oklahoma State University. Lofton will discuss the timing of cover crop termination, differences in termination timing for various cover crop species, improper cover crop termination, and more.

Recently retired from a multi-decade career with the NRCS, agronomist Barry Fisher has been a long-time booster of no-till. Based in his home state of Indiana, Fisher’s efforts helped the state’s no-till acres grow to the point where it was among the states with the highest percentage of no-till ground in the U.S. Fisher devoted much of his government career to encouraging the adoption of no-till and cover crops. Over the years, he’s worked with thousands of farmers while conducting numerous field days and has tested a wide variety of no-till equipment options to demonstrate no-till best practices. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Fisher about his lengthy career and the changes in no-till equipment and strategies he’s witnessed over the years. Join in as Fisher talks about why aerial seeding cover crops in ridge-till fields was successful, the equipment upgrades that made the biggest impact on-till success, how learning to manage the microenvi

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we chat with Léa Vereecke and Nic Podoll, two recent additions to Rodale’s consulting team, to learn more about the process of transitioning land to organic.

With the current interest in climate change, sequestering carbon and farmers getting carbon sequestration payments being at an all-time high, many no-tillers have been excited about the thought of earning additional income through incentive payments. Whether it’s through current privately-financed carbon programs or new ones being developed by the Biden administration in Washington, there’s considerable interest in sequestering carbon to avoid the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But adding carbon incentive payments to your bank account may be easier said than done. There appear to be a number of roadblocks to getting on the carbon sequestration bandwagon, especially when it comes to being paid for having no-tilled for a number of years. Today’s spring 2021 episode of our “No-Till Influencers and Innovators” podcast will zero in on whether veteran no-tillers can qualify for carbon payments.

“A highly functional soil will reduce the negative impacts of our agricultural practices…Runoff and soil erosion are major contributors to degrading water quality…and as we discuss soil health, we are simply promoting the practices that by default will address both of those right off the bat…” – Bill Stangel, independent agriculture consultant, Madison, Wis. Healthy soils are key to productive and profitable farm operations as they can increase nutrient availability, improve water infiltration, reduce soil erosion and much more. But they can also lessen the negative affects some farming practices have on the environment. For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we chat with independent agriculture consultant Bill Stangel of Madison, Wis., who joins us to discuss some of the ways farmers can minimize environmental impacts by focusing on developing healthy soils. Listen in to hear about how different cropping systems are able to store carbon below ground, how soil type affects nutrient and water mana

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, we chat with soil health experts Ray Archuleta, Gabe Brown and Russell Hedrick at a Soil Health Academy training seminar held in Watertown, Wis. They talk about how regenerative agriculture is different from traditional conservation farming techniques, that can help farmers make more money and reduce inputs, why they like the Haney soil test and much more!

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we’re sharing the story of Kindred, North Dakota no-tiller Lynn Overboe, as narrated by frequent No-Till Farmer contributor Dan Crummett. Farming 1,200 acres near the North Dakota-Minnesota border, about 30 miles from Fargo, Overboe has developed a number of solutions and hacks to improve his chances of success over his past 2-plus decades of no-tilling.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer "Influencers & Innovators" podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, Frank Lessiter talks with Jason Casselman, a no-tiller from Fairview, Alberta, Canada to find out how they make no-till work so far north.

Join us as North Dakota no-tiller Gabe Brown discusses that experience and shares his thoughts on how government programs could be designed so as to allow farmers to adopt regenerative practices more easily rather than hinder their efforts, how regenerative ag can unlock biological functions in the soil, why he’s not advocating farmers sell their carbon credits – yet – and much more.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer "Influencers & Innovators" podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., Frank Lessiter talks with Retired Agronomy Consultant Harold Reetz about his approach to fertilizer management, including the 4Rs — right source, right rate, right place and right time — as well as other practices that underscore success in a no-till system.

Our guest for this week’s podcast is Brendon Blank, an independent certified forage specialist who works for Byron Seeds. Based in Ixonia, Wisconsin, Brendon helps farmers solve management problems by designing cropping systems that make better use of the land and human capital while focusing on diversity, enhancing animal health, and improving the soil.

In this podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Allen Berry about the various configurations he’s tried, why he’s currently planting 20-inch non-GMO corn, his thoughts on whether or not no-tillers need coulters, and much more.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we’re checking in with co-founder and co-CEO of Big Iron Auctions, Mark Stock as he shares some industry trends and predictions. Join us to hear Mark’s thoughts on the importance of transparency and honesty in online auctions, what the recent high commodity prices and low interest rates mean for the industry as a whole and much more.

For this podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Rich Follmer, who became known as the ‘grandfather ‘ of strip-till, about that early strip-till toolbar, how he started building berms in the fall, his thoughts on using cover crops in a strip-till operation, the future of the strip industry and much more.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, fifth-generation grower Kelly Garrett discusses how his management practices align with the carbon credits marketplace, why he started entering National Corn Growers Association yield contests, the benefits of using a soybean byproduct fertilizer and much more.

For this podcast, we, sat down with Bill Richards to talk about the history of no-till adoption on his farm, the early innovators that helped him along, such as Kinze founder John Kinzenbaw and international product engineer Ralph Bumheckel, and some of the equipment modifications he made that helped him successfully adopt no-till.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter, we’re sharing a conversation with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, entomologist Dr. Jonathan Lundgren to discuss a new research paper he’s written called “Defining and validating regenerative farm systems using a composite of ranked agricultural practices.”

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, editor Frank Lessiter talks with Thompson about how his understanding of no-till evolved through experiments with ridge-till, skip-till and strip-till before he converted 100% to no-till in 1991.

For this week’s podcast, we’re sharing a conversation between Cover Crop Strategies associate editor Sarah Hill and Bill Johnson, professor of weed science with Purdue University. In this interview, Johnson discusses how field management impacts weed problem, how herbicide applications influence cover crops and cash crops, herbicide antagonism, how cover crops can mitigate weed growth, and more!

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, editor Frank Lessiter talks with Marion about the discoveries he’s made in his nearly 4 decades of no-tilling, including why he says no-till offers at least a $50 per acre advantage over tillage, what he considers his biggest mistakes early on, his thoughts on getting P & K deeper into the soil profile, plans for capitalizing on the $4 return he gets for every $1 of applied nitrogen, and much more.