Successful no-tillers also tailored soil fertility management to their particular fields and weather. The researchers hope the findings may encourage wider adoption of the soil-saving technology, first developed to arrest soil erosion. Only 5 percent of the of the growers in the Pacific Northwest practice no-till, according to a 1998 survey conducted by the national Conservation Technology Information Center, up from 2 percent in 1989. Nationally, U.S. growers used no-till systems on about 16 percent of cropland in 1998 compared with 3 percent in 1989. Young feels low and wide fluctuations in grain prices have discouraged growers from making the move to no-till.
People are hesitant when the returns are so risky.
I think they are especially concerned about the high investment costs. Farmers ask me if this is the time to try no-till. It is if they can move over that transition period of high investments. Other farmers bought older drills and rebuilt them in their shops. They went through several design modifications to make their drills work for them.