Direct seeding has often been looked on with skepticism in the south west for these very reasons. However, there are many farmers who have adopted direct seeding in the south west that have successfully and dramatically reduced the amount of fallow in their rotation or have eliminated fallow altogether. In addition, in the majority of these cases, the method of fallow has also changed from tillage to chem-fallow. Weed and disease control has long been one of the primary reasons for maintaining tillage-based fallow. Your success is readily evident and the practice has been around a very long time so farmers tend to be very comfortable with it.
Many farmers believe that tillage also helps reduce disease problems.
However, research has shown that there is actually less disease problems under direct seeding as compared to conventionally tilled systems. For weed control, there often is a mistrust of relying solely on herbicides by many farmers which also helps justify conventional tillage practices. However, poor weed control using tillage under wet or very moist soil conditions is not uncommon and is very often not given the same criticism. In addition, under low disturbance direct seeding, some factors are generally not acknowledged by those considering changing to this system. Many weeds rely on mechanical disturbance in order to germinate.