By 1984 we were zero tilling cereals and in 1985 all our cereals were zero till but oilseeds were still produced conventionally. Oilseeds and broadleaf crops are important in zero till rotations. It is necessary to break the cycle of leaf disease which carry over on zero till stubble. We find it important to straw management as there tend to he less residue to deal with after oilseed and there is a year for the previous stubble to decompose. Rapeseed is seeded later than cereals thus it fits zero-till well.
Oilseeds also tend to be higher value.
For these reasons we have continued to grow rapeseed and for the last two years all my rape has been zero-till. I am convinced that not only does a zero-till program need rapeseed, rapeseed badly needs zero till. It is a crop which is very slow in establishing ground cover after seeding, thus prolonging the time it is vulnerable to erosion. It needs protection from wind which standing stubble provides perfectly. F caused heat canker and rape plants pinched off at the ground level and broke off when the plant bolted at flowering.