No-till as one form of conservation tillage took a quantum leap forward in the US according to Dan McCain, Field Specialist with the Conservation Technology information Center (CTIC). The second type, Ridge-till also increased in acreage--however the third of the three types, Mulch-till failed to show a significant increase. Perhaps the farmers with compliance plans calling for residue management using chisels, discs, sweeps, blades etc. are just not ready to make the switch yet McCain concluded.

All these acreage numbers and information on highly erodible land and conservation reserve program acres by the more than 3000 countries in the US are reported in the 1991 National Survey of Conservation Tillage (including other tillage types) manual releaser October 29th by CTIC. McCain and other staff members have been assembling these data since field reports arrived early last month. The results are used extensively by CTIC's ag industry members, researchers, Market analysists, and many others interested in the developing trends of residue management.

It seems there is positive growth o no-till, the most erosion reducing form of conservation tillage, and continuing the unheralded ten year steady growth of ridge-till, the best system for reducing chemical inputs in a sustainable ag system. However the really big surprise s that higher residue levels are not being reported in fields that farmers use complete soil disturbance without inversion (plow) tillage. These mulch-till acre commitments weigh heavily in the Farm Bill conservation plans according to McCain. Of the 130 million acres of highly erodible land on 1.2 million farms, nearly half had relied on mulch-till to meet their compliance requirements. McCain concluded that perhaps many of these farmers nay not be committed to applying this practice until 1992 or later.

The annual conservation tillage survey has been complied each year since 1982 by CTIC. Significant changes were made to the definitions of conservation tillage types in the 1989 survey and these have remained stable since that time. Trending of these three years now can reveal an interesting story. In 1989, 25 percent of the annually planted acres were done with conservation tillage. Now CTIC reports 28-14 percent conservation tilled. Looking closer at each of the last three years, No-till has grown from 5-03% to 7.33% of the US planted acres. The Great Plains and western Corn Belt regional practice of ridge-till has grown from just under one percent to 1.15%. These two practices may still be in the minority of total planted acres but the trend is obvious.

There are "hot spots" where some of these conservation tillage types are growing so rapidly that they are becoming the "conventional" method of farming. No-till drills have become such hot sellers in the mid to eastern part of the Corn Belt, that it is hard to find a soybean field in some places that doesn't have "ragged, partly standing" corn stalks after the soybeans emerge. The soil conservation benefits are great according to McCain, and the "bottom line" economics are even better. For some of those areas not in the "hot spots" that produce crops well adapted to high tech no-till drills and planters, it is not a matter of IF the move to high residue farming will happen--it is a matter of WHEN it will hit, McCain concluded.

For Farm Bill Compliance, the move to higher residue farming, using conservation practices to cut slope length (like terraces).or managing slopes with contouring, stripcropping or vegetating borders, or changing to rotations with more meadow vegetation were all options for farmers to choose. Simply put, the majority selected residue management because of costs and ultimate benefits.

In the US there are now over 20 million acres of no-till planted annually, 3.2 million acres of ridge-till and 55 million acres of mulch-till. The five Corn Belt states have the greatest acreage of conservation tillage

with nearly 28 million acres--9.5 million o this total is no-till. This is also the-most rapidly growing area for no-till full season soybeans. Since 1989, the acreage has grown from nearly 1.5 million acres to nearly 3.2 million. Indiana alone increased from 30,000 to 690,000 acres of no-till full season soybeans in the past three years. All you have to

know is where the no-till drills are being sold and you can point to the "hot" county, McCain stated.

To illustrate the change in Indiana, McCain received a call about what was happening in no-till soybeans. When he named several prominent counties the caller said "that's what I was afraid of". Our company delivers fuel in rural areas and our route drivers from these counties are telling us that there is a "revolution" going on in their territory. It seems that the number of farmers using drills had increased dramatically. The caller concluded that their company was not against this practice for the good of the farmers but they had to project a 5 year plan for Indiana and what effects this practice would have on their future fuel sales.

In the south, cotton has been traditionally a clean tilled crop. The adoption of residue management systems has teen looked at with fear by most cotton farmers--it is very sensitive crop according to farmers and researchers. Once the challenge was tested and several years of higher residue seedbeds proved no significant yield losses, the conservation tillage acreage numbers increased. No-till cotton acreage has increased five times over the last three years. Leading states for proving this practice works are: TN, MS, NC, SC, GA, and AZ.

Full season corn continues to be the leading conservation tilled crop in CTIC'S listing of 12 crops in the US. Now at 25.6 million acres it has continued to lead all other crops. No-till has shown a steady rise since1989 and now totals 7.3 million acres or 10 percent of the total US planted corn. If no-tilled full season soybeans and no-till double cropped soybeans are added together, 7,918,202 acres, they have edged out the total corn no-till numbers, 7,556,242 acres, the first year since CTIC records started 10 years ago.

For acres to go into a no-till or ridge-till column, they must come from some other category. McCain explains that there has been a net decrease in acres only in the very low residue column (0-15%) since 1989. Mulch-till and the 15-30% "other tillage" column have stayed essentially static. Farmers may be moving all the way from "plow-till" to the highest levels of conservation tillage in one move according to McCain. It used to be that we thought the only way a farmers would change was to slowly concert through a series of machinery purchases, over several years before he would finally arrive at his most efficient system. Now "bottom line" economics and advanced technology are leading today's farmers to the most efficient systems directly, McCain concluded.