Residues key to top crop returns

Speaking at the recent SA No Till Farmers Association annual conference at Tanunda, Mr Jasa said preserving as much crop residue - in the form of stubble and chaff - was essential to maximising crop performance.

"I hear a lot of people talk about converting the residue to income," he said. "In Nebraska we sell the corn stalks - here I've seen a lot of wheat residue or straw baled-up ready to be hauled away. You can convert it to income if you're paid enough, but you've got to think about what's in that residue - how many nutrients, how much carbon.

"I can go to the local fertiliser supplier and buy the nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and sulphur, but every half-tonne bale is a $20 bill at the fertiliser dealer to replace the nutrients you're hauling away.

"Worse yet you haul away carbon from the soil, and there's not too many dealers who would sell you carbon to put back in the soil.

"Too often we get caught saying we have to harvest what we can to make some money this year, but I need to preserve my residue and my soil for next year - think ahead."

In addition to a loss of nutrients, removing crop residues left soil exposed to the sun and wind, increasing moisture loss. Leaving residues intact cuts evaporation and gave a growing crop access to extra moisture.

Mr Jasa also warned against burning stubbles for snail and weed control.

"I hate burning residue. When you look at that black smoke going up, that's carbon that should be going up into the soil," he said. "Stop burning your residues for weed-seed control because it doesn't work when the seeds are down on the soil surface."

An avid campaigner for no-till cropping systems, Mr Jasa first embraced the practice in 1978.

"We have done some dumb things with tillage, thinking we're preparing a seedbed, but we're destroying the factory that's going to raise our crop," he said.

"The soil under a no-till system is the most uniform seedbed you can have, because Mother Nature does that for us - we actually mess it up with tillage.

"Tillage beats the life out of the soil. It reduces the pore space between the soil particles. There's less room for water to seep in, less room for roots to penetrate and less room for air-exchange within the soil."

The conference was well-attended by farmers from the Yorke Peninsula, Mid North, Mallee and Upper South East. The speaker line-up included a strong contingent of croppers from SA and the eastern states.

Soil2Soul directors Peter and Nikki Thompson, Roma, Qld, spoke about establishing their new venture based on Conscious Capitalism, where land ownership was separated from land management and food production.

Under the Soil2Soul model, investors pay for the land, and a management team of farmers - each with their own specialised skill set - runs the land efficiently and sustainably. The duo believe their model will encourage more young people into agriculture by eliminating barriers to entry and removing financial risks through the payment of salaries.

"Where we live, average properties are worth $15 million," Peter said. "No one starting today has got that sort of money.

"We need to attract people into agriculture, and we need them to stay in it. To do that, we need farmers to be valued.

"Our big thing is about getting young people into farming. We at S2S will be utilising our experience and wisdom to mentor those farmers."

* Full report in Stock Journal, March 6, 2014 issue.