When the South Australian No-Till Farmers Association was formed a quarter of a century ago, approximately 5 per cent of the state's cropping land was farmed under no-till systems.
Today, as the not-for-profit farmer-driven association bids farewell, that figure has grown to approximately 90pc.
The organisation's resounding success in promoting the benefits of no-till farming systems and conservation farming means it has "run its race" and has "achieved the goal it set out to achieve".
These were the thoughts of current president and Minnipa farmer Gareth Scholz in informing members of SANTFA's dissolution motion that passed unanimously last week.
"South Australia has got the highest adoption of no-till out of any state in Australia, and largest percentage of cropped area under no-till in the country," he said.
"It has done what it set out to do 25 years ago and it has done it really well.
"It's got to a point where there's not a lot left for it to do as an organisation."
Greg Butler, SANTFA's research and development manager for 18 years, said rather than transition the organisation to another field, members decided it was best to farewell SANTFA on a high note.
In a strong financial position, SANTFA will contribute a generous $250,000 to legacy R&D with SARDI and the University of South Australia's Agricultural Machinery Research and Design Centre.
Reflecting on his time with SANTFA, Mr Butler said it had emboldened researchers to explore unproven topics and push the boundaries of cropping research.
He said the simple objective of helping farmers adopting no-till practices had undoubtedly been achieved, with SA having the largest area of land under no-till management in the country.
Beyond no-till, Mr Butler said SANTFA had been among the first to promote soil moisture monitoring in dryland systems, had assisted take up of disc seeding, and begun to investigate the challenges confronting the cropping industry in relation to emissions and fertiliser pricing.
But why was the no-till push so successful?
Mr Butler believes adoption in SA came in three waves.
Mr Butler believes adoption in SA came in three waves.
"The first driver was the environmental benefit of preventing erosion," he said.
"Erosion events that happened on the Eyre Peninsula and then in the Mallee and Riverland areas made people start looking at no till more seriously.
"I think the environmental concerns of soil conservation and preserving soil from erosion was one of the main driving factors."
Mr Butler said the next wave of no-till adoption was more related to time management and business efficiency.
"People realised that a one-pass seeding system allowed them to get more crop in in the optimum sowing window," he said.
"By sowing on time you give yourself the opportunity to maximise your yield.
"Most farmers over the past 10 or 20 years have been trying to get more land to expand their operations, and trying to do that with a traditional four-pass or five-pass seeding system meant that a lot of crop had to go in early or late because you'd be spending so much time in the tractor.
"Going to a one-pass system was a great enabler for growers that wanted to do more land, but still sow on time."
SANTFA FROM THE ARCHIVES: Zero till gets results
The third wave, he said, was due to the no-till systems contribution to growing grain of good quality, which was of particular importance in some tough seasons in the late 2000s.
"No-till systems generally let more moisture get to depth which was out of the transpiration range of younger roots which could then pick that water up later," Mr Butler said.
"If you look at some people that lost their farms in the 2008-09 drought periods, much of that was due to screenings and price spreads in the early days of de-regulated grain marketing.
"Being able to maintain - even in drought conditions - a decent yield and decent quality was integral in being able to market and get a decent price for grain in that time.
"It's not as if no-till has no screenings - in 2008 or 2009 we averaged about 16 per cent screenings across the state but if that was traditional farming we would have averaged 80pc screenings."
From a farmers perspective, Mr Scholz said the organisation's research had always been "cutting edge" and its events had fostered a sense of community where members could learn from each other.
"I've really valued the networking opportunities especially since becoming involved at the board level," he said.
"Because it's a statewide organisation it has really broadened our networks and all the farmers involved have been looking to push the boundaries and change and think differently.
"They weren't just happy with the status quo."
A recent change the Scholz's made based off SANTFA case studies and research was a move to a stripper front for harvesting in the hunt for more groundcover and moisture conservation.
The use of the stripper front to maintain more cover has prevented soil erosion, which has become even more important with lentils moving into their rotation.
"When we first started growing them a few years ago we were still cutting short with the Draper front," Mr Scholz said.
"By the time you cut your wheat stubble short the year prior, and then you'd sown lentils into that then cut them short, you just lacked cover.
"When we first grew them we harvested the lentils and the very next day we had a windy day and the paddock drifted.
"This last year we grew lentils after harvesting wheat with a stripper front, there was just far more cover and we felt far more comfortable."
Still driving the same work ute he did when he joined SANTFA 18 years ago, Mr Butler said the organisations frugal nature and the dedication of its volunteers had been the hallmarks of its success.
He said the National Landcare Program and SAGIT had been great supporters of SANTFA and enabled a lot of public benefit to come out of the organisation.
