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No-till shouldn’t lead to increased weed pressure

A soil health expert with the Natural Resources Conservation Service says farmers transitioning to strip or no-till shouldn’t worry about increased weed pressure.

Barry Fisher is based in Indiana and helped launch the state’s Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative.

He says as producers phase out conventional tillage, the weed spectrum will change.

“You will move to more of the small-seeded broad leafs (and) small-seeded grasses and/or some of the bi-annuals.”

Fisher tells Brownfield when farmers stop disturbing the soil surface, less weed seeds are able to sink in.

“If we really do a good job early on in the transition, we actually are seeing a lot of producers have less weed pressures as they look down the road.”

He says cover crops also help limit weeds that typically like a no-till environment.

Fisher will be a featured speaker at a Land and Stewardship workshop Thursday near Lewiston in southeast Minnesota.