Scott Ravenkamp: Making No-Till Work In Limited Moisture

Colorado no-tiller Scott Ravenkamp no-tills wheat, corn, sunflowers and proso millet in a partnership with his uncle Lyle Ravenkamp. The Ravenkamps eliminated fallow more than a decade ago and have begun working with cover crops and experimenting with crops like black oats and milo.
www.no-tillfarmer.com/article...

[@raymondaten2179]

Tell you those sunflowers massive root system will add alot of organic matter

[@robtdougherty]

did you say 7000 acres??? damn thats big.

[@loripepito1637]

Wish I had at least one to grow on

[@sbdododo12]

How many seeds can make in 1 Acre ? whats the distance between a plant and other ?

[@marschlosser4540]

No burr clover? Right there is half the nitrogen you need.

[@guciochris5297]

not a single tree in sight, what a sad view of a farm desert!

[@erichansen82]

Chlebio Chris you do realize there are parts of the world that can’t grow trees ya ?

[@grassfeeding6073]

Eastern Colorado is a shortgrass prairie. Not a lot of trees would be present in the areas he is farming due to prairie fires primarily. Yes, a crop farm is very different from a native prairie but a lack of trees in this area is normal. You may see some around low areas like ditches and streams, but again this is a very low rainfall environment.

[@morganreeder109]

@Damnit Bobby As a farmer, I have studied this extensively. Every area is different and it is up to the farmer to decide which cultural practices fit his area. Tree lines have their place and they also don't fit some places. Please consider that they are reducing and perhaps eliminating wind erosion by keeping residue cover on the soil. Trees pull a lot of water and intercept a lot of sunlight. For me the biggest factor is that trees only stop erosion for a few hundred feet at the most. There would have to be a line of trees planted every few hundred feet or perhaps closer. Pretty soon a guy has lost 10% of his cropland, which equates to 10% of his income, plus maintenance costs of the trees which is by the way, pretty substantial.

[@MatanuskaHIGH]

This was original a desert type grassland 🤷‍♂️ dumbass

[@guciochris5297]

@@MatanuskaHIGH desert type grassland? desert or grassland pothead???