No-Till On The Plains Bus Tour

2010 NEBRASKA PRODUCER "POINTS South" BUS TOUR
August 24-25th, 2010
Pickup/Drop-off at Kearney, NE 7:30 a.m. Country Inn & Suites, 105 West Talmadge Street

Overnight accommodations in Salina, KS

See the very best, Learn from no-till veterans, and Network with others.

Registration: $90* -- includes motorcoach travel & lodging $45 for spouses * Based on double-occupancy

Click here to register on-line now! NO REGISTRATIONS ACCEPTED AFTER WED. AUGUST 18

ALL ATTENDEES MUST FILL OUT INFORMATION FORMS - CLICK HERE TO ACCESS FORMS!

Join us for this in-depth and educational opportunity to view exceptional no-till operations and to ask no-till experts the questions that are important to you. Experience valuable producer-to-producer interaction on a cool, comfortable motor coach.

Sponsored by:

Featured Stops:

Day 1:

Ward Laboratories, Inc.

We will kick off our tour with a special guided tour of Ward Laboratories given by Dr. Ray Ward, president and co-owner of Ward Laboratories, Inc. since 1983. He is an ARCPACS Certified Professional Soil Scientist with a Ph.D. Soil Fertility, South Dakota State University (SDSU) 1972; MS Soil Fertility, University of Nebraska, 1961; and BS Soil Conservation, University of Nebraska, 1959. He has served as lab division manager for Servi-Tech, Inc. in Dodge City, KS, from 1977-1983; associate professor at Oklahoma State University (OSU), Stillwater, OK, from 1974-1977; assistant professor at SDSU from 1972-1974; and instructor at SDSU from 1961 to 1972. He holds numerous memberships in scientific and honorary academic societies and organizations. Ray received the Soil Science Industry Award from the Soil Science Society of America at their annual meeting in November 2005 at Salt Lake City. The University of Nebraska Alumni Service Award was presented in May 2007. Additionally, he was awarded the Soil Science Professional Service Award sponsored by the Soil Science Society of America at the American Society of Agronomy annual meeting in November 2007. His goals for agriculture and agronomy are to help production agriculture use its resources as efficiently as possible, to provide information and data for developing the best use of soil and water resources while maintaining environmental quality, to be involved in "value-added" agriculture, and to provide accurate laboratory data for managing production enterprises. Note: Dr. Ward will not accompany us on the tour but will meet us on Day 2 at his farm near the town of Western, NE.

Keith and Brian Berns - Bladen, NE

For the past three years, Brian and Keith Berns have been experimenting with many different cover crop types and mixes planted into dryland wheat stubble. We will be touring their 2010 cover crop test plot with over 45 different cover crop plots as well as looking at soil moisture sensors that were installed in cover crop plots to measure water usage. Brian and Keith will share their findings and thoughts on cover crop water use, nitrogen fixation, effect on yield of the following crop and cover crop grazing.

Cover Crop Research Website

Cover Crops article in Nebraska Farmer

Some Assembly Required - Featured Farmer article in Leading Edge

Kent and Cindy Stones - Lebanon, KS
Kent Stones is a north-central Kansas producer who has farmed for 40 years with 18 years in limited no-till and 14 years as 100 percent no-till. He farms in Smith County on Holdrege and Harney silt loam and silty clay loam soils which average 23 inches of annual precipitation. His rotations include wheat, corn, milo, soybeans. Kent chose no-till primarily for the profitability of the practice as well as the conservation aspects and the efficiency of resources. He has experienced outstanding production above his expectations in the no-till system along with an enhancement in lifestyle. The Stones have been able to dramatically increase their asset utilization, increase their soil organic matter, and have proven the viability of no-till over an extended period of time. Kent sees the greatest challenge in continuing under no-till over the next three to five years as identifying and capturing market opportunities. In 2000 Stones received the Smith County Bankers Residue Management Award. Kent’s wife and life partner, Cindy, is very active in the operation. Kent has been a popular speaker at the No-till on the Plains Winter Conference in past years and recently attending the No-till on the Plains International Tour to South America pictured above.

No-till for Profitability - Featured Farmer article in the Leading Edge

Day 2:

Josh Lloyd - Oak Hill, KS

Josh Lloyd wasn’t the kid who always wanted to farm. In fact, he largely ignored it during his college years: “I was going to go make my millions elsewhere, but eventually I realized being my own boss wasn’t so bad.” He studied business at K-State, so when he suddenly decided to go into farming with his dad, it was all new. Josh had certainly helped out with farm labor over the years, but never took much interest in what happened when, or why, until he returned to the farm in ’98—and suddenly needed to know! Josh’s inquisitiveness during that first year back prompted him to ask why they weren’t doing continuous no-till. Josh’s father, Gale, had been experimenting with no-till but was having trouble getting over the hurdle of ‘this is the way we’ve always done it.’ Mostly no-till was still a crazy idea, though. They’d heard of only a couple success stories in the region. Josh’s father had attended the ’97 No-Till on the Plains conference in Salina, and suggested they attend the January ’99 rendition of the conference. Apparently it was quite convincing, since Lloyds went 100% no-till that spring. Lloyds already had decent crop diversity in place, with wheat, milo, and soybeans grown on their farm southwest of Clay Center, KS well before no-till came along. The main issues in Josh’s mind for converting to no-till were: 1) getting the seed planted properly, 2) figuring out how to fertilize no-till effectively, and 3) doing the weed control. Josh got busy searching for answers. Following the example of a few other successful no-tillers in the area, Lloyds’ starting point for a notill drill was the Deere single-disc opener, specifically, a 15-foot JD 1560 box drill. That quickly got traded for a 30-foot 1860 air drill— “It seemed like I spent all summer on the tractor with the fifteen-foot drill. I didn’t want to work that hard.” Eventually that air drill got traded for their current 1890 on 7.5- inch spacing. Solutions to Josh’s question on notill fertilization continue to be developed on their farm. Lloyds’ program currently uses dry pop-up applied with the air drill for wheat and milo, plus additional fertilizer during the winter. They also apply hog manure from a neighbor’s hog barn.

Controlling His Destiny - Featured Farmer article in the Leading Edge

Dr. Ray Ward Farms - Western, NE

Featured will be Dr. Ray Ward’s own farm located near the town of Western, Nebraska.

Photo Gallery from past tours (click any picture for a larger view)

Comments from past tour participants:

The tour was great! This has to be one of the most impacting agricultural educational experiences available.
Touring with Ray Ward is like a college course in soils and geology!
Great interaction between presenters and people on tour.
As a novice no-tiller I learned a lot of new techniques, active research, and practical applications for my farm.
Three days of delightful intellectual stimulation by dedicated professionals.
Great one-on-one learning and sharing.
Three days of fellowship with progressive forward-thinking no-tillers.
This tour is for the no-tiller who wants to think outside the box.
I hope to send my son the next time; he can pick up some things I missed.
This is my sixth Points North Tour. I will be back!

No-till on the Plains has the connections to put together fantastic tours at some of the best farm and research sites in the country
The No-till tour provided great interaction between the best No-tillers on tour stops as well as on the bus.
When you talk with producers like Beck, Zook, and Arnoldy, they get your mind thinking about expanding your crop choice and looking outside the box.
Thinking about No-till? Save thousands of dollars of wasted effort by learning from others’ experiences. Join the tour!
The No-till tour was time and money well-invested. Every stop added to the experience.
We all need “continuing education.”

If you like fun, friendship and great No-till education, join us on the next No-till on the Plains tour!