BRANDON – At first blush, it would appear that organic and no-till farming suffer from irreconcilable differences.
Both systems have their own benefits, both were born out of ideology and both are driven today by economics. But will they ever co-exist in the same field?
Pat Carr, a researcher with North Dakota State University’s research station in Dickinson, N.D., is trying to find out.
Carr, who specializes in organic cropping systems, has conducted a number of in-field trials, investigating the possible compatibility of the two production systems. Much of his work deals with weed control in the organic system.
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“Organic production is typically dependent on tillage for weed control, and zero-till totally eliminates tillage,” he said during Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon following a presentation called How to Zero-Till Farm and Organic Farm Together on the Great Plains.
“Can we potentially marry those two farming concepts? There’s enough evidence to say that presently, without knowing about any future developments, we may not be able to mimic the zero till production system on organic farms.”
Does this mean organic farms will be doomed to soil erosion and poor moisture use because of the required tillage? Not necessarily, Carr said.
“It may be possible to eliminate tillage in at least some crop phases in the organic farming system. That would be a big step toward reducing cultivation and moving closer to conservation tillage.
“If so, organic farmers might gain some of the obvious benefits of conservation tillage. But right now, true conservation farming is not possible in the organic farming system.”
The NDSU research includes numerous organic treatments. Carr said some of the weed control measures, such as vinegar, can show a measurable degree of efficacy in suppressing broadleaf weeds.
However, all the organic treatments are non-selective and non-systemic. They affect every growing plant in the field, so must be applied before crop emergence.
Cost is another factor. The vinegar must be applied at a high rate of pure product to be effective.
“Applying that much vinegar to a wheat field is simply not feasible,” Carr said.
“The vinegar suppliers would be happy, but the farmer will go broke the first year. The organic products do have some activity, but compared to conventional herbicides, they’re not effective. No organic substance we’ve found so far would be as effective at controlling weeds or as cost effective as chemicals.”
If you like violence in your weed control program but don’t allow chemicals or tillage, then the roller crimper is the machine for you.
Carr said the implement can be equally at home on an organic, zero-till or conventional tillage farm.
It is a cylinder with aggressive chevron blades that break the stalks and stems of living plants, thus killing them.
It works the same on cover crops or weeds. It’s thought of as a mechanical burn-off, which, like glyphosate, does not cultivate the soil.
Is this the middle ground where organic growers and zero-till growers might share the same implement?
Carr said the roller crimper shows a great deal of promise as long as the grower has a lot of cover crop.
“You have to wait until the appropriate growth stage,” he said.
“If you hit the right stage, the roller crimper has a good likelihood of killing the plants without inverting the soil. If you try to roll and crimp too early, it’s not going to work for you. But that’s the fault of the user, not the roller crimper.”
He said the roller crimper has introduced the possibility of farming organically in a more responsible way.
Intercropping is another option.
Carr said a North Dakota farmer he works with has an intercropping component in his rotation that puts 10 crops into the field at the same time.
“He’s not an organic producer. In fact, that’s not even his goal, although he’s actually very close to it. But he’s been doing this for over a decade.”
Carr said the grower doesn’t try to harvest his crops, so perfect seeding time isn’t important. He lets them stand until the frost kills them off. In that way, no fertilizer or herbicides are used on the field in that one crop year.
“Sometimes he does some grazing, but he always incorporates these intercrops into his soil to improve soil properties. He’s reduced his fertilizer inputs by something like 50 percent. And the herbicides are reduced by something like 70 percent. So obviously intercropping deserves some serious attention.”
For more information, contact Patrick Carr at Patrick.Carr@ndsu.edu or visit www.mandakzerotill.org/archives.htm and click on Organic No-Till: Myth or Reality.
