How A New Cropping System Was Researched and Implemented In the High Plains.

Research began with controlling weeds and conserving soil moisture in a crop rotation with minimum disturbance of crop residue and soil. This period after winter wheat harvest to planting the spring crop was called ecofallow. This was expanded to include the entire cropping systems and called ecofarming. Ecofarming is defined as a system of controlling weeds and managing crop residues throughout a crop rotation with minimum use of tillage so as to reduce soil erosion and production costs while increasing weed control, water infiltration, moisture conservation and crop yield. Prior to the mid 70’s much of western Nebraska dryland farmland was in a winter wheat-fallow rotation. As many as nine tillage operations were used in the 14 to 15 month fallow period to control weeds and prepare a seedbed for the next winter wheat crop. The fallow period is to store water for the following winter wheat crop but water storage efficiency with fallow periods using tillage usually averages only about 22%. Tillage also leaves the soil susceptible to erosion from wind and water. Ecofallow and ecofarming also called no-till can greatly improve the water storage efficiency of both the ecofallow period (wheat harvest to spring row crop planting) and the pre-wheat fallow period (row crop to winter wheat seeding). Many problems were incurred in the adaption of the ecofallow and ecofarming systems. These included controlling weeds, controlling volunteer winter wheat (before glyphosate) pesticide application, being able to plant in heavy crop residues (planters back then were not designed to plant in residues) and lenders seeing lots of money spent up front with no return until 16 months later. Ecofallow and ecofarming conferences were held from 1977 through 1995. Demonstrations, plot meetings and many other methods were used to convey the information on this new cropping system. In southwest Nebraska the value to non-irrigated corn is estimated at approximately 200 million dollars per year increase from 1975 to 2010.