Lessons on proper soil tilling offered at KMOT Ag Expo

MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) - Proper handling of soil is pivotal to farmers' success.

Joe Skurzewski spoke with an exhibitor at this year’s KMOT Ag Expo who’s teaching new and longtime farmers how to keep their soil rich with nutrients.

Joe Skurzewski: “The KMOT Ag Expo is an opportunity to see the latest agriculture technology that’s out there, but it’s also a good opportunity to learn more about proper management of the land to maximize your crops. There’s plenty of great information booths with that. I’m joined with Paul Overby with Verdi-Plus. He’s going to talk to us a little bit about tilling. Paul, thank you for joining us.”

Paul Overby: Thank you for taking the time to interview me. I appreciate the chance to talk about soil health in North Dakota and all the great things that we can be doing.

Joe: “So we’re talking about tilling and, you know, no till versus high speed till. So kind of walk me through the thought process of the importance of, you know, the proper way of managing the soil to maximize your crops.”

Paul: “Sure. So the goal of no till is to keep the soil in place, to keep it covered, so that we don’t have it blowing away like it’s some of its doing this winter time. And then the other real critical part about no till is it allows the water to be absorbed. So we’re dry right now in a lot of areas in North Dakota, especially out west and when those rains come, we want that water to go down into the soil, as opposed to running off, so that it’s there for the crops.”

Joe: “And you have kind of a display here that kind of shows the difference in how it impacts what how the water runs off.”

Paul: “Yes, it’s a fun little display, just to make it simple, showing two different soil structures and how they react when you get a rainfall.”

Joe: “I bet that there’s a lot of importance here too for farmers with monitoring weather conditions as well.”

Paul: “Oh, absolutely. Again, a lot of times people don’t realize that the winter dries out soil. When we don’t have snow cover, it’s drying out the soil. And if it’s been tilled heavily in the fall, or even soybean fields, we’re finding a soybean field that gets any tillage on it at all is real fragile, and so then you get the winds like we’ve had, and that soil is blowing away. And that’s some of the most precious part of your soil, that organic matter that goes off with the with the wind. So really important to keep the soil covered and to not have it pulverized.”

Joe: “What are some of the main questions or concerns that you’re hearing from farmers out here at this year’s Ag Expo?”

Paul: “I’ve had some really great conversations with young producers in the last couple of days. They really want to do it right. They’ve heard about soil health, regenerative, AG, and they’re just getting started. They want to make sure they’re doing the right thing by their soil. So we’ve talked about some of the resources that are available through NRCS or other private organizations to help them get started, some of those that help pay for that, and they’re just really excited, but they don’t, don’t know where to get going. And then that’s, that’s why I’m here, so I can help people who want to either make a change in their existing farming operation or get started and build soil health as one of the principles they’re doing from the get-go.”

Joe: “How many years have you been coming to the Ag Expo?”

Paul: “Started probably 2007 and initially we were selling Trimble egg software for a number of years, and when, when I quit doing that, then probably for the last six, eight years, we’ve been coming out and talking soil health.”

Joe: “Well, Paul, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us about their Tegenerative Ag, his booth is in the middle of the State Fair center, right near where the KMOT office is. The Ag Expo wraps up later Friday. At the KMOT Ag Exp, I’m Joe Skurzewski reporting for Your News Leader.”