Sharp price increases for glyphosate and other chemicals, not to mention fears over shortages, will likely mean drastically higher input costs this year for those who practice no-till.
But that doesn’t mean farmers are ready to turn to plows and other tillage equipment in order to lessen the need for chemicals with no-till.
“We haven’t really heard of many people looking to tillage as an alternative to no-till this year, and I’m not encouraging people to use tillage as an alternative to glyphosate,” said Eric Rosenbaum, executive director of the Pennsylvania Corn Growers Association.
Andrew Frankenfield, an agronomy educator with Penn State Extension, believes even though crop rotations could change, reliance on no-till won’t waiver this season. A switch to tillage will still come at a cost resulting from higher fuel prices, he said, and the benefits of no-till are just to great to give up.
Related on the SLP
“I think farmers are going to pay whatever they have to in order to stay with no-till, but the question surrounding herbicides is can they get it?” Frankenfield said. “There are farmers that paid for their Roundup and haven’t gotten it yet. In a normal year you wouldn’t be worried, but right now there’s a lot of anxiety about it.”
