By Mark Watson, Panhandle No Till Educator

Diversity in crop production isn’t a new idea. Looking at a native prairie that Mother Nature designed shows a diverse mixture of grasses and legumes. The mixture of the grasses and legumes varies with rainfall and soil types. As you move from east to west across the state you go from a high rainfall area in the east with a tall grass prairie to the lower rainfall areas and a short grass prairie in the west. The types of plants vary as you move across the state, but the diverse mixture of grasses and legumes remains intact.

In monoculture crop production systems, such as wheat/fallow, Mother Nature also strives to add diversity to the system. If you look at a field of wheat stubble in the fall if it is left undisturbed there will be a diverse mixture of weeds. The weed species in the field will include cool and warm season grasses and legumes. Mother Nature may be trying to tell us something about improving soil quality with this diverse mixture of weeds.

Producers who have irrigation on their farms have included diverse crop rotations into their operation. Most crop rotations under irrigation include cool and warm season grasses with winter wheat and corn. Adding to the diversity is the inclusion of dry edible beans as a warm season legume. Other rotations include sugar beets, potatoes, alfalfa, sunflower, etc. The crop rotation and diversity leads to improved crop performance.

On our dry land acres many producers have moved from a wheat/fallow system to an ecofallow system. In an ecofallow system the winter wheat crop is followed by a summer crop such as proso millet, corn, or sunflower, followed by a long fallow period, and then back to winter wheat the following fall.

With the ecofallow system, crop diversity is improved when compared to wheat/fallow. Generally the wheat yields in this system tend to be higher when compared to wheat/fallow. The reason for this is the improved diversity and crop rotation which breaks up persistent weed and disease problems. The moisture available for the winter wheat in each system should be fairly consistent with the long fallow period before wheat planting.

With a no till crop production system we are simply adding more diversity to the ecofallow system by adding an additional crop into the rotation. With the addition of a short season crop such as field peas, we are better utilizing the moisture we receive during the extended fallow period between the summer crop and the planting of winter wheat.

In a ecofallow system the previous summer crop stops using moisture by October. The fallow period between October and the following September will see on average 13.72 inches of precipitation in the Alliance area. Our soils only store from 4-6 inches of soil moisture in a 4 foot soil profile. From the October beginning of the fallow period through the end of June during the wheat growing season, there is a total of 24.03 inches of precipitation for the winter wheat crop. This is more moisture than a 40 bushel wheat crop can utilize.

By adding a early maturing cool season legume such as field peas into the rotation we also increase the diversity in the rotation. This will increase soil micro organisms in population and species. The goal of the no till crop production system is to better utilize this moisture to increase diversity in the system and improve the profitability of the farming operation. By growing a short season crop such as field peas we are also using a fallow period prior to winter wheat planting that will allow for adequate subsoil moisture for the winter wheat crop. The goal is to maintain or improve winter wheat yields with the added diversity, and improve profitability by raising the crop of field peas as opposed to the long term fallow period in the ecofallow system.