Swisher County farmer Barry Evans’ crop fields might look a bit messy, but hey, that’s the whole point, reports the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Evans raises about 3,000 acres of cotton, wheat and sorghum near the Hale-Swisher county line. His no-till method leaves remnants of past harvests such as leaves and stalks.
“It’s so much better for the environment to leave this trash and capture (water),” Evans said. “My whole theory of farming is to capture every drop of rain we can. By leaving trash, you cover the surface, so the water doesn’t evaporate.”
Evans’ fields have not seen a plow in nearly two decades. Advancements in irrigation methods and herbicides made it easier for him to stop. Before changing to no-till, he plowed the ground a half-dozen times each year.
Other benefits Evans found of his no-till method are the time and money saved by skipping an entire step of a growing operation. Plowing equipment and the diesel fuel to operate it are essentially out of the picture.