Jon Hagen and his father Elmo started doing no-till over 20 years ago. They have been doing corn into beans, and it has worked well for them.

Jon uses a John Deere 1760 planter with floating trash whippers, and closing wheels that are set further apart. He also does liquid starter with his planter.

Their fertility program consist of P,K, and sulfur are all broadcast in the fall and the Coop has a no-till bar for the nitrogen that causes less erosion. Jon does soil grid sampling every 4 years. He has several different types of soils on his farm.

Some of the things that worked well for them was being patient with the yields, using a rotary hoe 1-2 days before to help dry and air out the soil. Some the things that didn’t work very well for them would be they haven’t been able to do Corn on Corn because of the amount of trash, they have been looking for the best trash whipper. Also the parts wear out faster on the no-till planters.

A few things he wish he knew going into this was to be on top of fertility and that switching to a 1760 planter he had to re-do with a newer style heavier units, disc opener, closing wheels.

He selects certain hybrids of corn and beans for early hybrid vigor.

Some of the reasons that Jon decided to start doing no-till were because of reduced soil erosion and better water holding capacity in drought years leading to higher yields. If you would like to contact Jon Hagen, feel free to call him at (563)535-5000 or (563)419-0024.