No-Till is King in Parana

Saturday, February 5, 2011
Observations from Joe Murphy, Harrisburg, Ill.

Last night we heard a presentation about no-till farming from Frank Dijkstra, who is considered a pioneer for no-tilling in Parana.  No-till farming has become a popular option for Brazilian soybean farmers as a way to reduce erosion, build organic matter in traditionally red soils, lower production costs and more.  This morning, we met Frank's family, including his sons and grandsons and saw his farm.  In addition to seeing soybeans, we also saw his dairy farm. 

We also saw more owner-operators involved with their farms than we saw in Mato Grosso.  There, they depend more on hired labor to do the work,  Today we saw several employees but the owners lived on the farm and had a hand in the day-to-day operation.  I was impressed that since coming to this country in the 1950s, they have charted out their own course.  These farmers said that if it had not been for no-till, they would not be in business now.

From the looks of the topography, it is certainly no-till type ground because it is very rolling and steep.  I am from southern Illinois and I have been no-tilling myself since 1981.  We have some pretty rolling and rough ground but not as steep as the type of slope that we have seen today.  I think our soils are a little tighter and lighter than we have seen here.  I am surprised they don't have more erosion down some of these valleys.  We didn't even see any waterways, so it has to be more than just the no-tilling.

I used to think that Brazil was flat with soybeans as far as you can see, but Brazil is not like Illinois.  They have various types of land and not all of it is being farmed.  It is rough and some is set aside.  Now I can go home and tell the farmers they sure have a lot of soybeans in Brazil, but not all beans as far as you can see.

The people are very congenial and seem to be very loving.  They seem to have the same problems we have at home.