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The 32nd National No-Tillage Conference was held last week in Indianapolis. The conference is hosted by the magazine No-Till Farmer.
Mike Lessiter is president of Lessiter Media, which publishes the magazine. He says the conference started as a way to connect the magazine’s readers.
“What we really needed to advance it was a gathering of eager no-tillers who would share and be open with one another. We made the decision in the summer of 1992 to do one in January 1993. He expected 250 people to attend, and more than 800 came out here in downtown Indianapolis for it.”
Lessiter says the conference has grown to include farmers from across the globe. Representatives from Brazil, Ukraine, Italy, and other countries were among this year’s attendees.
Lessiter adds that the ability to network with other farmers is invaluable.
“The real magic is what we call the peer-to-peer roundtables where there is no speaker. We have a moderator who kicks it off, but the farmers just talk to each other and say, ‘I tried this,’ or ‘Does this work for you?’ It fast tracked the understanding of no-till and how to adopt it.”
And the speakers at the National No-Tillage Conference don’t shy away from talking about the challenges they experience in a no-till system.
“To do this right, we have to talk about the challenges as well as the successes. We don’t want anyone to have a lack of information when moving into this concept.”
Hans Kok is an independent conservation consultant. He has attended 25 of the 32 National No-Tillage Conferences, and says that being at the conference is encouraging.
“Most of the speakers are farmers who are actually doing these practices and have been doing for a long time, or even newbies that are just starting, and it’s always really uplifting and positive that you get a great group of people who have been doing the things you’re promoting all year long and people are pushing back that it won’t work. So here you come, and yes, it does work.”
Lessiter and Kok spoke with me for the latest episode of the HAT Soil Health Podcast, brought to you by the Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative. Hear the full conversation in the player below or wherever you get your podcasts.