2008 WHIRLWIND No-till EXPO
 July 23rd, 2008     Garnett, Kansas
Greg Christiansen farm and Kevin Carothers Farm 
Morning program & Catered lunch at the Anderson County Fairgrounds, 709 North Lake Road (On Park Road turn north onto North Lake Road. At the football stadium, turn west and it is the tan building on the west end.)

Afternoon program in the field Bus transportation to the fields provided!

• Pre-registration is closed     $25 walk in registration (lunch not guaranteed for walk-ins)

The Expo will feature soil pits on-site and in-the-field demonstrations.  This will be an excellent opportunity to see the rainfall simulator in action and witness the impact that continuous No-till practices have on soil.    

An in-depth, educational opportunity to get answers valuable to you!  EXPERT AND PRODUCER SPEAKERS

Featured Farmers

Greg Christiansen has a B.S. Degree in Animal Science from KSU.  He also has had experience with ranching and feedlot positions throughout the Midwest.  He and his wife Ann have 3 children.  Greg was presented the Linn County Conservation District Water Quality Award in 2008.  Greg’s 19 year-old son Tanner currently manages a herd of 1000 goats.  Greg’s father-in-Law Tom Masoner is past Chairman of the Linn County Conservation District .

 Farming has been Greg’s major interest for the past 15 years with most cropland being rented.  He also manages a mix of pasture and hay on non-cropland.  No-till has been implemented for 13 – 14 years consecutively on many fields, but not on his entire operation.  Average rainfall is 41.5 inches and soils include Kenoma silt loam, Catoosa silty clay loam, Newtonia silt loam, Summit silty clay loam, Dennis silt loam, and other minor soils.  His crop rotations include wheat, soybeans, grain sorghum, and corn.

 No-till was chosen for labor constraints and to reduce overhead in machinery costs.  The successes experienced under no-till include increased soil tilth, the ability to get in fields faster after wet weather (spring), and better drought resistance.  Greg’s sees the greatest challenge in continuing under no-till over the next 3-5 years to be terrace damage, trash in waterways, chemically resistant weeds, cover crops, and getting phosphorous back into soil profile

Kevin Carothers attended lineman school and was a lineman for 15 years as well as doing concrete work, drafting, and trucking before beginning his nine years of farming..  He and his wife Chris have 3 children.  He was presented with the Linn County Bankers Award in 2006.  

Kevin’s father Clayton was the past Chairman of the Linn County Conservation District, and he attended the No-Till on the Plains Winter Conference several times in the past.

 Kevin’s farm history includes working with his father while growing up and as a partner over many years.  His current operation includes row crops, small grain, and hay.  He has been no-tilling for nine years with 41.5 inches annual precipitation in Catoosa silty clay loam, Kenoma silt loam, Newtonia silt loam, Summit silty clay loam, and other minor soils.  Kevin’s crop rotations include wheat, soybeans, grain sorghum (some years), corn.  No-till was chosen because Kevin changed planting equipment in 2001 and decided to try no-till equipment to save soil, time, fuel.   The successes he has experienced under no-till include lowered fuel costs, time savings, and more solid fields in wet times.He sees his greatest challenge in continuing under no-till over the next 3-5 years to be ephemeral ditches that form between rows and residue washing off fields in heavy rain events.

Featured Speakers

Schedule

Ray Ward is president and co-owner of Ward Laboratories, Inc. since 1983.   He holds numerous memberships in scientific and honorary academic societies and organizations.  His goals for agriculture and agronomy are to help production agriculture use its resources as efficiently as possible, to provide information and data for developing the best use of soil and water resources while maintaining environmental quality, to be involved in “value-added” agriculture, and to provide accurate laboratory data for managing production enterprises.

Paul J. Jasa  serves as an Extension Engineer, University of Nebraska.  Paul develops and conduct educational programs related to No-till equipment and system management.  He has been working with planting equipment and tillage system evaluation at the University since 1978.  With the experiences gained from research and Extension activities, he has become a good source of information in the Midwest on No-till planting equipment and system management. If there is a mistake to be made with No-till, he has either made it himself or has seen it done.  More importantly, he has learned from those mistakes and wants to share that information in presentations that stress the systems approach and the long-term benefits of No-till.

Keith Thompson  
Keith farms with his brother Doug and son Ben in east central Kansas near Osage City.  Their farming practices have evolved to continuous No-till from full tillage. Since Keith started farming with his dad in 1965, they have moved in steps from full tillage, to using a combination min- till, No-till system (called skip-a-till now) in 1973 and have been 100 percent continuous No-till since 1991. They average 34-inches of rainfall annually on shallow silty clay soils. Their main crops are  corn – milo – soybeans – wheat – sunflowers and cover crops grown in various rotations that are designed to lower weed pressure to help cut herbicide use.

Tim Gogolski  (Rainfall Simulator) 

As a District Conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Tim Gogolski has worked with producers for over 25 years helping them solve their resource concerns.  He has demonstrated the rainfall simulator to many groups over the last 10 years.  The Rainfall Simulator is designed to show what happens to topsoil on cropland fields and construction sites during a rainstorm. Spectators to this demonstration can view a 2-inch rainstorm in progress over a 15 minute period, watch the power of raindrops and see water erosion as it occurs. The simulator demonstrates the benefits of crop residue management in protecting topsoil during rainstorms.  Up to four soil trays can be placed below the oscillating raindrop nozzle showing the effects of different levels of crop residue placed on the soil surface on soil loss and water infiltration. A tray of growing grass is used to show the water quality benefits of grass buffer strips. The quantity and quality of runoff from the soil trays is captured in clear gallon jugs allowing spectators to see for themselves the effects of the different treatment levels.

Joe Swanson 
Joe Swanson is a no-till producer from Windom in central Kansas near McPherson.  Joe has been on the No-till on the Plains Board of Directors for many years and in the past has served as Vice-President of the organization.  He is a progressive, forward-thinking producer who is striving to take continuous no-till to its pinnacle.  He understands the challenges of today’s producers and is willing to share his wisdom and insight.

 8:00 a.m. Registration

 8:45 a.m. Welcome – Brian Lindley, Executive Director, No-till on the Plains

 9:00 a.m.      Concurrent Sessions
(everyone will attend all sessions)

• Rainfall Simulator / Soil Quality
  Tim Gogolski, NRCS,
  Paul Jasa, Extension Engineer, UNL Extension
   

• Overcoming Pre-Conceived Obstacles
  Keith Thompson, no-till producer from Osage City, KS    No-till on the Plains Ex Oficio
   

• A Candid Discussion about No-till
  Joe Swanson, no-till producer from Windom, KS  and No-till on the Plains past Vice-President
   

• Panel discussion
  Keith Thompson, Joe Swanson, Ray Ward, Paul Jasa

Lunch sponsored by Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Coffey, Linn and Neosho County Conservation Districts

• Watershed Restoration And Protection Strategy
  Mary Lou Ponder, WRAPS Coordinator
   

•  Importance of Stand Establishment/No-till Equipment
  Paul Jasa, Extension Engineer, UNL Extension

Board school busses for ¼ mile south of the intersection of KS Highways 7 and 152.

• Soil Pit Speakers: 
  Dr. Ray Ward, Owner, Ward Laboratories  
  Paul Jasa, Extension Engineer, UNL Extension
  Donald Gastineau, NRCS Soil Scientist
   

• Site 1 No-till Soil pit   - no-tilled for over 12 years, farmed by Greg Christiansen, currently double-crop soybeans in wheat stubble
   

• Site 2 No-till Soil pit  - 3rd no-till crop, farmed by Kevin Carothers, currently in soybeans  

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has provided financial assistance to this project through EPA Section 319 Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Grant #2006-0096 and Kansas Water Plan Funds.

Past Whirlwind Tours
Click on any picture for a larger view!

No-till on the Plains, Inc. would like to thank Greg Christiansen and Kevin Carothers for providing their farms as the official site for the Whirlwind Expo.