FAQs
Explore videos of local farmers answering frequently asked questions about soil health in southern Minnesota
Tillage, Compaction and Drainage
With 2026 harvest starting and fuel prices soaring, it’s a good time to consider our approach to dealing with soil compaction. Post harvest deep tillage has been the most common tool farmers use to address compaction in our area. But is that really alleviating compaction enough to cover the cost of the operation? As more farmers transition to strip-till and no-till, you may wonder how they’re dealing with the compaction issue.
In this video Randy Depuydt explains his observations about compaction in strip-tillage vs deep tillage systems. He shares a direct comparison of what he has seen on compacted headlands.
Randy Depuydt
Our heavy soils are some of the most productive in the world, but getting them fit for planting can be a challenge when the weather goes from one extreme to the next. If you’re like many farmers in our area, you might be trying to find that perfect piece of tillage equipment to deal with our heavy, wet soils. Pat Duncanson has been on a similar search, and a mindset shift led him to a better way of managing residue and compaction. Even in corn on corn. In this video Pat Duncanson shares how he's addressing soil compaction and high residue.
Pat Duncanson, Highland Family Farms
Pat is also rethinking what is the best way to ensure timely planting.
With our short growing season, timely planting is critical for a successful corn or soybean crop.
Tillage has been the traditional way to get soils to dry out, but farmers like Pat are learning that it isn’t the only way to get fields fit for planting.
How do I get my fields dried out without doing tillage?
Watch this video to hear how Pat gets his fields to dry out without doing tillage.
