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Beresford, SD Research Station. Photo credit: randy Halverson By Buz Kloot This research summary expands on our earlier blog, “No-Till, No Yield: Are We Putting Corn Above Soybean Yields?” . After taking a short pause in posting, we realized we still have much more to share on the tillage conversation — and this piece offers a timely refresher before we dive deeper into the economics of rotation and soil resilience. Background Our earlier article asked whether focusing on corn yields alone gives a distorted picture of no-till performance. The evidence suggests it does. When soybeans and rotation diversity enter the equation, the economics shift — often in favor of no-till systems. No-Till Performance in South Dakota and Beyond At SDSU’s Beresford Research Farm , Pete Sexton and colleagues (2018) tracked 27 years of corn–soybean data under no-till and conventional tillage. Corn : Conventional tillage outyielded no-till by an average of 6.1 bu/ac. Soybeans : No-till outperformed by 1.8 bu/ac. But in 3- and 4-year rotations , the results reversed: No-till corn exceeded conventional yields by 1.3–1.8 bu/ac. No-till soybeans gained 1.4–2.5 bu/ac. These findings demonstrate that as rotations lengthen, yield gaps close — and often flip in favor of no-till. A University of Minnesota  study (DeJong-Hughes & Vetsch, 2007) found similar patterns. Cool years penalized no-till corn by 9.6 bu/ac, while warmer years narrowed that to 4.7 bu/ac. When averaged, these outcomes align with Beresford’s long-term results. Rotation Diversity Pays In her 2022 M.S. thesis, Natalie Sturm  studied irrigated corn and wheat systems at Dakota Lakes Research Farm. She found that diverse rotations  — particularly those including small grains and legumes — improved soil structure, moisture efficiency, and total grain yields.These gains reinforce the conclusion that rotation diversity enhances no-till performance  and resilience. Economics and Farmer Behavior As Dr. Dwayne Beck  of Dakota Lakes puts it: “Farmers vote with their fields.”The persistence of no-till across the Northern Plains is a practical verdict — not a philosophical one. Growers stick with systems that offer a better return relative to risk , and long-term no-tillers consistently report reduced input costs, improved soil water use, and stable yields across variable years. Looking Ahead The next question is purely economic: What does a longer rotation really cost — or save — over time? Research from Brookings and on-farm trials across South Dakota suggest that extended rotations can actually improve profitability, even when corn takes a smaller share of acres. We’ll explore that in our next post. References Beck, D. (n.d.). Unifying Principles: Similarities Among Prairie Ecosystems.  Dakota Lakes Research Farm.DeJong-Hughes, J., & Vetsch, J. (2007). On-Farm Comparison of Conservation Tillage Systems for Corn Following Soybeans.  University of Minnesota.Pittelkow, C. M., Liang, X., Linquist, B. A., et al. (2015). Productivity limits and potentials of the principles of conservation agriculture.   Nature, 517 , 365–368.Sexton, P., Rops, B., Stevens, R., Williamson, G., & Sweeter, C. (2018). Long-Term Rotation and Tillage Study: Observations on Corn and Soybean Yields – 2018 Season.  SDSU Southeast Research Farm Annual Report.Sturm, N. (2022). It’s Not Just No-Till: Crop Rotations are Key to Improving Soil Quality and Grain Yields at Dakota Lakes Research Farm.  M.S. Thesis, South Dakota State University.   __________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

For this week’s “Resilience Rodeo”, farmer and cow/calf producer, Brian Johnson, talks about a past of fighting against Mother Nature and how his experiences changed his mindset to one focused on working with her instead. Brian Johnson is a fourth-generation farmer who runs a diversified no-till crop and cow/calf operation near Frankfort, South Dakota with his children his and wife, Jamie. In the 80’s, Brian’s father first implemented no-till practices on their land to try to retain moisture. Over time, Brian observed that maintaining living root structure as well as planting and grazing cover crops are important counterparts to those no-till practices. When facing saline seeps, Brian champions perennials as a tool to work alongside Mother Nature and restore balance to the soil biology. Brian Johnson 1)    What is the one thing you've done that has been most important to the success of reclaiming some of these salinity seeps?   The most important thing we’ve done is probably change our mindset. Instead of fighting nature, we’re working with nature on those acres. We used to continually try to fight the problem and grow a crop there instead of allowing nature to grow a perennial there. That seems to be probably the most successful thing that we changed.   2)    Can you recall a moment when the light bulb went on for you that you realized soil health practices make sense or that you should change the way you were farming?   I think it was probably a couple decades ago when we were still trying to crop a saline area in one of our fields. It would be dry on top, but if it got a little slick under that top crust for any reason, the wheels would spin and you might get stuck there with the tractor. So, you realize, why am I continually doing this every year? As you're sitting there waiting for help to come pull you out, the light bulb goes off and it’s like, maybe we need to do something different here. Maybe instead of planting corn and beans here every year it's a perennial that will fix the problem, so we don't have to keep losing money on these acres. Because they truly are not profitable. The data shows us that it's not profitable to crop those acres, the yield maps and the profitability maps show us that it's not profitable. If you put in a perennial, you’re going to be profitable on those acres because your inputs go down significantly.   3)    What surprised you the most when you started implementing soil health practices?   I think what surprised me the most was that you could see a drastic change in just two years. Sometimes it takes longer, of course. But on certain spots where we planted the perennials, we could see that change very quickly in the span of two to three years. And not only do you see the growth of those perennials, but your stress level goes down because now you're not having to fight those acres trying to crop them.   4)    What would you say is the biggest misconception people have who are not managing their farming systems for soil health and resiliency?   I think the biggest misconception is that you can fix the problem without a perennial. I think people try to change it just by installing tile and thinking that change alone is going to solve the problem or think that continuing to grow corn and beans but not tilling it is going to fix the problem. At the end of the day, you need living roots in the soil to fix that problem. And those living roots need to be perennials.   5)    Is there something you'd still like to do that you haven't yet done to improve salinity conditions on your land?   What I’d like to improve with our salinity is to fix all of our acres. We still have spots that will show up from time to time. We know how to manage them now, but there is still a problem area occasionally when you have the right weather conditions and the wrong rainfall at the wrong time. Or the wrong crop in that field. Nothing’s ever perfect and we’re never done learning, but I'm always going to be trying to improve those acres for the rest of my life.   6)    What advice would you have for someone who is just starting to face their salinity seeps?   I would say find somebody who has remedied some of those acres of their own, or talk to a technician in your NRCS office or a soil health professional, and they will help to lead you down the right path and give you options of how to fix that. There’s a lot of knowledge about how to fix these problems now, there's a lot more information out there available, so you don't need to reinvent the wheel on your own. Don’t be afraid to open your mind and ears to somebody that maybe has a lot of expertise in that area and can help you fix it and give you a lot of options for your farm. There’s a lot of organizations that have taken a role in trying to fix this problem now, they’re working together collaboratively. Every Acre Counts is a great tool for producers to highlight the acres that they need to change. There’s Pheasants Forever or Ducks Unlimited and a lot of other soil health organizations that are out there and we all have the same goal: to do what’s best for the soil and for the land, but what’s best for the producer as well. So, we’ve all got the same end goal. And it’s not just for the sake of the soil, but a lot of times it’s good for the wildlife as well, and that provides another opportunity for the producer.   7)    When you walk across your crop lands and your native rangeland, what do you look for as indicators of soil health?   For me, if I can't see the bare soil, I know we’re doing something right there. At the end of the day, residue is insulating the soil from the sun and the wind, it helps prevent erosion on our farm and it helps retain the moisture. When we go back to the mid-80’s, the reason my dad switched to no-till was to retain moisture. Well, you need residue to help do that here in South Dakota. So you leave the cornstalks intact on the field, you grow a cover crop before soybeans, you grow rye so you've got a living root in the spring before soybeans, you've got a lot of residue and organic matter there. If I can see residue covering the soil, I feel good about my chances.   8)    Is there any change you’ve made that you thought would never work?   When we first started out, our first test with rye was my wife’s garden. It’s probably no more than a forty-by-forty little plot, and because rye was not something you saw in this part of the world produced very much or as a cover crop, I had to see firsthand what it did to the soil but also how it helped control the weeds. From there we tried it on a few fields the next year, and within three years we were doing aerial application of a rye cover crop on a hundred percent of our corn acres in the fall that then go to beans the next year. In a span of three years. So that’s a big change. It was a little nerve wracking for my father because he viewed rye as something that would use up moisture when you wanted to save it. That comes from his experience of struggling with really dry fields in the 80’s. What we saw in the spring of ‘22 was a massive amount of rye cover crop in our field that was actually insulating the soil from the sun, and so that first inch of soil was moist. Then once you place the seed about two inches down it was perfect. So, the rye was helping us retain moisture in that case, and it wasn't utilizing any extra. My biggest learning experience was trusting the wife there. She knows what she’s doing in the garden, and I can carry those principles out into the farm and the crop fields.   9)    What are the signs that your land is resilient?   I think we saw some of the signs earlier today when we put a shovel in the ground on a high-residue wheat field. We’ve been extremely hot and dry here this spring, way more than normal, and to see that amount of moisture that deep in the profile, it shows me that we’re insulating ourselves from the extremes of Mother Nature in a way, because we can retain so much water and that is usually our limiting factor here. If we can replicate that on most of the acres on our farm, it can take away probably the most limiting factor for crop production for us; water. It’s purely water. It gets me really excited to see that moisture retention because our land here can get really dry.   10)  What does resilience mean to you?   To me, resilience means being productive and healthy for years to come. And I think that’s what we’re creating on our farm, what my father helped create and what we’re taking to another level through a variety of cover crops and livestock on the soil. So, it's about passing it on to the next generation better than how we found it.   11)  As a row-cropper, what’s in it for you economically to change things and start considering perennials?   I think the first step for producers towards change is knowing your cost per acre. Some people do and others don’t. So that’s the first hurdle: are you tracking input costs at the field level and at the acre level? Because most people have the yield maps, but until you know your costs and you coordinate them with the yield maps, you don't know your true profitability on those acres. That's usually when the light bulb goes off for those producers. If you're not making money on those acres and it’s an every-year occurrence that you're in the red, you should consider doing something different. And if that change is a perennial rather than a crop, you're going to be more profitable, it's guaranteed. Because you're not losing money on that parcel. And at the end of the day, isn't our goal to be profitable as a business? So, it should be something to seriously consider. ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3.Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

In this week’s “Rodeo”, Jeff Hamilton shares with us the successes he’s starting to see in his unproductive, saline cropland areas when he started thinking about them differently. Jeff Hamilton farms with his brother Scott and his son John in east central South Dakota. They primarily grow corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and have started planting other forage crops on saline soils.  Rye is also grown for seed, harvested as forage, and used for grazing.  The farm supports 1200 beef cattle, and they finish their own calves.  Jeff has started large-scale composting of the manure generated from the livestock to improve his soils’ health. Jeff Hamilton 1)    What one thing have you done that's been most important to the success of your operation?   I would say staying diversified. Growing up, my number one income producing item was cattle sales. As grain prices rose, grain overtook the top spot on the income statement.  As a result, the cattle and fences disappeared in this part of the country. Much of the pastureland was converted to cropland. Folks didn’t want to work with livestock and invest that much capital and labor for keeping the cattle around. There was an economic decision to be made. Why should I keep the cattle? Where I live, there's a lot of marginal ground that's not suitable for growing corn and soybeans, even though that's what people have been trying do with it.  I've started putting those areas back to other uses. I just got tired of watching areas that shouldn't have ever been planted to cash crops get worse. Diversity has value in more than one way. Caring for the cows and finishing the calves is a good part time job and it keeps you out of the bar at night!   2)    Can you recall a moment or a time when the light bulb went on for you that you realized soil health practices make sense or that you should change the way that you were farming?   2019 was extremely wet in South Dakota, and it carried over into 2020. In 2019 there were a lot of prevent plant acres. We planted a 7-species cover crop mix on some of our ground, and even though my corn and soybeans looked phenomenal, it was the cover crop that excited me. The grain prices were such that even though I knew I was going to have a good crop, I wasn't going to make any money.   I found myself driving up and looking at the cover crop.  I would open up the canopy and realize what was growing. That’s when I started looking at things differently. In that mixture there was forage sorghum, Japanese millet, oats, radishes, turnips, and crimson clover. The Japanese millet grew to the water's edge, and on the hilltop, which was only five feet higher in elevation, was predominantly forage sorghum.  Everything else I planted was growing well together.  I remember taking a picture and thinking, why?   We have a lot of saline areas on our land. The water runs to the low ground, and during the summer it evaporates, leaving the salt. I had been planting corn and soybeans, collecting my prevent plant check and watching those areas get larger. It wasn't until I started looking at what the ground was telling me that it made sense.   3)    What surprised you most when you changed the way you farmed to include soil health practices?   The speed at which the soil can correct the saline areas if we let it.  The saline areas bothered me because they kept getting bigger. In 2016 we started seeding a blend of salt tolerant grasses and alfalfa directly into these saline areas.  I remember taking a picture and sending it to my consultant asking, “Is this success or is this failure?”  We started just haying it and now I am getting good quality and quantity of forage from these acres. A negative producing piece of land was turned to a positive. We have planted over 160 acres back to perennial grasses now. We did it three, four, or five acres at a time.   4)    What would you say is the biggest misconception people have who are not managing their farming systems for resiliency and soil health?   Farming the easy way is the most profitable way. Farmers tend to think more yield equals more profit. You still need to produce bushels, but at the same time you have to do it profitably. If I look back at the last 10 years, there were some very tough years where we were basically running at break even or just below.  What would happen if we removed some of the lowest producing soils from our field and let the precision equipment do its job?    Our cash crops are inundated with technology. To kill weeds, pests, diseases now we use multiple modes of action that overlap.  A few years back 1 mode took care of the problem.  When you add up all the inputs on the non-productive soils, it’s a no-brainer to stop farming them. But it is easier to drive straight, so most farmers do this and resist change.    5)    Is there something you'd still like to do that you have not yet tried to improve your soil health on your farm?   I started composting. It was not on the list of things to do in 2022, but the whole composting process has made a believer out of me. I took cattails, rye straw, dry cattle manure, wood chips, and a little bit of rye grain, combined them with water and I watched it turn to humus compost in six weeks’ time. We've sent our compost to be tested chemically, biologically and are encouraged by what we are finding.   6)    What advice do you have for someone who is considering changing their farming system to one that is better for building soil health?   Start small and watch the plants. There are a couple older gentlemen I visited with and asked, “how do I tell if I’m succeeding?” One response was “If you want to know how much biology is working in your field, just take a rod, stick it in the ground. However far you can push that rod in is how far your biology is working.” Very, very basic answer. The other response was “just watch the plants”.   7)    When you walk across your crop lands, what do you look for as an indicator of healthy soils?   Bringing back the diversity that was there when we started tilling the soil. When you stop doing stuff to the land and start working with the land you will see indicators that you are doing something good. One day while feeding cattle I was thinking, “why don't we have all these saline areas out in our pastures?”  God gave us a plant for every acre and the human, doing what humans do, we screw it up. We took out that diversity. We have been told that to grow corn, it cannot have any competition around it. To grow soybeans, it cannot have any competition around it. But look at Mother Nature, she doesn’t have 30 inches between her plants with no competition around them.   8)    What change have you made that at first you thought would never work?   Planting salt tolerant plants in ground that is barren and won’t grow kochia and wondering, “is this just a waste of $100 per acre of seed cost?” You have to have a little bit of faith or a lot of “what the hell” in you, because otherwise you say, “why would you do that?” That's a fair point. Who is going to spend $100 an acre and not know if something's going to grow?   9)    What are the signs your cropland is resilient and what does resiliency mean to you?   My father bought a quarter of ground that was productive soil when my brother and I were in high school in the 1980’s.  By 2019 that quarter has 30 to 50 acres of moderate to high salt. I was the one who farmed it during those years and followed accepted farming practices. We let it get into that shape.  I do feel like a hypocrite. Those 30 to 50 acres are now growing a solid stand of oats and will be transitioned into perennial grasses.  The land is resilient and will correct itself if we let it.   10) What indicators do you have that healthy soil practices also make economic sense for you?   On my saline areas, I had grass seed investment that first year I took the saline soils out of crop production.  I don't have any costs associated with fertilizer or chemicals, yet my tonnage goes up. Those areas have plenty of moisture, but they don't grow any plants because the natural system is broken. We are going to study applying compost to my crop land and cutting back on commercial fertilizer to determine what the economic threshold will be.  ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3.Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Bale Grazing Videos Play Video Share Whole Channel This Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Now Playing 14:12 Play Video Now Playing 03:07 Play Video Now Playing 02:35 Play Video Now Playing 01:20 Play Video We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Special thanks to Drew Anderson and Jodie and Harold Gaugler for additional still images and explanations which were so crucial to this story. Bale Grazing Podcast All PODCASTS Bale Grazing Blog Posts Winter Grazing in South Dakota: Reid Suelflow’s Practical Approach to Corn Grazing and Bale Grazing In January 2021, Joe Dickey visited Reid Suelflow near White Lake, South Dakota, to document how winter corn grazing and bale grazing reduce feeding costs while improving soil health. We are going to listen. sushmita62 Why Bale Grazing Makes Sense in an Open Winter This open winter can be a unique opportunity to experiment with bale grazing without making a complete system change commitment. Winter management can be made easier than you might think by starting small, lowering daily feeding pressure, and letting the land do the work. sushmita62 All BLOG POSTS Bale Grazing Resources BALE GRAZING FACTS Click here to download! BALE GRAZING Q&A Click here to download! All RESOURCES

Labor and equipment needs, economics, calving, grazing practices, grassland diversity, soil health, livestock, lifestyle––virtually everything can change for the better when you evolve to year round grazing. Year Round Grazing Videos South Dakota ranchers Pat Guptill and Bart Carmichael, pioneers of year round grazing, share their journeys into the practice along with the top obstacles and insights gleaned along the way. Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied All VIDEOS Year Round Grazing Blog Posts Year-Round Grazing in South Dakota: Lessons from Pat Guptill & Bart Carmichael Can you really graze cattle year-round? South Dakota ranchers Pat Guptill and Bart Carmichael say yes — not through miracle, but through mindset. By calving on grass, managing for plant diversity, and timing their moves with nature, they’ve cut feed costs, restored their soils, and rediscovered joy in ranching. Watch the Year-Round Grazing video . Buz Kloot, Ph.D. The Range According to Bart At Wedge Tent Ranch near Faith, SD, Bart Carmichael shows how adaptive grazing, humor, and humility can turn harsh prairie country into a thriving, resilient landscape. kloot1 Fire, Grazing, and the Long Patience of Grassland Restoration Pete Bauman In the Field In July's Our Amazing Grasslands video , courtesy of SD Grassland Coalition, we marveled at the hidden value in so-called weeds — goldenrod testing out as rich as alfalfa, prairie clovers, and milkweeds that feed both cattle and monarchs. That story, framed by Joe Dickie's steady lens, left us thinking of diversity not as decoration but as sustenance. This August's Our Amazing Grasslands video features SDSU's Pete Bauman walking us onto different Buz Kloot, Ph.D. All BLOG POSTS Year Round Grazing Resources YEAR ROUND GRAZING FACT SHEET Click here to download! ALL RESOURCES

We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing. Drought Management Resources As South Dakota faces the challenges of drought in 2025, Growing Resilience is here to support ranchers and producers with valuable resources to manage and mitigate its impact. This page serves as a comprehensive hub for drought management information, offering videos, podcasts, PDFs, and blog posts designed to provide practical insights and solutions. Additionally, we are proud to partner with the South Dakota Drought Plan , a vital resource for preparing for and responding to drought conditions across the state. We encourage you to explore their site for more in-depth information on drought strategies, mitigation, and support available to you. Together, we can build resilience for the future. Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied All VIDEOS Drought Management Podcasts All PODCASTS Drought Management Blog Posts When Cattle Bring the Desert Back: Alejandro Carrillo’s Regenerative Ranching Story Jan 7 2 min read Drought Tolerance, Diversity, and Déjà Vu: What Dakota Lakes Is Teaching the World Dec 19, 2025 2 min read Ray Archuleta on Bare Soil, Fungicides, and Rethinking Soil Health Sep 2, 2025 5 min read Mastering Drought: The Sustainable Secrets of a South Dakota Rancher May 7, 2024 5 min read Rancher Prepares Drought Plan to Save Grass, Soil and Cows Apr 6, 2022 2 min read ALL BLOG POSTS Drought Management Resources DROUGHT 2025 - ADVICE AND TOOLS Click here to download! DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN Q&A Click here to download! DROUGHT MANAGEMENT FACT SHEET Click here to download! DROUGHT TOOL Click here to download! DROUGHT TOOL INSTRUCTIONS Click here to download! DROUGHT MONITORING MAP Click here to view! ALL RESOURCES