01/24/07 One farmer`s direct seeding

John Hermann started with minimum tillage back in 1999. Hermann was tired of seeing soil erosion on his Genesee farm and he wanted to do something about it. He says direct seeding was one way that he could help the environment. HERMANN "But as I got further into it and got more comfortable with it I realized there's quite an economic savings to it in that we make less trips over the field and we burn less fuel and it takes less man hours to cover the same acreage and right now I think that I would be hard pressed to separate which one of those two is more beneficial, the economic savings or the environmental benefits." Hermann says he's still learning and like every other dryland farmers he's dependent of Mother Nature. HERMANN "I think this is something that's going to evolve over a long period of time. And if anybody is interested in it you can't just jump into it and go because it takes some different management styles and attitudes to make the conversions." Some Idaho farmers are reluctant to change but the cost of fuel and other inputs is causing more to dabble with direct seeding. HERMANN "Over time I think they'll see the benefits from it." Hermann says he was lucky to have a neighbor who began experimenting with direct seeding before he did. He copied his neighbor's successes and tried to avoid repeating his failures. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott