No good deed goes unpunished. Shane Burchfiel is a strong proponent of conservation on his Dyersburg, Tennessee, farm. But it now comes with the added challenge of weed resistance.
“Evidently, we are the mecca for resistant weeds in this part of the world. It started with marestail and now Palmer amaranth. If there’s a resistant weed, we’ve got it,” says Burchfiel. “That creates a different
set of challenges, but I know going back to the plow is not the answer.”
Burchfiel is not afraid to try newthings—he keeps what works sustainably in his plan and punts any strategies that don’t. No-till is one of the success stories. The Burchfiels became no-till champions in the 1990s, switching 100% of their corn-soybean-doublecrop-wheat rotation to no-till after a local Extension agent ran an effective trial on the family’s farm.
Burchfiel says initially, his dad found weed control in no-till fields was just as good, if not better, than with conventional tillage. Now, with weed resistance, he is supplementing with other ideas.
“The tools to combat Palmer amaranth are shrinking, at least in soybean production. This ongoing, uphill battle is going to continue to take a multi-prong, collaborative attack,” he says.
In addition to no-till, Burchfiel is more aggressive with rotating crops and herbicide modes of action. Weekly scouting and greater use of preemergence herbicides, he says, have been the way to keep resistance under control and to keep the farm productive and profitable.
“If I can accomplish goals from a yield and from a cost perspective with these strategies, that puts me further ahead,” he says. “Maintaining a consistent rotation and crop balance is key for long-term success year after year from economic, environmental and equipment standpoints.”
No-Nonsense No-Till
Burchfiel hasn’t known any other production system than no-till since he began farming full-time 11 years ago. He graduated with a degree from the University of Tennessee in agriculture and natural resource management and worked for an ag retailer before returning to the farm. The fourth-generation farmer manages 2,000 acres of crops, including 200 acres of hardwood timber.
“We farm in a flat river bottom, where the ground is lightly rolling, and soil washes away. It ends up in the Mississippi River if we don’t control it,” he says. “No-till alleviates 90% of that and saves on time, saves on fuel and saves on equipment and manpower. There are countless benefits.”
No-till has enhanced the soil profile since he returned to the farm, with a clear build-up in organic matter and a greater presence of earthworms today.
“We have better corn and soybean yields, and our production history consistently exceeds county averages,” he says. “While weather plays a major role in that, it also is due to consistent practices of good fertility, pest management, variety selection and placement and adopting technology.”
Burchfiel works with consultants to oversee soil testing. All fields are tested at least once every five years, with irrigated ground tested more regularly and aggressively. Any new fields are soil tested immediately. The highly productive ground is sampled in zones or grids to ensure the right products are applied in the right amounts and at the right time.
“You don’t want to put too much where you don’t need it,” he says. “That’s where soil sampling is good management. You want to address fertility needs by zone, field or farm rather than taking a blanket approach to everything. Some fields can be managed more intensely than others.”
Burchfiel relies on a consultant for crop input recommendations as well. For instance, he is now using liquid nitrogen (N) and injecting it into the soil rather than applying N source(s) on top of the soil. He also uses some variable-rate applications of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
About a quarter of the acreage is managed via grid or management zones, and Burchfiel hopes to increase that as technology and equipment improve. Likewise, he uses prescription seeding rates on 25% of his fields and plans to expand as software and data become more reliable.
While most of the fields are not under irrigation, he does run irrigation pivots on 20-25% of the ground farmed. Field size is the greatest limiting factor for irrigation, as it is cost-prohibitive to put a pivot on an area of fewer than 75 acres, which is common in the region.
Cover crops have become another conservation strategy that works well in Burchfiel’s no-till system, especially on his non-irrigated acres. He has found that cover crops not only help address some of his weed control challenges but also help build and protect the soils from erosion.
“Cover crops retain moisture and that might be the difference in a five- or 10-bushel yield increase,” he says. “With commodity prices and input costs right now, every nickel counts.”
Burchfiel has used a variety of cover crop blends on a few hundred acres at a time over the last decade. Crops include cereal rye, vetch, turnips, clover, wheat and radishes. He experiments with planting techniques, including incorporating seed with a drill and fall fertilizer applications.
Pro-Active Resource Guardian
In addition to relying on no-till, crop rotation and cover crops for soil improvement and to battle weed resistance, Burchfiel finds opportunities to enhance water and wildlife.
Burchfiel’s farm boasts about 100 beehives spread out across properties to promote pollinators and to produce honey. He has incorporated terraces, catch basins and other structures and diversions for erosion control that contribute to improved soil health and minimized nutrient loss.
The farm has about 200 acres of hardwood timber, which provides a multitude of conservation benefits. “There is a lot of cypress timber that has been harvested a couple of times over the last 25 years and provides another source of income,” he says. “The natural location allows the trees to grow and to flourish and to offer a wildlife habitat. I have several wildlife food plots and will leave corn or soybeans standing or plant millet and other things to feed the animals. It has encouraged deer, turkey and other animal populations and provides habitat for ducks and geese.”
With a passion for attracting wildlife to the area, Burchfiel partnered with Ducks Unlimited several years ago to install culverts and risers that would allow the family to flood the bottom ground for waterbird habitat. Ducks Unlimited put the structures in at no charge, and the lowland acres are intentionally flooded with some crop standing to attract and promote duck and goose populations for hunting season right after Thanksgiving until the end of January.
“We leave the water there for a couple of weeks after hunting season. In early spring, we start to drain it off so everything will be dried in time for planting,” he says. “The no-till ground stays firm all year, even with water sitting on it for two or three months at a time. You’ve got all the stubble and residue left there that’s holding the ground together, which is what we like.”
Being able to control the flow on the bottom ground gives Burchfiel the chance to direct water to the outlet when he wants to prep for crop production, making sure it does not pond up or flood.
Long-Term Stewardship Growth
As he looks to the future, Burchfiel believes dealing with weed resistance may be a long-term challenge for the farm. But he adds that conservation practices will remain one of the pillars for managing it. The farmer will take advantage of opportunities to steadily grow in size and scope.
“I want to leave the door open for room to maintain reasonable growth and expansion if good prospects present themselves,” he says. “Whether I own or lease the land I farm, stewardship will remain a priority. I want to improve the land and the methods I use to improve it so that whoever comes after me to farm will be in a good position to continue on the same trajectory.”
Burchfiel says at this point, he is unsure who will be the next to step in and farm, but, “I want to make it better than what it was before me and set the next person up to where they can take it and continue to improve it, grow it and maintain it for agriculture production, for wildlife preservation and overall conservation, so it is economically and environmentally productive.”
As a temporary caretaker, this Tennessee farmer says he is fortunate to have a dynamic farm with significant future potential because of what his parents and grandparents did before him.
“I want to keep that trend going with my kids, my grandkids, my nephews and nieces, whoever may be managing and working this ground 50 years from now,” he says. “You work in the moment because you have to, but you need to think about the future at the same time.”
