Conservation farmers recognized

More than three decades of conservation farming by Fred Phillips was recently recognized as he received the Conservation Farmer of the Year award.

Phillips said he first learned he was getting the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association award in late December.

"Actually I was very surprised. Lots of people have gone to zero till and conservation farming," he said.

The award is based on not just farming techniques, but also a willingness to promote an education on soil conservation techniques, explained Phillips, adding that is something he has always been willing to do.

"I was on the board of directors (of SSCA) in the mid-80s for two terms," he said, adding he has been a member of the local RM Council, and involved with the ADD Board.

Phillips said being proactive in promoting conservation farming was just a natural for him.

"It was the way we were raised, to be part of the community and to get involved in the community," he said. He added while it wasn't a case of getting paid very much for being on the various boards and committees without someone doing it "you don't have a community anymore."

While the award singled Fred out, he said it was actually a family effort to move to zero till framing techniques. He said his parents Jim and Elsie, Uncle Ray and brother Martin were all involved in the decision to make the change.

"It was the spring of '81. It was a terrible spring. The land was blowing everywhere," he said. "As a family we sat down and said that's never going to happen again."

The question then became how to stop the land from blowing. They started out with minimum tillage, but over three, or four years, evolved to zero till.

"The land hasn't blown since," added Phillips.

While the mission was accomplished there were hurdles to overcome, although Phillips said they remained dedicated to the process.

"I don't think we ever really considered going back to the old conventional way," he said. "But we made lots of mistakes. We'd end up out there trying to harrow down our mess."

When things did go wrong for Fred and Martin, Fred said it was his father and uncle who "probably took the heat," as neighbours were suggesting the young farmers were out in left field, when really it was being "cutting edge" in spite of the mistakes made.

Phillips said it was not an easy transition from conventional farming techniques.

"It was learning by trial and error," he said, adding, "the first few years there was not the equipment there is now."

It was also a time when glysophate herbicide, now a mainstay of zero till systems, was still $30 per acre to apply.

It did help neighbour Lloyd Liebrecht was also converting to zero till, said Phillips. "So we could bounce ideas off each other."

Phillips said while they were on the cutting edge of converting, the edge can be a tough place as the industry of farming caught up to farmer needs. He said finding the right equipment in the early years was near impossible. He pointed to a Haybuster 1000 drill they used for seeding.

"It was the only true zero till machine that was available, and you could buy around here," he said.

Phillips said much of what is now "taken for granted" in terms of making zero till systems work today, was not yet developed. "It was really experimenting to see what worked."

For example dealing with trash cover from harvest was "a big problem" in the early years.

"The big heavy harrows were just coming out at the time," said Phillips, so farmers were having to make concessions to avoid too much straw.

"We never grew oats because our combine wouldn't chop it (the oat straw)," he said, adding they had to go out and find attachments, or make modifications to their combines to get straw spread over a wider area to alleviate the trash problem.

Phillips said that has been the biggest change in 30-years of zero till farming, equipment has caught up to farmer needs.

"The new equipment is so technologically advanced," he said.

As an example he pointed to global positioning systems which have made spraying easier. He said chemical application is essential to weed control in a zero till system, but it was also hard work relying on foam markers, or dragged tires to mark out the coverage of a sprayer in the field.

"Now you punch in (on the GPS system) what you want to do and just drive up and down the field," he said.