INFORMATION PROVIDED BY A GRANT FROM
THE HOWARD G. BUFFETT FOUNDATION
CONSERVATION PIONEER
KEEPS PUSHING AHEAD
By Rhonda Dedyne
S
ome call him the “grandfather of no-till,” but it’s unlikely that Ray
Rawson would feel comfortable with that title.
He is a grandfather; that’s a fact. Photographs of all five grandchildren hang prominently on the walls of the Rawson & Rawson Farms
office, conveniently located next to one of the machine shops where you’re
most likely to find him. Otherwise, he’s out scouting for pests in corn and
soybean fields that were tilled and planted using the equipment he helped
design and patent.
Those framed patents fill up part of another wall in the office, but
Rawson’s not inclined to talk much about those accomplishments.
If the understated and somewhat reticent farmer would accept any title,
it might be “grandfather of organized tillage,” his personal preference for
the terminology associated with practices that most others call zone or
strip tilling. Paying strict attention to soil and the millions of organisms
that exist beneath the surface is really the basis for Rawson’s belief in the
benefits of organized tillage. The equipment tools he created are simply
vehicles to help make that happen.
“You have to use what nature and the Lord gives you to leave the land
a little better for those who will follow,” Rawson says about the principles
of land stewardship that he and his wife, Helen, share and have passed
down to their children and grandchildren. “Just like a lot of other farmers,
we’d like to see the continuation of family farm operations that have the
ability to produce a good livelihood and a life that’s rewarding — good
values and enough income to make it all work.”
A MAJOR FORCE IN CONSERVATION
There’s no doubt that Rawson’s efforts at adapting farm equipment for
use in no-till and strip tilling has had a huge impact on the business of
agriculture. The proof is visible in the fields that surround the centennial
homestead in northern Isabella County. Increased yields and reduced
input costs due to Rawson’s transition from conventional to no-till to organized tillage have allowed the family farm to expand from 40 acres in the
1940s to the current operation that covers thousands of acres in adjoining
Clare, Mecosta and Gladwin counties.
Upward of 20 workers help make the farm run smoothly throughout
the year, especially during planting and harvesting seasons when it’s not
unusual to have a dozen combines in fields at the same time, scattered
across the four-country acreage.
“My father passed away when he was only 52, and my brother passed
away, too, so it was just my uncle and myself here in the mid-’50s,” he
recalls about those formative years and the life experiences that helped a
young man grow up quickly. “It didn’t take long to realize that if we were
going to be able to provide for our family, we needed to do farming differently than we had been. We didn’t have enough hours in the day to work
the amount of land we needed to make a good profit; we had to change
our farming methods.”
NECESSITY — THE MOTHER OF INVENTION
CONSERVATION PIONEER: Ray Rawson’s approach to soil management
has led to a wide range of tillage innovations that do plenty to protect the land.
That desire — and the financial need — to move forward and grow the
farm operation fueled Rawson’s search to find farming techniques other
than “plowing and fitting,” which were labor-intensive and, as he came
to understand and believe, “harmful and even detrimental to soil tilth.”
Discussions and visits with other like-minded farmers prompted his initial foray into no-till in the late ’50s.
“They were using a single coulter planting in sand in Kentucky, and it
was working really well. We decided to try something similar,” he says.
Rawson’s ‘organized tillage’ tools
THE FARM equipment that he helped design isn’t the only tool in Ray
Rawson’s “organized tillage” approach to farming. Aeration, water, nutrients,
residue, heat and timing are all vitally important, too.
“Soil systems are extremely complex,” says Paul Gross, Michigan
State University Extension educator in Isabella County who’s familiar with
Rawson’s operation. “Conservation practices attempt to manage the whole
system to maximize the benefits, and equipment does play a part in that. How
you till, spray, fertilize, use crop rotation — everything influences soil biota.”
There’s no doubt, however, that the original zone tillage tool Rawson patented was groundbreaking — pun intended.
“Soil systems are like an engine where everything has to work together
to make it go,” Gross says, noting that tillage equipment may be compared
to the starter on an engine. “If the starter’s not working properly, the engine
won’t run.”
Rawson’s first strip-tillage unit has undergone multiple modifications —
not only in size, but also in functionality. The prototype was a forerunner for
many conservation tools used across the country today. The result is higher
yields at reduced cost while preserving valuable crop residues.
Call it what you want — organized tillage, zone tillage or strip tillage. But
the growing acceptance of the concept that combines the high-residue advantages of no-till with the soil warming and germination benefits of conventional tillage rests within the framework of Rawson’s original design.
The relatively simple design has proven its worth, as have today’s massive, multi-row units available from equipment manufacturers.
Now, double-lead coulters with fluted blades break through residue.
They’re followed by shanks that can be equipped with injectors to apply
liquid or dry fertilizer directly below the seed. Adjustable, closing coulters
follow the shanks to bring loose soil back into the strip, and rolling baskets
firm up the strip and finish seedbed preparation.
“One trip over the field” — that’s a Rawson mantra.
“That first year we did no-till, we took an old John Deere corn planter and
fitted a single coulter flute on a blade to work ahead of the planter itself. It
was exciting because it worked, and we had a good crop.”
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the
black clay soil that is prevalent in north-central Michigan prevented
Rawson from getting optimum results from no-tilling.
“Here we have water in the soil, and it stays cold longer in the spring.
It takes too long for the soil to dry out and warm up to make no-till profitable, at least in my opinion,” Rawson says, noting the practice was “pretty
much on equal footing yield-wise with conventional tillage.”
Zone/strip tillage was the logical progression for Rawson, and it started
— as before — with him asking questions. “What if we exposed more soil?
Could that warm the soil up more quickly, and wouldn’t better soil-to-seed
contact lead to quicker germination?”
The short answer is yes and yes.
By the late 1960s, Rawson was experimenting with multiple coulters
positioned on either side of the shank, and in the early 1970s the forerunner of today’s zone/strip-tillage equipment was built in the farm shop
by his sons, Steve and David, from Rawson’s design.
ORGANIZED APPROACH PAYS DIVIDENDS
One of the first Rawson prototypes stands today in front of the farm office,
a testament to the soundness of the basic design that helps accelerate the
flow of oxygen into the soil.
“There’s the coulter in the lead to manipulate residue, two shanks in
back at slight angles to break the soil and set the seed, and fluted coulters
that build a small berm that warms up quickly,” Rawson says about the
original piece of equipment. “It’s basically creating a mini-greenhouse for
the seed to germinate. It didn’t take long for us to make a total transition
from no till to organized tillage; that’s what works on this type of soil and
it’s true across the Midwest.”
Farm operations around the country that routinely produce corn yields
of 200-plus bushels an acre, and soybean plants with close to 20 pod sets
on a stalk lend credence to that statement.
“The bottom line is profit,” Rawson says, adding that accurately
tracking inputs is as important to continued success as the patents that line
his office walls. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. We’re constantly doing soil testing to determine needs, always with an eye to using
the least amount of fertilizer possible. Right now, we’re doing nitrogen in
corn at 0.75 pound per bushel per acre, and the normal requirement is 1.5
pounds; soybeans require about 5.5 pounds a bushel.”
The biological component that’s part of Rawson’s approach is integral
to the reduced input costs.
“The rapid manipulation of organic matter a few inches deep makes it
available to the seed, allowing fertilizers to be absorbed better,” he says.
“Nutrients and naturally occurring organisms stay within the zone where
feeder roots pick them up, and accelerate both root growth and the plant
canopy in the case of soybeans.”
The Rawsons use a variety of other time-tested farm practices in their
overall conservation plan. Wheat is part of the crop rotation; cover crops
including ryes and grasses, clover, and oilseed radish are relatively recent
additions to the operation; water erosion is practically nil due to his triedand-true approach and the use of filter strips; and marginal land areas are
set aside as wildlife habitat.
IN THE BEGINNING: Ray
Rawson’s original design
with multiple coulters
positioned on either side of the shank was the forerunner of today’s zone/striptillage equipment. The familiar approach is commonly used today.
“We’re definitely sharecroppers in this area of the state,” Rawson
says with a laugh about the region’s renown as the “Gateway to Northern
Michigan,” and the deer and other wildlife who enjoy the woods and
waters. “We leave areas that aren’t efficient to farm for wildlife, and plant
corn at the perimeters of fields by woods. It’s good ecology.”
And it’s possible that designs for new and improved conservation tools
may someday find their way onto Rawson’s drawing board and into the
machine shop.
“We’re continually exploring ways to get better soil-to-seed contact
and fertilizer placement that can be done for the lowest cost and create
the least amount of disturbance to the natural, biological soil systems,” he
says. “Our approach is about manipulating oxygen, water and root growth,
and reducing the need for massive amounts of fertilizer. You have to know
your soil, and know what works best on it to be profitable.”
Dedyne writes from St. Johns.
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HOWARD
G.
BUFFETT
FOUNDATION
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