Growing Sugar Beets in NW Minnesota: Comparing Tillage and Cover Crop Practices

Jonathon Quast, District Conservationist, NRCS and Kim Melton, Resource Specialist, SWCD are working with farmer Vance Johnson on his 60-acre sugar beet field on the Wilkins Soil and Water Health Demonstration site in the Red River Valley in Northwestern Minnesota. This five-year program is demonstrating the effects on soil health and profitability of using no-till, strip-till, and conventional-till farming practices both with and without cover crops during a four-crop rotation including corn, soybeans, wheat, and sugar beets. Vance Johnson has been working with the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) on several EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) practices for many years. Here Vance demonstrates how sugar beets are harvested and gives tips to other farmers who might be interested in using soil heath farming practices while retaining profitability over the long-term. Videography by Dan Balluff. For more information about soil health agricultural practices please visit the Minnesota NRCS website at: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservatio... And for more videos about other NRCS conservation-related projects please visit the Minnesota NRCS YouTube channel at:    / @minnesotanrcs   https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/   / nrcs_mn   Time stamps: 00:00:00 Introduction: Kim Melton, SWCD 00:00:58 Jonathon Quast, District Conservationist, NRCS 00:01:09 Demonstration Plots 00:02:40 Wind erosion in the Red River Valley 00:04:26 Vance Johnson, farming profitability 00:05:38 Steps in sugar beet harvesting 00:06:12 Planting and harvesting precision with GPS and autosteer 00:05:00 Weather, climate and soil health practices 00:11:50 Benefits of using soil health practices such as no-till and cover crops 00:15:54 Cost differences among tillage practices 00:19:03 Working with NRCS 00:20:23 Advise to farmers who want to try using soil health farming practices #sugarbeet #soilhealth #regenerativeagriculture