This Land

In the Southeast corner of Washington State and into Idaho is an area covered with rolling hills and in the fall of the year golden fields of wheat. It has rich black soil that is some of the most fertile land on the face of the earth. Whitman County, which makes up most of it, claims to raise more wheat than any county in the United States. The hills are steep and have challenged man's right to farm them for over a hundred years. They call it the Palouse.

Click on small picture to get larger one. Use back button to get out of picture.

The Problem

It is my intention with this page to point to some problems and what I see as solutions to them. It is really pathetic when one thinks of the tons of beautiful black rich topsoil that has washed down the Palouse River. It still runs black when it rains hard. This is what some fields look like after a bad winter.

The Solution

In the 70s we learned that wheat would grow in land that didn't have a seedbed prepared for it. They call it no-till. It is being done more each year but not taking hold nearly as fast as I think it should. Where this is done the erosion practically stops.

The last picture was of ground that had been seeded to fall wheat and had gone through the winter. The hill in the foreground is steep and had been no-till summer fallow. The field in the center had been conventionally cultivated summer fallow. It is what we call a flat. The hill in the background and is in grass is no steeper than the hill in the foreground. It used to be farmed. I think this picture makes the point that no-till works.

Will wheat grow there?

For those that say this does not work, the next picture is harvesting wheat on ground that was no-till fallow the year befor.

It was in the 70s that we learned that wheat would grow in land that didn't have a seedbed prepared for it. The weeds are killed with spray. It is being done more each year but not taking hold nearly as fast as I think it should. Where this is done the erosion practically stops.

To control the erosion it requires both the use of all the straw that grows and no-till. If all would adopt this program it would not only greatly reduce erosion but it would make happy those people that are so avidly opposed to burning stubble because of air quality. Burning should not be done. The straw is an essential part of erosion control.