Steel in the Field: A Farmer's Guide to Weed-Management Tools

Sustainable Agriculture Network Handbook Series #2

by Greg Bowman (editor)

Weed control demands time, labor and expense for every farmer every year. Steel in the Field shows how today's implements and techniques can control weeds while reducing -- or eliminating -- herbicides. In practical language, the 128-page book presents what farmers and researchers have learned in the last 20 years about cutting weed-control costs through improved cultivation tools, cover crops and new cropping rotations. This is the first tool-centered book to combine farmer experience, commercial agricultural engineering expertise and university research. It directly tackles the hard questions of how to comply with erosion-prevention plans, how to remain profitable and how to manage residue and moisture loss. Farmers -- 22 of them -- do a lot of the talking, sharing their struggles and successes with tools, weeds, herbicides and cropping systems. Their advice ranges from the specific -- setting mini-disks 0.75 inches deep and 2 inches away from 2-inch tall plants -- to the general, such as one farmer's estimate of the correct speed for using his coil-tine "As fast as you can hang on is fine." This book is a must for anyone looking to reduce or replace pesticide inputs. Index, contact list, detailed illustrations and tool source list included.

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

Reviews

[Michelle Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though the publication date on this book might be a little over ten years old, the information and advice printed still holds true today. Steel in The Fields is the handbook that every farmer, small or large, needs to get the information and advice needed to control weeds and reduce or even eliminate the need for chemical herbicides. There is advice and ideas for the small farm, the hobby farm, and all the way through to the large family business farm. Any size of farm, a number of styles of cultivation and crop rotation together make this the handbook for all farmer's alike.

The book is split into a number of chapters that are each on a particular style of cultivation and crop rotation. What is above the rest in this book is that, at the end of each chapter is a section of real-life testimonies from farmer's that actually use the advice on the given methods. Not only do you get some of the fields top research on cultivation and crop rotation, but you get the word of farmer's just like you. You also get a number of choices in each chapter, one cultivation style does not mean only one way to do things. Each style is explored with a number of techniques, giving you the choice to pick exactly what works best for your needs and still allows you to hopefully eliminate the need for chemical herbicides.