- For no-till to be successful a minimum of at least 30% ground cover by way of plant residues from the previous crop must be present at the time of planting. There are basic three things a no-till farmer MUST have; a really good planter specifically designed to do the job, a good spray boom carrying controlled droplet applicators (CDA's) and another boom with conventional applicators, and a strawchopper behind the combine harvester. It is important to note that before starting with no-till practices the soil pH, acid saturation, soil fertility including P to a depth of at least 300mm must be corrected and that soil compaction layers are broken up.

The soil conservation work done at Small Grain Institute on wheat production has shown that a considerable amount of money can be saved when using conservation tillage practices. It is an easy and simple way to save money by only replacing some mechanical tillage treatments with chemically controlled treatments. The conservation work done by the NO-TILL CLUB in Natal, have also found great results in cost saving over the years and are encouraging more farmers to turn to conservation tillage and at the end of the day to No-till. It must be remembered that it is a big step from conventional tillage towards no-till.

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