ILF Cooperator Collin Jensen
Producer: Collin Jensen
Location: West Union, Fayette County
Soil Region: 3, Northeast Iowa Surface
ILF Demonstration: No-tillage compared to in-line ripping
Bio: Collin has grown up farming, beginning at age 9, helping his father on the family farm. He has been on his own for 45 years, working the land that has been in his family for over 150 years. He farms 2,000 acres in row crops and also has acres in CRP and timber.
He has been a no-tiller since the 1980s, having turned to it out of necessity. He needed help planting while he was working at an off-farm position for extra money. “My neighbor had a no-till cultivator, and I told him to go ahead. I have had some failures like everyone else, but you have to give it a chance.”
“Everyone is worried about yield loss. Here in the northeast corner of Iowa, the ground doesn’t warm up as fast. But I seem to plant as early as anyone else. When I started soil-sampling in the 1960s, the hilly ground had 1.7 percent organic matter. Now it is about three to four percent. It isn’t totally scientific but I think I have stabilized the organic matter loss. I don’t have ruts in the soil anymore and I don’t have washouts like I did in the past.”
Collin is also involved as a Fayette Soil and Water Conservation District commissioner, Pheasants Forever, Farm Bureau and his local church.
Building a Culture of Conservation:
“It will take several years to get the full benefit of no-till. You have to be willing to make it work. If you lightly disc, you ruin the benefit of no-till. It is important to leave it alone.”
Contact Information:
Collin Jensen ~ Fayette County
13303 Nature Road
West Union, IA 52175
563/422-3028
ccjensen@alpinecom.net
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