Selling conservation tillage

Excerpt

Blueprint for a big show

THREE years ago, conservation tillage was a new idea in New York. A few farmers, mostly in the western part of the state, were using some form of reduced tillage. Many people, including conservation district leaders, Extension personnel, and farmers themselves, really had no idea what conservation tillage was all about.

What was needed was a way to show and tell a lot of people at one time about conservation tillage—the whole range of equipment, chemicals, seed varieties and, most importantly, the management techniques.

From this need came the idea for the first Empire Conservation Tillage Conference in the northeastern states—not just a meeting, but a huge exhibition. The logical sponsor for the exhibition was the Empire State Chapter of SCSA, an organization committed to educating the public about conservation needs.

Would the idea work? Would equipment dealers and chemical and seed companies be interested in sech an untried venture? Would farmers take time out from their chores to come hundieds of miles to hear about a new way of farming? No one knew for sure until the day of the meeting. On February 19, 1981, some 40 exhibitors and 1 …