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Martha Mintz

Martha Mintz

Since 2011, Martha has authored the highly popular “What I’ve Learned About No-Till” series that has appeared in every issue of No-Till Farmer since August of 2002.


Growing up on a cattle ranch in southeastern Montana, Martha is a talented ag writer and photographer who lives with her family in Billings, Montana.

Articles

ARTICLES

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Keep Covers in Your Rotation Without Breaking the Bank

You can reduce cover crop costs and still retain the benefits by examining seeding rates and methods and trimming back mixes.
By Martha Mintz posted on February 1, 2019 | Posted in Seeding Practices, Economics
With corn prices looking a little more bear than bull these days, many growers may be looking for places to trim their input costs. For most growers, covers are a somewhat easy target, as there’s a good chance they’re the most recent, and least proven, management practice on the farm. But before any hasty decisions are made, experts advise that growers give cover crops their fair due.
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What I've Learned From No-Tilling: No-Till, Along with Longer Rotations, Makes for Great Grazing and Improving Soils

A balance of cash crops and forage mixes used for intensive grazing helps keep Plum Thicket Farms moving in the right direction.
By Martha Mintz and Patrick Petersen posted on July 25, 2018 | Posted in Soil Health
We weren’t farmers when my family moved to northwest Nebraska in 1995. I grew up in the mountains of Colorado with my mom, Nancy, who was working as a veterinarian and my dad, Rex, an architect.
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What I've Learned From No-Tilling: Negotiating Challenges and Opportunities When Combining No-Till and Dairy

Cover crops and strategic nutrient-cycling rotations help manage manure, while twin-row cropping tackles late-germinating weeds.
By Kent Stuckey and Martha Mintz posted on June 9, 2018 | Posted in Seeding Practices
In the last 10 years I’ve seen no-till declining in my area. I simply don’t understand it, maybe it’s the draw of recreational tillage as we like to call it, but to me it’s just not sustainable in the long run.
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What I've Learned From No-Tilling: Working with At-Risk Soils Leads to Experimentation and No-Till Success

Adding cover crops, winter wheat and making key equipment changes help keep soils in place in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area.
By Roger Bindl and Martha Mintz posted on May 12, 2018 | Posted in Seeding Practices
While I only truly count myself as being a no-tiller for the past 8 years since I started farming on my own, I’m no stranger to the practice. Of the 210 acres I farm, all but 38 acres are considered Highly Erodible Lands (HEL). The land my father, Wayne “Buzz” Bindl, farmed was similar and I’m sure this was one of the driving reasons he started no-tilling back in the early 1980s.
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What I've Learned From No-Tilling: Cattle, Cover Crops, No-Till and Improved Soil Health Provide Returns

Fifth generation of Doans keeping North Dakota’s Black Leg Ranch abundant with diverse business plan of cattle, crops and agritourism.
By Martha Mintz and Jerry Doan posted on March 10, 2018 | Posted in Soil Health
Some of the soils I helped farm as a child in southwestern North Dakota are probably somewhere in South Dakota now. I grew up in the era of wheat and summer fallow. A lot of the ground around here is very sandy and marginal. Did it ever blow when we were tilling. I remember as a kid getting sent with a disc or a drag to try and make it stop blowing. It seemed so futile, and it was.
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What I've Learned From No-Tilling: No-Till Lays Foundation for Consistent Crops, Rain or Shine

Financial challenges pushed Mike Belan’s family into conservation practices, but the Ontario no-tiller is focusing on improving soil health to propel the farm forward.
By Mike Belan and Martha Mintz posted on April 15, 2017 | Posted in Seeding Practices, Soil Health
High interest rates were the push my dad and uncle needed to make the switch to no-till on our farm. They had long raised wheat, corn and soybeans on our generally flat Brookston clay fields that sit just 30 miles north and south, respectively of Lake Erie and Lake Huron.
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The Virtual National No-Tillage Conference, January 12-15, 2021, will deliver practical, ongoing education to accommodate your busy schedule through an online learning experience assembling the best no-tillers, agronomists and researchers together to share cutting-edge ideas and strategies to improve the profitability and efficiency of your no-till system. Registration starts at just $99.

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Videos

Bringing Cattle Back to the Farm to Enhance the Value of Cover Crops

Bringing Cattle Back to the Farm to Enhance the Value of Cover Crops

Seeking to combine the return of cattle with capturing the value of cover crops, Rock Creek, Minn., strip-tiller and no-tiller Jon Stevens is grazing cattle on a 30-acre paddock seeded with grasses and cereals with the intention of trying to rotate in corn within 3 years to capture in-field nitrogen.
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