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| So switching to no-till early in my farming journey was key for me to gain any traction with trying to farm while also working in town.
All I have to do is look at my FBFM economic management analysis that compares my expenses to other farms similar to mine as far as size and soils.
I had lower expenses per acre with soil fertility, a little lower with herbicides, a little lower for seed, lower utilities, lower machinery repairs, lower machine hire and lease, lower fuel and oil, and lower mach. depreciation, while requiring less labor which was important while also trying to manage having a full time town job. Add it all up and the expense savings are/were significant while being able to compete on the income side as the yields also trended up.
Then when things crashed in the 1980's, found myself surprisingly in a position to take some risk with debt and start buying farmland. Immediately put those fields right into no-till, and often even the 1st year the no-till fields did better than they had apparently done previously. The no-till fields really shined in the drought years of 87, 88 and 89.
Show me a farming system that doesn't improve with tiling and drainage ................ (ok, cranberries perhaps) and the same is true for no-tilling, maybe even more so, so tiling at least the trouble spots of new fields was done on some acres as new and older acres were now being no-tilled. Some new fields had MAJOR erosion issues, scaring off some potential bidders I'd speculate, so installing dry dams with some tile ASAP was a priority. as reloading the erosion chute didn't entertain me, and I really don't have any tillage tools anyway short of a near antique or two.
As far as cover crops, I won't make any claims about yield enhancement, but I would about erosion savings, and when you save the soil, what else are you saving? A few nutrients wouldn't cover it. Are you ready for the next 5" downpour? Can you predict when it'll hit? Will you be surprised? Weather looks a little more volatile out there these days.
Anyway, quit my town job before turning 40, and have never looked back.
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Switching to no-till is most successful when planned well
