Auburn, July 2, 2002 --- Anyone who is acquainted with Rolf Derpsch for only a few minutes will probably come away convinced of one thing: He is a stranger to no one.

(Above: Rolf Derpsch, right, has played pivotal role helping South American producers convert to no-till production techniques, particularly in Paraguay, which now boasts the world's highest adoption rate of no-till.  He is shown here with Franke Dijkstra, a Dutch-Brazilian soybean producer who is also widely credited with inspiring producers to adopt no-till production practices.)

Easygoing and affable, Derpsch is also fluent in six languages. They are skills that have served him well throughout his long career as a researcher, Extension professional and leader of one of the most successful revolutions in South America’s history: the widespread adoption of no-till farming.

The German researcher first started exploring the benefits of no-till production in Brazil in 1971 as part of a project funded by the Federal Republic of Germany (then West Germany). After spending two years in West Germany, Derpsch resumed his work in Brazil, where he remained another 14 years fine-tuning what he had learned about no-till farming.

Since 1988, he has worked in Asuncion, Paraguay, as a consultant with the Ministry of Agriculture, spreading the no-till message throughout that country and the rest of South America.

From the very beginning, Derpsch was determined his work with no-till would involve as much outreach as research – a decision he has never regretted. As he sees it, "knowledge is useless if it is only on paper and not in the heads of the people."

His outreach approach was based on a very simple premise.

"From the very beginning, we followed one strategy: to bring farmers practicing the technology with those who are not."

As he quickly learned, the farmer-to-farmer exchanges he organized in Paraguay were as rewarding for him as they were for farmers.

"We would visit farms practicing no tillage, but not necessarily those farms that were problem-free," he recalls.

Many times, in fact, he concentrated on farms that had encountered the worst problems adopting no-till techniques. Focusing on these hard-luck cases enabled Derpsch and farmers to uncover the causes behind these problems and to learn from their mistakes.

"Later on, as we collected more information, we learned more about the best cover crops to use, when to seed them, and how to fit them into the production system."

In time, Derpsch was able to build a convincing case for no-till production. One factor that turned the tide, he says, was data collected by a New Zealand economist showing mechanized farming operations could reap huge savings with no-till.

"This was crucial because farmers have to know the economic bottom line," he says.

"Farmers too quickly are looking at the highest yields, but we’re not interested in the highest yield. No-till may yield 10 or 20 percent less, but from an economic standpoint, it can save 10 or 20 percent more."

"This is what we were looking at. And we found out no-tillage is highly economical because of the cost savings from labor and fuel."

Similar research conducted two years later on small operations, some operated exclusively by hand, showed farmers reaped almost twice as much savings from no-till.

Soybeans remain the largest crop in Paraguay, followed by corn and sorghum and, on a much smaller scale, sunflowers.

Wheat was initially planted as a winter crop, though it turned out to be a high-risk crop because of winter freezing and poor yields.

Black oats planting, on the other hand, has expanded markedly in recent years --- up to about 300,000 hectares (almost 750,000 acres) in Paraguay alone – and has been supported by research.

"We’ve shown that you can have up to 60 percent higher soybean yields planting black oats before soybeans," he says. "Research also has shown that seeding immediately after harvest with blacks oat and other crops enables farmers to go up to three years without applying any herbicide at all – a tremendous saving."

"What this means is that we could produce up to 2,500 kilos (about 5,500 lbs.) of soybeans without using any herbicides."

"Granted, crop yields under conventional tillage average about a ton more, but you’re still having to spend a lot in herbicides to produce this extra ton."

"With no-till, you’re reducing both inputs and yields, but in the end, you have more money left in your pocket."

Currently at 52 percent of total cultivated acreage, Paraguay has the highest no-till adoption rate in the world – a fact due, in no small measure, to Derpsch’s research and outreach efforts.

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