Even on the cusp of winter, there are preparations afoot for spring, deep in the soil, on Thiele Dairy Farm.

Unlike on other farms, where the fields are fallow, dead and bereft of foliage, the Thieles' fields in Cabot, Butler County, Pennsylvania, are planted with cover crops that protect the soil from water erosion and from the sun's rays which, even in wintertime, can kill life in the soil.

"There are bugs, microorganisms and things that are feeding off of the roots [of the cover crops] and taking the nutrients of those roots throughout the soil, kind of like its own little city or community down there," said William Thiele, 31, describing the unseen activity on his farm.

"In the wintertime, the earthworms and the bugs tend to go deeper. Because the deeper you go, the warmer it gets. So now, they're way down in deep and they're basically storing up nutrients — getting ready for winter so that they can flourish in the spring."

Old farm learns new tricks

The Thiele family farm dates back to 1868 and now comprises 154 acres. The family — including Thiele's parents, Ed and Lorraine, and his twin brother, James — farm a total of about 300 acres, a total that includes some rented land. They grow oats, soy beans and corn, along with hay for their 80 dairy cows. Twelve years ago, Thiele's father, with some financing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Environmental Quality Incentives Program, began their journey toward regenerating the soil.

"We kind of will try anything, just because," Thiele said lightly of his family's decisions, though many farmers are leery of changing their ways for fear of damaging their precarious bottom line.

With the guidance of the local Natural Resources Conservation Service, a USDA agency established during the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, the Thieles began experimenting with cover crops following a fall harvest of soy beans. Then, the following summer, they planted a multispecies cover crop after a harvest of oats. They saw that the cover crops prevented erosion, as they had hoped, but the plantings had other benefits too.

Some cover crops put nutrients back into the soil — buckwheat makes phosphorus available to crops, and legumes, like clover, take nitrogen out of the air and put it in the ground. They suppress weeds and attract beneficial insects, and some, such as the tillage radish — specially developed for this purpose — break up the soil with their roots.

By 2015, the Thieles had fully converted their farm to using cover crops and no-till methods — meaning they did not till their land in the spring as is customary, instead using special techniques to disturb the soil as little as possible when planting. They "plant green," sowing seeds in fields that still have cover crops growing, thus getting the benefits of the cover crops as long as possible.

At that time, they had already seen the benefits of no-till farming through reduced soil erosion; reduced need for farm "inputs" like fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides; and decreased need for fuel and labor due to lack of plowing. It all helped reduce costs.

A September 2023 case study of Thiele Dairy Farm by American Farmland Trust using NRCS data found that the farm showed a net gain of more than $9,000 annually by using no-till practices. The largest savings ($13,000) were due to reduced machinery costs, including fuel and labor; the second-largest savings ($4,000) came from a 25% reduction in herbicide use and ceasing use of fungicide-treated soybean seeds. Thiele said he no longer uses any pesticides.

Pennsylvania converts to no-till

Traditional tilling of the soil, turning it over and smoothing it using heavy machinery, compacts the soil and leaves it vulnerable to the elements. It disrupts the natural soil ecosystem — including billions of beneficial microbes — reduces organic matter and makes it difficult for water to penetrate.

Ironically for a process that is meant to do the opposite, tilling can make the soil less fertile. As this realization began to dawn in the 1960s and '70s, centuries-old methods such as cover cropping slowly began to reemerge alongside more recent conservation practices like no-till farming.

"Part of what caused the Dust Bowl was that people would go out and till their farms with a moldboard plow, which completely inverts the soil," explained NRCS supervisory district conservationist Dennis DiOrio. Other types of machinery then went over the soil again to smooth it into uniform seedbeds for planting.

Finally, people realized, "we're losing a lot of our soil that way," he said.

DiOrio said that, over his 22-year career with the USDA, he has seen increased interest in no-till agriculture on everything from small farms like the Thieles, to large, 10,000-acre farms.

In the period between 2012 and 2022, Pennsylvania is far outpacing the U.S. average in converting farmland to no-till practices. In acreage, Pennsylvania showed a 20% increase in no-till practices, while the U.S. showed a 9% increase over the same period, according to the USDA.

The total portion of Pennsylvania farmland where no-till methods are utilized stands at 37%, while the U.S. average is 28%.

Part of the reason for Pennsylvania farmers' interest in the method may be geographical. Pennsylvania's mountains and uneven landscapes make erosion more of a hazard, and preventing it more of a necessity for farmers.

"There's more potential for a field with a steep slope to erode than a shallower slope," DiOrio said.

Healthier soil, more nutritious food

Steve Groff, a third-generation Lancaster County farmer who helped develop the tillage radish and the author of "The Future-Proof Farm," first began using no-till methods, like the Thieles, because of soil erosion on his family's farm in the '80s.

"What's interesting is that now we are starting to link soil health to actual human health," said Groff, who grows vegetables. His interest, he said, is in regenerative agricultural practices of which the "primary focus is on actually growing nutrient-dense food."

He points to a study that suggests that certain nutrients, like riboflavin (vitamin B2), declined in fruits and vegetables by up to 38% between 1950 and 1999.

"Part of that [decline] is because of excessive tillage over the years," he said, which disrupts soil health.

"I started out to solve a problem of ditches in my field that were so deep that I couldn't pass across with my tractor to harvest my crops," Groff said. "That journey has led me now to growing food for health."

It is not only what we are stripping from the soil that can have harmful effects. Exposure to fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides like glyphosate (found in products like Roundup) has been associated with health hazards, including cancer. Health effects may be linked to direct exposure or to water runoff.

The Environmental Protection Agency, however, says that "a recurring biologically relevant dose of glyphosate" is safe for consumers.

New no-till recruits

Third-generation Mercer County farmer David Croskey, 29, is a relatively new but enthusiastic convert to no-till agriculture. Not only does he manage a diverse farming operation, including grain, hay, beef, cattle and pigs, but he also holds down a full-time job as a pipeline operator for a gas company.

Consulting the NRCS and fellow farmers in the group Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance, among others, he turned to no-till practices first and foremost to save time. On the farm, his family had used traditional tillage, plowing the field and then running finishing tools over the land multiple times.

"I needed to make the hours that I'm able to go to the farm count more," he said.

He noticed fuel and time savings immediately he said, economizing more than $2,000 in fuel alone.

Like Thiele, he not only uses no-till methods, but also plants green, which, at first was "way out of [his] comfort zone."

The first time he attempted it, his father told him it was too wet to go out to plant soy beans because of the rainfall they'd been having.

"I said, 'I understand, but I go back to work tomorrow. Either it gets planted now or it gets pushed back later in the season.'"

He was surprised to find that his tractor rolled through the field with no problem because the cover crop of rye had soaked up excess water, and the root system made the soil more stable.

"I just drove through it, no problem," Croskey said. "The tractor didn't even have any dirt on the tires."

He says he hasn't had any machinery stuck in the mud for three years.

These are the kinds of stories William Thiele likes to hear. In 2020, Thiele joined the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance board to educate other farmers about soil health. He sees his own farm as being on a continuum, gradually using fewer and fewer chemicals. Especially now that commodities prices are suppressed, farmers are looking for ways to reduce their costs.

"Every year there seems to be more guys that are at least dipping their toe in the water and trying it," Thiele said. "They're saying, maybe I'll try that on a few acres and see how it works."

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