You never know who you’re going to run into during those networking breaks in the hallways at the National No-Tillage Conference. We caught up with Jeff Martin, who’s been strip-tilling in Mt. Pulaski for decades. And during our conversation we discovered he’s doing something very unique with biologicals (listen to the interview in the video clip below).

“We use a compost that is locally produced and is run through an extractor, which turns the microbes, the fungi and the bacteria into a liquid form. We spray that liquid in the fall as a digester. We also apply it in furrow with the planter onto corn and soybeans. We also put food sources in with it. We use ground up crab and oyster shells, which have nutrients in them. We also use ocean water that we buy from a company. Ocean water has every mineral known to man in it, and it’s run through a process so the salt doesn’t hurt anything. We’ve had great success with it.”

Ocean water in central Illinois! He’s had great success with it. Martin says if you’re thinking about adding biologicals to your bag of tricks, he recommends starting out with a broadcast application in the fall after harvest.  

Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.