No-Till, Cover Crops and the Ecomonics of Better Soil with Sledge Taylor

After 53 Years of Farming, Sledge Taylor Is Still Asking Better Questions

For Mississippi farmer Sledge Taylor, the path toward healthier soil did not begin with a label. It began with a problem he could see: erosion.

Sledge has spent 53 years farming land in the hills near Como, Mississippi, and along the eastern edge of the Delta. His family has been in the area for more than 150 years, producing cotton and grain while also managing cattle, pasture and timber.

From an early age, Sledge saw productive soil leaving the farm. That observation shaped a conservation journey that eventually led him to no-till, cover crops and a growing interest in soil biology.

In the latest episode of The Whole Farm Podcast, Sledge joins host Les Riley to discuss what he has learned, the results he has seen and why farmers must remain willing to change the way they look at their ground.

Starting With the Problem of Erosion

Sledge’s original objective was simple: stop losing soil.

Some vulnerable acres were removed from crop production and placed into pasture, hay or conservation programs. On the land that remained in production, the farm began moving toward no-till.

The operation had used cover crops previously but had moved away from them over time. Around 15 years ago, Sledge began planting them again. Today, his cropland is almost entirely managed with no-till, and cover crops are used on approximately half of the acres.

For Sledge, the combination has helped address the erosion issue that first caught his attention. But it has also led to benefits he was not necessarily expecting.

Healthier Emergence Led to a New Question

As Sledge observed his no-till fields, he noticed that the crops appeared to emerge healthier.

Residue on the surface reduced the amount of soil splashing onto young seedlings. Sledge suspected that less soil contact could reduce the introduction of certain diseases, but he wanted to better understand what else might be happening.

So he started researching.

That search introduced him to mycorrhizal fungi, the carbon-to-nitrogen balance and the relationship between fungal and bacterial communities in the soil.

After decades of farming, Sledge had found an entirely new area to explore.

The experience is an important reminder that observation is one of the most valuable tools on a farm. Sledge did not begin by assuming he had the answer. He noticed a difference and asked why.

That willingness to investigate changed how he viewed the system beneath his crops.

Giving Dryland Crops More Time

Improving the soil’s ability to manage water has been an important goal for Sledge because much of his ground is not irrigated.

In his part of Mississippi, a field can move from saturated conditions to needing rain again within a matter of weeks. That makes the soil’s ability to absorb, store and protect moisture especially important.

Sledge says his no-till, cover-cropped fields absorb more rainfall and experience less evaporation because residue keeps the soil cooler. He estimates that those fields can often go about one additional week before showing the same level of drought stress as conventionally managed ground.

That extra week does not eliminate drought. But it can provide a valuable window for the next rain to arrive.

“Quite often in that last week, we’ll get a rain,” Sledge explains in the episode.

For dryland growers, the ability to give a crop a few more days can have a meaningful impact on how it handles difficult conditions.

Looking at the Whole-Farm Economics

Sledge is careful not to oversell any individual practice. Cover crop seed and application add costs, and many of the benefits of a system change can be difficult to isolate on a spreadsheet.

However, he has seen several areas where no-till and cover crops can affect the farm’s economics.

The operation puts fewer hours on tractors, spends less time making field passes and burns less fuel. Water leaving the fields is also cleaner, which means more soil and nutrients remain in place.

Sledge believes the farm is saving money and says it has also experienced yield increases.

The lesson is not that cover crops remove every expense. It is that the return may appear in several places: lower fuel use, reduced equipment hours, less labor, cleaner runoff, improved water storage and greater resilience during dry periods.

Evaluating soil health practices may require farmers to look beyond a single input cost or one season’s yield response.

Cover Crops Need a Purpose

Sledge’s go-to cover crop blend includes cereal rye, tillage radish and winter peas. The mix gives him a grass, a brassica and a legume.

He commonly plants approximately:

• 35 pounds of cereal rye per acre
• 1.5 to 2 pounds of tillage radish per acre
• 10 pounds of winter peas per acre

The mix is not identical for every situation. When corn will be planted the following season, Sledge may remove the cereal rye because of the potential interaction between young corn and rye.

He has also experimented with wheat, turnips, vetch, black oats, rape and canola. Some species fit his system better than others. Rape and canola, for example, can be more difficult to terminate, while tillage radish generally winterkills in northern Mississippi.

Sledge prefers to aerially seed cover crops into standing corn around late August or early September. Cotton acres are typically seeded a few weeks later. Establishing the cover before harvest gives it more time to produce biomass than waiting until the cash crop is removed.

These decisions highlight why a cover crop cannot be treated as a generic addition to the farm. The mix, timing and termination strategy must fit the grower’s environment and the crop that follows.

“If You’re Going to Do It, Do It Right”

Conservation incentives can help farmers manage the expense and uncertainty of trying a new practice. Sledge supports encouraging more growers to experiment with cover crops because adoption involves a learning curve, a financial commitment and what he calls a “fear factor of change.”

But incentives alone cannot create a successful cover crop program.

A grower can purchase the least expensive seed, plant the minimum required amount and terminate it as soon as a program allows. That may satisfy the requirements, but it does not necessarily create the intended soil health benefits.

Sledge believes growers should approach covers with the same seriousness they bring to producing a cash crop.

“You need to take growing covers as serious as you do growing a crop,” Les says during the conversation.

Sledge agrees. Cutting corners, he says, eventually catches up with the farmer.

“If you’re actually trying to build something, build a future, do it right the first time.”

His advice is direct: if a farmer is going to plant cover crops, they should have a clear objective, plant them properly and manage them with intention.

Mindset Is Often the Biggest Barrier

Farmers face real barriers when considering cover crops or other changes to their production systems. There are costs, weather risks, equipment considerations and new management decisions.

Yet Sledge believes the greatest obstacle is often mindset.

“If we want to do it, we’ll do it,” he says.

That does not mean change is easy or that every practice will work immediately. Sledge acknowledges that it can take two or three years—or longer—for a grower to gain enough experience and confidence with a new system.

But after 53 years in agriculture, he continues to learn, experiment and adjust. His story shows that experience and curiosity are not opposites. In fact, the most experienced farmers may have the strongest foundation for asking better questions.

A Traceable Opportunity for Regenerative Cotton

Sledge’s experience extends beyond his own fields. He previously served as chairman of the National Cotton Council and the National Cotton Ginners Association, giving him a broad perspective on the cotton industry and the changes affecting rural communities.

In the episode, Sledge discusses one characteristic that makes cotton different from many other commodities: each bale is graded and can be tracked through the supply chain.

When corn or soybeans are sold, they are often commingled with grain from other farms. Cotton’s traceability creates the potential for growers to verify that a specific bale was produced using regenerative practices.

Sledge believes that proof could carry value as mills, brands, retailers and consumers look for ways to support U.S. farmers and more environmentally responsible production systems.

Regenerative cotton may therefore create an opportunity to connect what happens in the field with a differentiated product in the marketplace.

Building a More Resilient Future

Sledge Taylor does not describe soil health as an overnight transformation. His journey has unfolded over decades, beginning with erosion control and expanding into questions about water, biology, farm economics and the future of cotton.

His experience points to a practical approach:

Pay attention to what the crop is telling you. Ask why you are seeing a difference. Build practices around a clear goal. And when you decide to make a change, give it the management required to succeed.

After 53 years of farming, Sledge is still learning—and still finding new reasons to be excited about what is happening beneath the surface.