By Paul Jasa
Retired Extension Engineer
When you ask a producer, “How much rain did you get?” the answer usually comes with a catch:
“We got an inch—but it came too fast and most of it ran off,” or “Only half an inch—but we sure could use more.”
But the real question isn’t how much rain fell—it’s how much your soil held onto. That’s the water that actually feeds your crops.
A Lesson from the Past
I grew up farming in northeast Nebraska in the 1960s. Like most producers back then, my dad relied heavily on tillage. After plowing, the bare soil was vulnerable—rain ran off, and erosion was common. In the 1970s, he moved to a reduced tillage system that helped hold onto more of that precious rainfall.
With this background in farming, I studied agricultural engineering at the University of Nebraska and started focusing on soil and water conservation. Over the years, I’ve learned that how we treat our soil—by using crop residue, no-till farming, and cover crops—can make all the difference in how much water the soil keeps.
This became the focus of my Extension programs and why I’m working with the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition to help producers adopt practices to improve soil health.
Why Soil Health Matters
Healthy soil isn’t just dirt—it’s a living system. Plants and their residues play a crucial role in protecting that system. Raindrops hitting bare soil can cause particles to detach and runoff, but plant residue acts like armor, absorbing the impact and keeping the soil in place.
Residue also shades the ground from sun and wind, reducing evaporation and keeping the soil cooler during hot spells. Living roots—like those from cover crops—send sugars into the soil, feeding the microbes that keep soil healthy and structure intact.
Saving Water Pays Off
Practices like no-till farming do more than save on fuel and labor—they help your fields retain water. That’s especially valuable when rainfall is scarce or irrigation costs are high.
Take this example: University of Nebraska research at North Platte showed that corn grown in residue-covered, no-till plots outperformed bare-soil plots by 17–25 bushels per acre. Soybeans were 8–10 bushels higher. That’s a big boost—and a result of saving 2.5 to 5 inches of water per season.
Kansas State University studies echoed this. In Garden City in southwest Kansas, fields without residue lost up to 30% of their water to evaporation during irrigation season. But with crop residue, evaporation dropped to 15%. That’s a savings of 2.5 to 4 inches of water.
Better Infiltration, Less Runoff
Tilling the soil breaks down its structure, causing it to seal up and shed water. UNL research in Sidney used a rainfall simulator to show the difference: no-till plots absorbed nearly 4 inches of rain before runoff began—plowed plots started running off after just 1 inch.
Long-term trials across Nebraska have shown similar results. At the UNL Rogers Memorial Farm near Lincoln, no-till fields absorbed over 4 inches of water per hour—compared to just 0.4 inches on tilled ground. That means when heavy storms hit, no-till fields soak up the rain instead of washing it away. Similar results were measured at the UNL South Central Ag Lab near Clay Center after 30 years of continuous tillage system evaluation.
Zach Mader, a producer near Dannebrog demonstrated this nicely in a video taken after a 7-inch downpour in June. Just six hours later, he was walking across his field—the ground was firm and he left no foot tracks. “This is a prime example of how soil health pays,” Mader says.
Building Resilient Farms
When producers adopt no-till, manage crop residues, and plant cover crops, they’re not just growing crops—they’re growing resilience. These practices protect against drought, reduce runoff and erosion, and help retain both water and nutrients in the root zone.
Healthier soil means stronger yields, lower costs, and a more sustainable future.