Paul Schaffert named to Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement

Paul Schaffert, left, of Indianola with Bob Klein, who nominated him to the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement. Klein, who served as Red Willow County Extension Agent for many years, is a member of the NHAA as well. The award was presented March 28 in the Union Center on the East Campus at UN-L. (Courtesy photo)

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Paul Schaffert of Indianola was recently inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement.

Schaffert, a farmer in Southwest Nebraska for more than 40 years, has played an integral part in the agricultural industry. He was one of the early adaptors and supporters of the eco­fallow farming system, and produces innovative planter and drill attachments that are sold on a national and international level. He is involved with a multitude of community initiatives and events, and aims to leave the community and farm industry in better shape than when he entered it.

Paul graduated from Kearney State College in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in economics and business administration. He returned home to farm with his father Melvin, and within a year his brother-­in-­law also came to farm. His family did not have enough farm ground to pay to feed three families, so Paul's father sent him to the experiment station in North Platte to see if there were any new methods they could incorporate into farming to increase yields and profit.

Paul learned the idea of planting row crops into worked wheat stubble, and when he came home he began working on an old four row ridge till Buffalo planter his father had parked in the fence row. In 1970, Paul purchased four spring- loaded coulters off an A/C planter at a farm sale. He added a third bar to the Buffalo planter and mounted the coulters in front of the Buffalo row units. He then took the ridge till sweeps off the rigid planter and put on Buffalo slot shoes. Buffalo had a Slot planter on the market that the row units flexed independently of each other, but it did not work very well in tilled trashy fields.

Paul enlisted the help of Owen Elmer at Indianola Oil Co. to spray chemicals and fertilizer and Red Willow County Extension Agent Bob Klein. Together, they started a new farming method that would later be called eco­fallow or ecofarming. This system is defined as controlling weeds and managing crop residues throughout a crop rotation with minimum use of tillage so as to reduce soil erosion and production cost while increasing weed control, water infiltration, moisture conservation and crop yield.

In the fall of 1970 Indianola Oil Co. sprayed 50 acres of Paul's first wheat field with Atrazine and Paraquat to kill weeds and volunteer wheat and left the rest to be planted to corn next spring.

Prior to this, they had been summer fallowing half their farmable acres (leaving it lay idle) and the other half was planted to wheat, corn or milo. With the new program, Paul would be able to have crops on 2/3 of his family's farm ground and leave only 1/3 of it to summer fallow. The new method had the potential to support three families with what farm ground they already had without buying or renting more ground.

Paul took the planter to the field several times that fall to work out the bugs so that he could plant in the No­Till wheat stubble field the next spring. After several shop modifications, it was ready to go. On May 25th and 26th of 1971, he planted the 50 acres of No­Till wheat stubble and 250 acres of summer fallow with the modified Buffalo planter.

About three days later, five inches of rain came in one hour's time. The next morning, Paul went out with the motorcycle, knowing what the summer fallow corn would look like. As he suspected, all the terraces were filled with water and running over. He had to replant this field three weeks later.

From the summer fallow, Paul drove to the No­Till field. He walked up over all the terraces, and there was very little water in any of them. He thought they had broken out, but had not as the 5" of rain was held in the wheat stubble, preventing it from pooling in the terraces. This field did not need replanting.

The corn was harvested in the fall. The No­Till field produced 76 bushel corn while the summer fallow raised only 25 bushels per acre. In the early seventies, 25 bushel was average for dry land summer fallow corn in southwest Nebraska. This clinched it for No­Till! It became the standard for all Paul's cropped acres.

Several years later, Paul and his brother­in­law were flying over their cornfields one day when they came to one where half of the field was a lot greener than the other half. They wondered how this could be possible since the same hybrid, fertilizer program, and all pesticide treatments were the same over the entire field. They landed and examined the field closer, seeing more winter wheat straw where the corn was greener. They then remembered removing the straw spreader and baling the windrow of straw on half the field that the corn was not as green.

[The late] Gail Wicks and extension agent Bob Klein went with Paul to check yields on the field. The corn yielded 97 bu/acre where they baled the straw, which was very good for the area and the year. However, the yield was 117 bu/acre where all the winter wheat residue was left, a whole 20 bushel more! Paul commented that he did not even come close in getting the value of 20 bushels of corn from the straw.

Official research on this new Ecofarming cropping system began in the early seventies. The most popular crops used are winter wheat and corn two crops in three years replacing the winter wheat fallow rotation which had one crop in two years. Over the next several years, Paul left a little spot for summer fallow corn to do tests for the University. His yields were always from 20 to 25 bushel more per acre with the No­Till over the summer fallow. As the word spread and with the cooperation of the University, the county agent, local Co­ops, and local bankers, the Eco­fallow program was launched.

Today, most of the dryland corn in southwest Nebraska uses the ecofarming system. Yields have jumped from an average 25 bu/acre in 1970 to 96.3 bu/acre in 2010. The number of dry land corn acres in southwest Nebraska has also increased from 91,580 in 1975 to 418,000 in 2010. With $5.00 corn, the increase in production has added almost $200 million to the ag economy in southwest Nebraska.

Paul's experimentation and innovation continued. In the 1980s he designed the first Buffalo No­ Till Drill. He built it out of planting units and made the first split row no­till drill. It worked very well in no­till milo stubble that had just been cut. This let Paul plant and harvest three crops in a 3­year period. Wheat the first year and then milo was planted the following year and after the milo was harvested wheat was drilled back into the milo stubble. This led to planting three crops in a 4­year rotation. This was done when there was adequate moisture.

Today, Paul runs his own business (Schaffert Mfg. & Sales) and holds numerous patents on planter attachments for John Deere, Kinze, Case IH, White, Great Plains, and Monosem, along with patents for attachments on most of the major No­Till drills that are marketed. These patents include the Furrow V Closer (closes the seed furrow ahead of the press wheels), Rebounder (seed cover to put seeds in the bottom of the furrow), Y­Not Split­It (puts starter fertilizer on the side walls of the seed V rather than directly on the seed), Straight Shot (puts inoculants directly on the seeds), Generation 1 (G1) liquid fertilizer disc and Generation 2 (G2) liquid 2x2 fertilizer disc (puts large amounts of nitrogen and starter behind the planters). The Furrow V Closer, Rebounder, and G2 have been featured in national magazines such as Best of Farm Show, Farm Industry News, Farm Journal, Successful Farming, No­Till Farmer, Nebraska Farmer, Conservation Tillage Guide, and Farm Equipment. Schaffert Mfg. & Sales also manufactures attachments for Agco Corp, Salford Co., Amnity Technology, Tye Drill Co., and CrustBuster Drill Co. Paul works closely with Monsanto, FMC., and Stoller International on projects relating to in­ furrow and 2x2 fertilizer, insecticides, inoculants, and grow enhancers.

Paul is very active in his community of Indianola and Red Willow County. In 2006 he helped organize the Indianola Historic Society of Red Willow County, and is on the board of directors.

He is presently helping Indianola and the Historic Society to establish the World War II German Prisoner of War camp as a historic site in the state of Nebraska. Paul annually helps put on Indianola's Old Settler's Celebration, chairing the parade and coordinating multiple activities including kids' games and the Street Dance. Paul was instrumental in taking an enclosed semi­trailer and building a fold­down side that made into a stage for the dance's band in case it rained. Because of this, the community no longer has to buy insurance for a rain­out, which has saved a lot of money.

This same trailer is used at the Red Willow County Fair for four nights each year for the same purposes. Paul has been on the Red Willow County Fair board since 2003 and is presently helping with 4­H projects, general activities, and maintaining the Kiplinger Horse Arena.

Over the years, Paul has helped the FFA as a leader and sponsor in leadership projects for the former Republican Valley FFA Chapter and now the Southwest FFA Chapter. Paul feels strongly about this organization and wishes it were offered when he was in high school. He believes that our future leaders come from the youth of today through FFA, 4­H, and the Christian Fellowship.

He is an active member of the Peace Lutheran Church in McCook. He has taught Sunday school, been an usher in church, been a leader and sponsor of the Lutheran Youth Fellowship, and is presently an Elder of the congregation.

As one of the early adaptors of Eco­fallow and Ecofarming, Paul Schaffert consistently applies efforts to help farmers adopt Ecofarming and conservation farming methods. He maintains a strong presence in his community, helping it to build and grow.

He is progressive and innovative, and aims to "leave the farm to future generations or family better than when I started with it", and will eventually pass the farm, his inventions, and his techniques on to his four grandsons and theentire farm community.