No-Till Farmer editors encounter a variety of articles, social media posts, podcasts and videos that offer a unique look at the grower's world from the lofty digital realm. Here is our favorite content from the past week from across the web. “No-Till Farmer's Best of the Web" is brought to you by Mixmate by PRAXIDYN.

Farewell to Idaho Legend John McNabb

No-Till Legend John McNabb of Inkom, Idaho, passed away Saturday at the age of 87. He and his family no-tilled as many as 43,000 acres in a given year. He is remembered as a generous spirit who worked wheat, barley and alfalfa fields in Eastern Idaho and was among the first adopters of the Mort and Guy Swanson-manufactured Yielder no-till drill. He started no-tilling in 1978 and credited the practice with allowing he and his sons to farm with half the tractors and 25% of the labor, with dramatic drops in fuel and herbicide costs. We found this 12-minute video of him at the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association, so you could hear his story in his own words. Guy Swanson remembers him as “one of the most charismatic leaders in American agriculture.”

Within the Sound ... of Soil

In a relatively new field known as soil bioacoustics – others prefer terms such as biotremology or soil ecoacoustics – a growing number of biologists are capturing underground noises to open a window into this complex and cryptic world. And as one might expect, it turns out healthier soils are noisier than less healthy ones.

Avian Influenza Pushes Egg Prices Higher

While we're not exactly chicken farmers at No-Till Farmer we do know several younger people who will be worried to know that hopping into the Easter Weekend, the cost of eggs is going up, according to Texas A & M Extension and the USDA. 

US Officials Say 50% of Harvest Could Be Made

Amid ongoing work in the runup to the Farm Bill, the House Ag Committee on Wednesday received testimony on International Aid and Development, including an estimate that as much as 50% of the Ukraine wheat harvest could be conducted amid the ongoing conflict, though some inputs, like diesel fuel, remain scarce. The conflict has potential ramifications for wheat prices in the U.S., and food security in the Middle East and North Africa.

Assessing Soil Health with a Shovel and a Knife

Did you know you can do a soil health assessment on your own land without having to send in soil samples to a laboratory? And this assessment costs only your time because it requires no special tools. Using the senses of sight, smell, and touch, along with very simple hand tools — a shovel and a knife — you can determine the health of the soil in less than 30 minutes.

Today: Strawberries. Tomorrow: The Grammies

Did you play in a terrible garage band in high school? Do you sometimes wish they hadn't broken up? Do you still have your old glam metal wig in your closet? Is there a VH1 "Behind The Music" episode about your life? Well, none of that matters, because California Strawberries is holding a jingle contest. Now if you'll excuse us, we have to go practice.

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Best of the Web This Week is brought to you by Mixmate by PRAXIDYN.

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