Mr. No-Till is what one farm magazine called my grandfather, Stanley, in a 1991 article. He got our Cedar Hill, Mo., operation started in the practice at the urging of his father in the early ’80s. My father, Jeff, picked up the torch, and now we carry it together

Each generation has refined our conservation farming practices using the tools and knowledge available in their time. Sometimes that means new technology, products and plant genetics. Sometimes it means looping around to more traditional practices like cover crops and grazing. I’m not sure what my great contribution to the evolution will be just yet — I’m hoping it's grazing covers and incorporating livestock — but I’ve had the example and the encouragement to keep experimenting since my return to the farm in 2015.

Hazed Into Action

Extreme weather events applied the pressure to shift our farming trajectory more than once, herding us further and further into conservation practices. Back-to-back severe floods had no-till bubbling to the surface. It was the ’80s, and my grandfather and great-grandfather were farming our river bottoms in the tradition of the time — chisel plow, disc and plant. 

Spring tillage was done when the first flood raged through. When the…