When Dwayne Beck spoke at the inaugural National No-Tillage Conference (NNTC) in Indianapolis in 1993, he told the audience, “You folks in the eastern Corn Belt no-till to get rid of the water. In South Dakota, we no-till to capture every raindrop we can.” In the decades since, the No-Till Innovator and Legend from Pierre, S.D., has provided no-tillers with highly practical and profitable ideas as farm manager at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm. In this Silver Anniversary Lecture, Beck shares observations from a quarter-century of research studies and discusses how you can sustain long-term profitability.

You’ll Learn: The true cost of erosion & how to position your no-till operation for long-term success.

The 33rd Annual National No-Tillage Conference returns to Louisville on Jan. 7-10, 2025. Whether you're new to no-till or refining your system, this event delivers fast-paced learning from top no-till farmers, agronomists and experts. With over 12 General Sessions, 23 expert-led Classrooms and 34 Roundtables to choose from, plus opportunities to earn pesticide recertification and CCA credits, the 2025 No-Till Conference is a must-attend event for anyone looking to enhance their no-till farming practices.

View the full speaker agenda and topics here.

For more information about the 2025 National No-Tillage Conference, to register for the event and to book your hotel room visit no-tillfarmer.com/nntc. Use code SPEAKER50 for $50 off your registration.

The South Dakota State University agronomist and former manager of the farmer-owned Dakota Lakes Research Farm has produced some of the most practical no-till research found anywhere in the world. Big on introducing additional crops into long-term no-till rotations, Beck is a strong advocate for using cover crops with no-till. He has shown the importance of seeding a diversified assortment of cover crops and has been a strong advocate for keeping something green and growing on the soil surface every month of the year. Beck is an unusual researcher that understands the need for providing no-tillers with highly practical and profitable ideas they can put to immediate use. A speaker at the first National No-Tillage Conference in Indianapolis in 1993, I still remember Duane saying: “You folks in the eastern Corn Belt no-till to get rid of the water. In South Dakota, we no-till to capture every raindrop we can.”