Welcome to my first installment of No-Till Notes. I’m looking forward to writing this column and sharing my no-tilling experiences with you. I hope to provide lots of no-tilling ideas you can use on your farm.

I have been able to maintain a 500-acre family farm at Sparta, Wis., while I have been employed as an agricultural agent and more recently an on-farm ag research coordinator for the University of Wisconsin. Trying out and applying new no-tilling ideas on our family farm has allowed me to be a better teacher, researcher and farmer.

My current research with the university includes using precision agriculture technologies to improve manure management and managing farming systems to improve soil conservation and nutrients. No-till farming definitely shines in the farming system work we are doing, both environmentally and economically.

Good no-tilling mimics Mother Nature, protects our natural resources and allows producers to improve profitability immensely. No-tilling opens the opportunity for larger fields without the risk of erosion, and this opens the door to using larger, more efficient equipment.

Farm And Classroom Training

I’ve had many different types of experiences in my agricultural work, which helps me with farming systems research. After growing up on a dairy and crop farm, I attended the University of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois for…