Editor’s Note: Stanley Smock no-tills 650 acres of corn and soybeans, plus double-cropped beans behind wheat, on his family’s Edinburgh, Ind., farm.

Here are my thoughts on recently asked questions by No-Till Farmer readers. Remember that your particular farming circumstances may result in entirely different answers to these particular concerns.

Q: Have you heard anything about being able to cover your no-till soybeans with a coating that would actually delay seed emergence?

A: Seed companies are working on the idea. One company’s goal is to market soybean seed coating to wheat producers in the Midwest, where double-cropping is a normal practice.

Using this seed coating would let no-tillers double-crop soybeans in late April or early May and have them germinate in early June. The soybeans would have excellent growth by early July wheat harvest. These soybeans would likely be STS or Roundup Ready varieties.

Being a wheat farmer and double-cropper, this idea really excites me. Advantages include moisture conservation, being able to no-till fuller-season wheat varieties and also stretching out the growing season for double-cropped no-till beans prior to wheat harvest.

Q: Do you think all the hype about yield drag with Roundup Ready soybeans has been put to rest?

A: No! Albert Armand’s plots in Decatur County, Ind., had seven seed companies represented with nine varieties of Roundup Ready soybeans and 13 conventional varieties.

There was actually a 5.7 bushel per acre advantage in 1998 with non Roundup Ready varieties in these trials.

Q: I am in the third