Ron Ross, the writer who pioneered No-Till Farmer’s “What I’ve Learned from No-Tilling” series, died on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, in Shakopee, Minn. He was 79 years old.

A graduate of South Dakota State University’s agricultural journalism program, Ross spent most of his career in the agriculture field, serving as an associate editor of The Farmer and editor of Irrigation Age magazine. After retiring from an advertising agency in 1998, he freelanced for 10 years and began writing for No-Till Farmer. 

“Ron was an exceptional writer and we worked closely with him for a number of years, both on No-Till Farmer and the National No-Tillage Conference,” says No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter.

In 2007, No-Till Farmer published a 172-page book that contained 58 of Ron’s “What I’ve Learned from No-Tilling” articles, a series that continues today in our no-till magazines and newsletters.

“In over 40 years of ag reporting, Ron found the sources for these articles on no-till had more passion for farming than any other group of agriculturists he had ever covered,” Lessiter says. “He credited these farmers and thousands of other no-tillers with having seen the potential for a new kind of farming. And he felt most no-tillers were too humble to admit they represented the cutting edge of American agriculture.

“Ron will be greatly missed and many in the no-till community have recognized that he had just as much passion for this conservation tillage practice as the many growers he interviewed over the years."

Ross' obituary and service information is available here.