Their optimism as the warm as the record-high temperatures that welcomed them in Cincinnati, no-tillers making up one of the largest crowds in the 16-year history of the National No-Tillage Conference eagerly absorbed information from top-notch presenters, as well as each other.

This year’s group of attendees — registering 766 strong to become the largest crowd in 13 years — not only consisted of many veteran conference attendees, but a spectacular turnout of 210 first-timers to the country’s premier no-till event.

With 17 general sessions, 15 classrooms and 60 roundtables to choose from, conference attendees found many opportunities to pick up valuable tips to put to use in their 2008 no-till operations. Here’s just a taste of some of the information shared by presenters during the 4-day conference that spanned nearly 100 hours.

Using Less Nitrogen

With wholesale prices for selected fertilizers all having increased in cost by more than 60% in the past year, no-tillers can feel good that they likely don’t need as much fertilizer as their conventional-till brethren, said Mark Alley, agronomist at Virginia Tech University.

“In long-term no-till, we’re reducing the amount of applied nitrogen after 12 to 14 years of continuous no-till,” Alley says.

Alley provided his research on how no-tillers can maximize their profitability by investing in starter fertilizers. You can learn more on pages 10 to 11 of this issue.

Preserve CRP Soils

Millions of acres of CRP contracts are expiring and will be placed into cropland production over the next few years…