Taking full advantage of a mid-June opportunity to educate New York City investment fund managers on American agriculture, three outstanding growers made an extremely strong case for the many benefits of no-tilling.

These no-tillers — Ken McCauley of White Cloud, Kan. — Marion Calmer of Alpha, Ill.; and — Dean Fehl from La Porte City, Iowa — demonstrated why no-tillers are definitely ahead of the general farm community when it comes to producing food. But they also shared their concerns with more than 60 top investment managers who see ag offering bright investment opportunities.

Even with many new developments in ag, the no-tillers indicated that they are worried about increasing input costs, changing weather patterns, yields, ethanol concerns and consumer myths about food.

Billed as “The Corn Belt Comes To Manhattan,” this daylong event featured nine growers and supplier speakers that explained the latest in ag to top investment fund managers in New York City. The event was co-sponsored by New York City-based Wall Street Access and Lessiter Publications, which produces No-Till Farmer, the Conservation Tillage Product Guide and the National No-Tillage Conference.

Charlie Rentschler, vice president and senior analyst for ag companies at Wall Street Access and an Indiana no-tiller, outlined what he believes is an ideal farming system. It includes no-till, genetically modified seeds, controlled traffic, automatic steering, longer rotations and cover crops.

McCauley, who has been no-tilling since 1982, manages 4,000 acres of corn and soybeans. The chairman of the National Corn Growers Association sees an extremely…