Agriculture lost a pioneering farmer and thought leader last Friday, August 14, 2020. Doug Harford, 71, of Mazon, Ill., was a thoughtful risk taker and became a leading no-till advocate. He was a speaker at the 1998 National No-Tillage Conference and was awarded a No-Till Innovator Award for crop production in 1999.

Doug saw life as an endless opportunity to try out new ideas and challenge the status quo. He was among the earliest pioneering conservation farmers to break ground on drainage, yield mapping and grid soil sampling. In 1992, he even wedged a 386 computer into his combine cab to run an early attempt at a yield monitor. It may not have been successful but it led to later improvements and innovations.

You can read more about Doug here or find his obituary here.