Over the past 38 years, we've produced a handful of No-Till Farmer articles on no-tilling corn and other crops into a living cover, such as alfalfa sod, cereal rye or wheat. But it’s a tricky maneuver and one that has not caught on among many no-tillers.

It might be more correct to call this article, “What I’m Still Learning From No-Tilling.” Over nearly 30 years, my farming operation has shifted from customary fall-spring tillage, through a period of detailed research and onfarm studies and finally, 11 years ago, to adoption of continuous no-till.

It makes sense to scrutinize the financial returns of precision ag technology costs, says Matt Darr, an Iowa State University ag engineer. But Darr says farmers continually remind him about the intangible benefits of using these tools that in many cases are just as important as dollars-and-cents justification.