Are you still facing wariness from landowners who would rather not rent fields to a no-tiller? Or are you no-tilling leased land but suspect you’re getting the short end of the deal?

Dan Gillespie wonders if long-time no-tillers are taking full advantage of the improvements in their soils. Gillespie, a continuous no-tiller in Meadow Grove, Neb., for the past 15 years, is putting his own soils to the test and sharing his answers.

Facing higher input costs, more farmers than ever are taking a closer look at no-till. While there may be numerous opportunities for you to no-till more acres in your area while adding dollars to your checkbook, there’s no easy answer as to what you should charge for no-tilling, spraying or other work done in a neighbor’s fields.

An unexpected Phillips rotary harrow was a good fit this year for Foundation Feeders, located near Spring Grove, Minn. Jim Holty, a partner with his brother Ron in the custom heifer raising service, won a year’s use of the harrow at the 2004 National No-Tillage Conference in Des Moines. Jim manages the agronomy side of the business while Ron concentrates on the livestock operation.

The so-called “green bridge” could be stealing yields from no-till fields without the growers’ knowledge. The green bridge is the method by which soil and foliar pathogens feed on cover crops, weeds or volunteer crops and survive long enough to infect a new season’s cash crops.

Although previous studies have indicated significant carbon losses from plowing, a new Agricultural Research Service study indicates that there may not be a huge loss if a farmer plows only once.