Plugging the lowest leak in the fertility barrel to boost yields and cut waste is the goal Dean James set for the 1,250-acre farm he manages. But achieving that goal requires creating a detailed fertility picture.

With harvest just around the corner, there are a few things in fields you may want to evaluate.

This past spring, I took a big step and invested a significant amount of money in some new precision farming equipment. For years, we have been using a yield monitor to record our yields and evaluate corn hybrids and soybean varieties in our on-farm replicated plots.

My first “no-tilling” experiences were in 1989 when I planted soybeans directly into old corn rows. I saw immediate labor and fuel savings and harvested yields that were consistent with conventional tilling.