For several years, there's been talk in western Canada about offering tax credits to no-till farmers who store additional carbon in the soil. A few years back, Canadian utility companies saw the concept as a way to offset huge penalties for atmospheric emissions from coal-powered electric plants.

A veteran no-tiller who’s definitely been successful with both no-tilled corn and soybeans is Dean Holst of Le Claire, Iowa. He’s been so successful that he expected to no-till 5,000 acres of corn and soybeans this spring.

Results from 1997 continued to fuel the fire that drives Marion Calmer’s research on ultra-narrow-row corn.

Higher fertility, narrow rows, soil-testing changes, higher plant populations, insect-resistant hybrids, yield monitors, soil additives and no-tilling corn into wheat stubble were among the unique ideas used by the top finishers in the three no-till categories in the 1997 yield contest conducted by the National Corn Grower’s Association.

While some farmers tend to have difficulty no-tilling corn in rotations, a pair of Purdue University researchers are finding row cleaners and avoiding planting in the old rows can make continuous no-till corn feasible. In addition, some ideas they’ve come up with can help if you are following a more traditional crop rotation.