Better late than never. Fueled by a tremendous number of walk-up registrations, the 11th annual National No-Tillage Conference, sponsored by Bayer Crop Science, Dow AgroSciences, Na-Churs Alpine Solutions, Landec Ag, Monsanto and Syngenta Crop Protection, once again put together more than 660 of the best no-tilling minds in North America.

When i started no-tilling, I felt a renewed sense of energy and excitement about farming. I’m guessing a lot of fledgling no-tillers get that same feeling.

This November issue represents the 30th anniversary of when the first copy of No-Till Farmer went in the mail. Since 1972, we’ve seen tremendous no-till growth along with many exciting, new technologies that have made this reduced tillage practice work on your farm.

As the name suggests, a new pre-plant or pre-emergent herbicide named Keystone will help no-till corn growers do a better job of controlling grasses and broadleaf weeds next year.

When it comes to cashing in on carbon sequestration, no-tillers are way ahead of the game. Even though there are many methods of reducing carbon dioxide emissions — such as increasing efficiency in automobiles and industry, or developing cleaner energy sources with solar and wind power — the possibilities of no-till are becoming more widely recognized.

As a family farm manager and longtime participant in farm policy development, Dick Wittman has mixed emotions about how the new farm bill will influence the behavior of no-tillers.

While final details of the new 6-year federal Farm Bill were still being worked out as this was written, new soil conservation incentive payments may encourage more farmers to use less tillage.