Small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe are producing crops even through drought since taking up no-till farming, and hope to promote the practice despite lack of sufficient trainers to help with the adjustment.

Productive agriculture depends on healthy soil. Soil guarantees that nutrients are made available in sufficient amounts during a plant’s life cycle and it holds water that is then available to plants. It also provides many critical ecosystem functions that are necessary for life. In this free publication from Penn State University, you’ll learn how you can protect this valuable resource through no-till.

Winter is the time for in-depth planning and preparation for the subsequent three seasons.

Just south of Milroy is an acreage that has belonged to the Hicks family since 1885, but these days the field is wired with electronic instruments that transmit data in real time to the University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center in Lamberton.

U.S. corn plantings are about half way to where they were last year at this time, and only two-thirds of the average planting progress of the past 5 years, according to the USDA’s Crop Progress report.