If there's one thing zero-till farmers aren’t afraid to do, it's trying something new. That might explain why a new pesticide-free production (PFP) system being explored by a team of Manitoba researchers is attracting so much interest from the province’s no-till farming community.

Just back from an exciting 4-day tour of Manitoba agriculture, here are a few observations on farming and no-tilling north of our border.

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.