When a farmer switches to no-till, they will probably find they can apply 60 to 80 fewer pounds of nitrogen in their cornfields, but still get the same yields.

On a chilly November day 2 years ago, I was deer hunting in one of the fence rows I’ve left to help manage erosion in my hilly fields.

For no-tillers aiming for sustainable and profitable crop production, optimizing soil health and function is the ultimate endgame, says Ray Archuleta.

Terry Taylor has spent much of his adult life figuring out how to unlock the potential of cover crops on his southern Illinois farm.

Even after more than a quarter-century of no-tilling, Koepke Farms continues to fine-tune its practices to keep soil in place, make the most of manure and fertilizer applications and consistently reach 200-bushel corn yields without irrigation.

Strip-tillers and agronomists agree about the need to maximize the use of fertilizer to produce high-yielding corn and soybean crops.

Soil is a no-tiller’s main business. And as in any business, there is a hierarchy of employees that must work together to get the job done.

When Allan Brooks and his father, Gil, started no-tilling vegetable crops in northern Wisconsin more than 40 years ago, they paid their penance.

Returning to no-till after a 30-plus year hiatus was really a homecoming for my family. My father no-tilled in the 1960s, but moved away from the practice due to the lack of mechanical and herbicide options we needed to make no-till work.