Since its founding as a small family farm, the Broughton Land Company has been managed for long-term success. For Dan McKinley, the current general manager, that means making no-till work on the huge operation that grew out of a family farm started in the 1880s near Dayton in Columbia County, Wash.

Wow, what a year! Who would have dreamed that our no-till planting window in southwestern Ohio would only run from March 28 to April 27. The few no-tillers who recognized early that the soil was ideal for no-tilling had an excellent crop. Many no-tillers who waited for the more traditional planting dates never got a crop in the ground.

During my 13 years in the Air Force after graduating from Iowa State University in 1956, a lot of things changed. In the military, I was part of a two-man team that flew the experimental SR-71, which became the world’s fastest airplane. It still holds speed records of more than 2,000 miles per hour.

Paul Reed, his three brothers and father have been no-tilling corn since 1982 and soybeans since 1989. They no-till throughout the western side of Iowa's Washington County.

A few years ago, David Dukes, a no-tiller who farms highly erodible land in southwestern Iowa, was interested in protecting his land from erosion. His primary goal: avoid water erosion.