Some things, like coal, do their best work under pressure; soils, however, do not. Compaction causes a laundry list of troubles, including ponding water, reduced nutrient availability, erosion, poor root development and the list goes on.

There’s a lot of highly erodible land and many small fields in LaGrange County, Ind.

When he was just a kid, there was a moment that likely shaped Bill Rohloff’s desire to no-till every acre possible.

Trouble establishing a stand before winter is perhaps one of the biggest reasons some no-tillers steer clear of nutrient-recycling, organic-matter-building cover crops.

Highly erodible soils shaped into gently rolling hills seemed to Nate Ronsiek like the perfect place to implement the no-till farming practices he learned as a student at Kansas State University. Ronsiek started developing his no-till plan in 2005 when he began taking over the family farm outside Hawarden in northwest Iowa.

We're no doubt biased, but my family and I think there are few more breathtaking views of production agriculture than seen from the highest point of our farm in the Palouse region of eastern Washington. In midsummer, flowing fields of crops — which may include wheat, canola, barley, sunflowers, mustard, alfalfa, peas and lentils — stretch across the hills to the horizon.