When it comes to determining what will have the most impact on your no-till yields this year, Mark Flock has complied a list of 11 critical factors for you to consider.

Slugs were likely a major worry for some no-tillers again this spring. In fact, a few Ohio growers have abandoned no-till because of them, maintains Ron Hammond, entomologist with the Ohio State University Agricultural Experiment Station at Wooster, Ohio.

THE Baruth brothers — Ron, Larry and Tom — continue to raise wheat, but pretty much look at cereal crops as an integral part of their 150-bushel corn and 40-bushel per acre soybean no-till cropping formula.

One of the hot topics at the National No-Tillage Conference held in Cincinnati was corn herbicides. Sara Gehant, technical support representative, Syngenta; David Lamore, technical service representative, Aventis CropScience; and Paul Sprangle, agronomy research manager, Monsanto; addressed issues on combatting corn weeds and introduced seven new products.

Dean Holst, who no-tills 1,700 acres in the hilly, but productive area near LeClaire, Iowa, has made the switch back to 30-inch row corn. For several years, Holst had no-tilled in 24-inch rows.

Applying the smallest amount of phosphate for the biggest bang for the buck is what your goal should be. A small amount of seed-placed phosphate can do that, maintains Terry Good, sales manager for the Canadian operations of Na-Churs Alpine Solutions in New Hamburg, Ontario.

Plenty of new ideas are coming along to help you no-till more efficiently by the year 2005. As the No-Till Farmer editors look to the future, here are a few ideas you may be putting to good use within the next 10 years.

No-tillers in the Corn Belt have different opinions about different practices. But one thing no one will disagree about is no-till corn, and how much more effort this crop takes to produce when compared to no-tilling soybeans.