On this edition of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by CultivAce, we head to Amboy, Ill., where Dave Thompson shares his top takeaways from harvest season. Univ. of Illinois soil scientist Andrew Margenot discusses why some no-tillers might want to dial back P and K rates next growing season.

This one comes to us from Carl Clark on TikTok. The central Illinoisan planted soybeans into 5-foot-tall ryegrass, before terminating it with Roundup. No residuals. No post-emergence applications. He says the beans have been hard to cut and there’s some waterhemp scattered about. He thought he messed up, but let’s see what the yield monitor says.

Mackane Vogel here with this week’s Cover Crop Connection. No-Till Legend Steve Groff says regenerative agriculture allows him to have fun with cover crop mixes and build soil health at the same time. Here’s Groff, waist deep in his cover crop field, to tell you a little bit more about his cover crop mix of hairy vetch and black oats and his regenerative ag philosophy.

No-Till Legend Steve Groff says regenerative agriculture allows him to have fun with cover crop mixes and build soil health at the same time. Here’s Groff, waist deep in his cover crop field, to tell you a little bit more about his cover crop mix of hairy vetch and black oats and his regenerative ag philosophy.

Let’s go from Vincennes, Ind., to Williamsport, Ind., where fellow No-Till Innovator Rick Clark has reached what some consider the holy grail — his 7,000 acres are 100% no-till, 100% organic and 100% free of synthetic nutrients, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides. Clark gives us a look at what his soil looks like on a late fall day.

Corn harvest is about 50% done and soybeans are at 67% according to the October 13 USDA Crop Progress Report. Let’s talk about the phantom yield loss phenomenon, which is the loss of potential corn yields when some parts of a field are harvested later than others. Our Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Ray McCormick found a way to avoid phantom yield loss on his farm in southern Indiana.

On this edition of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by CultivAce, Vincennes, Ind., No-Till Innovator Ray McCormick explains how he cracked the phantom yield code on his farm.

Turning now to our Video of the Week. This one comes to us from Cantril, Iowa, where third-generation farmer Bradley Zimmerman puts his grandpa Raymond Zimmerman’s prototypes to the test. Raymond is the founder of Zimmerman Manufacturing, which makes strip-till bars, low-disturbance manure and nitrogen applicators and more.

This week we are in beautiful Galena, Ill., and we got a choice to check out the first ever Soul of the Soil Conference. This is put on by the Fields of Sinsinawa and we are actually going to toss it off to one of the presenters to talk a little bit about what’s going on in the world of cover crops at the first annual soul of the Soil Conference.

A no-tiller in the southeast is stepping up big time to help those in need after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.