Besides operating a business that tackles crop consulting work on more than 300,000 acres, Joe Nester serves as the director of a local bank.

David Hula captured top no-till yield honors in last fall’s National Corn Growers Association contest with a yield of 319.3 bushels per acre. While this Charles City, Va., no-tiller’s result was about double the current national average, 300 bushels is a yield some industry leaders are anticipating as being typical just 20 years from now.

Co-sponsored by No-Till Farmer and Wall Street Access, the event’s goal was to help Wall Street fund managers better understand the food production cycle and this year’s challenging fertilizer markets.

Back in 1962, Harry Young Jr., began experimenting with no-till on 7/t0s acre on his Herndon, Ky., farm. It led him to eventually no-till 1,800 acres of crops each year from only 1,200 acres with doublecropping. Teaming up with University of Kentucky agronomist Shirley Phillips, Young quickly demonstrated the many benefits of no-till.