Bill Mckibben believes in the many benefits of no-till. He's put on numerous meetings for interested farmers. He promotes it to clients - but he does so with a realistic picture of the no-till conversion. "Some universities promote no-till but forget about minimum tillage," he says. "We use it as a good transition from conventional tillage to no-till."

With fall harvest running several weeks ahead of normal through much of the Corn Belt, crowds declined at several major farm shows this year.