Conventional wisdom at the coffee shop says John Obery’s twin-row, strip-tilled continuous corn won’t work and conventional tillage is the way to farm. But the Metamora, Ill., strip-tiller, who began farming in 1973, sets his own course.

Soil isn't the bottom line just for farmers, it’s the bottom line for the whole planet, says João Carlos de Moreaes Sá.

One of my first jobs out of college after I received a degree in business from the University of North Dakota was a fortunate choice. During the several years I worked for a professional consulting agronomist, I had the opportunity to see a lot of different crop-production systems throughout eastern Nebraska, western Iowa and northeastern Kansas.

If you had to scavenge for food from Thanksgiving to Easter, chances are you wouldn’t be very productive and may not survive. The same is true of soil microbes.

No-tillers should be cautious about planting corn 2 inches deep or more, says Barry Fisher, Indiana state agronomist with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service