From the Pacific Northwest to the Great Plains to the Eastern Corn Belt, no-tillers John Aeschliman, Dan Forgey, Allen Dean and Romey Bardwell grow different varieties of dryland wheat in different soils in areas receiving vastly different amounts of rain.

No-tiller's yields dropped as much as 14 bushels per acre when rootworms were not controlled.

When no-till corn growers are asked about what kind of insect pressures they are facing, it seems like they are never at a loss for words.

Several new label uses and new insecticides came in for special attention at the recent National No-Tillage Conference in Indianapolis, Ind.

Monsanto has received full U.S. regulatory clearance for the first biotech corn designed to control corn rootworm. The company announced in late February that both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cleared YieldGard Rootworm for use in corn hybrids for resistance to this insect. Licensing the technology to other seed companies means a number of corn hybrids containing this technology will be available for no-tilling this spring.

A strict no-till corn-and-soybean rotation leads you down a path to trouble. The more practical kind of diversity that you can work into your no-till system, the better.