When we asked No-Till Farmer readers to describe the critical changes they’re making this fall, we received a wide variety of ideas. Faced with needing to make changes based on rising expenses, environmental concerns and weather worries, these innovative no-tillers are adopting a number of different ideas to boost yields, trim costs and improve profitability.

Properly handling straw, chaff and stalks as they exit the combine is key to managing your residue throughout the year with no-till. It’s due to the fact that effective residue management influences erosion control, moisture conservation, seed placement, fertilizer distribution, crop emergence and weed control.

A lot has changed at the Worth and Dee Ellis farm in Eminence, Ky., since 1999 when No-Till Farmer published a story about our operation. We farm more land now.

At some point no-tillers who own drills are going to need to upgrade to a new one. This month's Farmer's Forum message board was chock full of information concerning many of the major manufacturers of no-till drills. Also being hotly debated were the use of seed tube splitters.

One of the more heated debates throughout the course of the last month on No-Till Farmer’s Online Forum has been what is the best kind of no-till drill to purchase. Not all exchanges in the forum are debated, as sometimes no-tillers just offer their advice, as in the case of the Iowa no-tiller who was having a problem with lodging beans.

I'm considering buying a 42-foot John Deere 1850 no-till air drill with a 1900 cart, even though this rig seems so expensive with high maintenance! Since the 1860 drill offers some improvements, should I consider that model instead?