After days of cold weather engulfed the Corn Belt, Mother Nature relented and blessed the National No-Tillage Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, with warmer temperatures and great travel conditions.

When the owners of Cronin Farms near Gettysburg, S.D., compared input costs to net profits in 1989, it was clear there was room for improvement in their farming process. Together with their farm manager of 41 years, Dan Forgey, and the rest of the farm’s employees, they began investigating the benefits of no-till.