Sometimes cover crops fail. This is especially true as no-tillers navigate the trial-and-error years of determining what species, seeding methods and timings work in their region and on their farm.

Our farm perplexed our crop advisor, Gerard Troisi. He consults with many farms in our area of Pennsylvania with a diverse range of production practices. But he struggled to explain how we increased our soil organic matter by 1% in just 3 years while consistently removing virtually all biomass.

A cash crop that's known for being tricky to no-till may still have potential in a no-till system as a cover crop.

When Tim Waltz first tried no-till in 1983 as a demonstration for a local farm show, it was a dry year and the results weren't impressive.