When we're asked if we “created” our name as a marketing strategy, we are quick to point out we’re the fourth generation of Sweets to grow sweet corn in northeastern Ohio. My great-grandfather Dermott Sweet started the operation in 1880, and for more than a century we were primarily a wholesale company.

One of the first things I like to do when I talk to no-till farmers is to explain why my long title – rhizosphere ecologist – fits right in with what they’re trying to achieve with direct seeding or no-tilling. (The terms are generally interchangeable).

It took me almost 12 years to learn that you can’t dabble with no-tilling. You either have to commit 100 percent or forget about it.

As far back as the days of Aristotle, worms were referred to as the intestines of the soil.

When it comes to determining what will have the most impact on your no-till yields this year, Mark Flock has complied a list of 11 critical factors for you to consider.

After sitting in on a no-till air seeder roundtable session during the 1998 National No-Tillage Conference, Donn Branton was primed for action. What he’d heard convinced him to consider a new way to achieve the precision planting necessary for attaining 100 bushel per acre yields of soft red winter wheat.

With increased plant growth and yield increases in field trials, crop additives may have caught your attention. But these fertilizer additives are far from receiving an across-the-board endorsement from university researchers.