Many producers may ask how continuous cropping can work in a semi-arid environment. For southeastern Montana farmer and rancher Ben Minow, the question isn’t if producers can make it work, it’s how anyone could economically raise a crop any other way.

While most Corn Belt no-tillers grow only corn and soybeans, Charlie Hammer prefers a three-way rotation. The operator of Hammer & Kavazanjian Farms with his wife Nancy Kavazanjian at Beaver Dam, Wis., prefers a no-till rotation evenly split between corn, soybeans and wheat in the farm’s 2,300-acre operation.

If you’ve already harvested 70-bushel no-till soybean yields and think you’ve hit a yield plateau, Palle Pedersen says, it’s time to rethink the situation. In fact, the soybean specialist at Iowa State University maintains 100-bushel soybean yields aren’t out of the question.

As a young farmer, it bothered Ralph Holzwarth to see soil wash away after heavy spring precipitation and then blow away during long, hot summers. He thought there must be a better way.

Even if you don't know all the details, you need good soil health and quality if you want to preserve your land and get good yields.