Monsanto has received full U.S. regulatory clearance for the first biotech corn designed to control corn rootworm. The company announced in late February that both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cleared YieldGard Rootworm for use in corn hybrids for resistance to this insect. Licensing the technology to other seed companies means a number of corn hybrids containing this technology will be available for no-tilling this spring.

if getting the opportunity to interact with almost 700 fellow no-tillers wasn't enough, some attendees at the 11th National No-Tillage Conference in Indianapolis, Ind., also walked away with a number of extremely valuable big-time prizes.

With herbicide-resistant weeds on the increase and no new chemistries on the horizon, soybean farmers — and especially no-tillers — must carefully review their weed-control options, according to a panel of four field agronomists at the recent 2003 National No-Till Conference in Indianapolis, Ind.

Better late than never. Fueled by a tremendous number of walk-up registrations, the 11th annual National No-Tillage Conference, sponsored by Bayer Crop Science, Dow AgroSciences, Na-Churs Alpine Solutions, Landec Ag, Monsanto and Syngenta Crop Protection, once again put together more than 660 of the best no-tilling minds in North America.

When i started no-tilling, I felt a renewed sense of energy and excitement about farming. I’m guessing a lot of fledgling no-tillers get that same feeling.

During a symposium on glyphosate-resistant weeds held during the annual early winter meeting of the North Central Weed Science Society in St. Louis, Mo., university researchers confirmed the development of glyphosate-resistant waterhemp.

No-Tillers around the world owe a great deal of gratitude to this year’s winners of the No-Till Innovator Awards. Their efforts have continued to solidify no-tilling’s place among the world’s most efficient and economical ways of farming.

With plenty of tough cropping decisions to be made before spring, every idea that you can use to no-till more efficiently is definitely worth finding.