A few weeks ago, several readers indicated that National Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS) staffers in Nebraska are against funding strip-till projects. Instead, they’re attempting to make pure continuous no-till the favored tillage system.

Conventional wisdom at the coffee shop says John Obery’s twin-row, strip-tilled continuous corn won’t work and conventional tillage is the way to farm. But the Metamora, Ill., strip-tiller, who began farming in 1973, sets his own course.

It might be more correct to call this article, “What I’m Still Learning From No-Tilling.” Over nearly 30 years, my farming operation has shifted from customary fall-spring tillage, through a period of detailed research and onfarm studies and finally, 11 years ago, to adoption of continuous no-till.

Strip-tilling and applying manure simultaneously may make as much sense as other dynamic duos in agriculture, like corn and soybeans, ham and eggs and “rain makes grain.”