Joe Garland examines the golden corn stalks that an earthworm has carefully dragged into its hole. The Ohio farmer finds earthworms are just one benefit of strip-tillage.

Besides being good for the environment, strip till and/or no-till can help you make more efficient use of available water, especially under drought conditions.

With some midwestern no-tillers facing concerns with cold and wet soils, building fall strips may be a good way to dry out and warm up these problem soils before no-tilling in the spring.

While soybean growers have been moving toward no-till in a big way, the growth of no-till corn acres has remained somewhat flat in recent years.

While some readers feel fall or spring strip-tilling can overcome concerns about no-tilling corn, others aren't so sure that this is always the very best way to get the job done. Besides using no-till, many attendees at the National No-Tillage Conference in Cincinnati felt using residue conditioning machines could help expand the effectiveness of no-tilling corn