Will you be making planter maintenance updates, additions or improvements with any of the following components ahead of the 2018 season?

Michael Willis explains some of the improvements made to the family’s John Deere 1590 drill used for seeding cover crops and soybeans. The changes include adding Thompson closing wheels from Exapta Solutions, and narrower gauge wheels, Bonilla seed tabs and wider disc-opening blades from Needham Ag Technologies.

When it comes to measuring the value of cover crops on your no-till operation, you can’t improve what you don’t measure.

A 2017 USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education national survey of farmers showed that cover crops boosted subsequent wheat yields by 1.9 bushels per acre, or 2.8%.

No-tiller Annie Dee, of the Dee River Ranch, operates a 10,000-acre row crop and cattle farm with her family near Aliceville, Ala. In addition to using cover crops in their no-till practices, they also have built a reservoir as part of a water conservation effort. This video is part of a television production called, Time Well Spent, and is sponsored in part by the Alabama Soybean Producers.

At Brickstead Dairy in Greenleaf, Wis., the focus is on tomorrow as much as it is on today. Gene Brick and his son Dan, fourth- and fifth-generation no-till farmers, take seriously their roles as caretakers of the soil. Dan uses cover crops to protect the soil and surrounding streams and rivers.

The Peterson family no-tills corn, alfalfa, and forage sorghum as feed for their cattle and they grow wheat, milo, and soybeans for cash crops on their farm near Assaria, Kan. They have made a whole series of parody videos to help educate folks about the importance of farming.

No-Till Farmer has announced the agenda and presentation lineup of the 26th annual National No-Tillage Conference, built around the theme of "Building Profitable No-Till Systems."

The threats to crop cover thanks to weed seed and the predators who eat it.

Jill Clapperton, Christine Jones will headline annual event that will focus on developments in soil health and practices used by regenerative growers.