When it comes to calculating seeding rates for no-tilled Roundup Ready soybeans, recent University of Maryland research indicates that you may not need as high a plant population as you might have thought to get top yields.

Turning your original no-till planter into something that better fits your specific cropping needs was a hot topic on the No-Till Farmer Farmer’s Forum message board recently. Also, veteran no-tillers hit the keyboards to voice their opinions about one farmer’s interseeding concerns and another no-tiller’s questions about his White 5100 planter.

Since 1988, Marion Calmer has seen no yield loss by reducing soybean planting populations down to 100,000 plants per acre in 15-inch rows.

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.

As you start inching closer to the National No-Tillage Conference in Indianapolis, Ind., from Jan. 8 to 11, 2003, get a head start on topics you want to hear about by jumping on our Web site’s message board, Farmer’s Forum, at www.no-tillfarmer.com. It’s a great place to make some no-tilling contacts with people that you’ll be able to meet up with at the conference.

With no-till used on 55 million acres, this highly popular reduced-tillage practice turned in a dramatic increase of nearly 3.2 million acres during the past 2 years.