The Illinois Corn Precision Conservation Management (PCM) program released data from 8 years of studies comparing the profitability of various tillage systems in east central Illinois. Among the key takeaways, no-till is a consistently profitable choice. Gary Schnitkey, Ag and Consumer Economics Professor with the University of Illinois broke it down during a recent webinar.

It’s been a wet growing season for many of you, including no-tiller Ray McCormick in southwestern Indiana, where a heavy downpour May 14 drowned about 80% of his corn in a 250-acre field and set back his growing season ever since.

Jon Stevens says his corn had front row seats on the struggle bus because Mother Nature just wasn’t cooperating. But the Rock Creek, Minn., no-tiller made some last-minute adjustments to get his corn back on trackAnd as he explains in our Video of the Week, those adjustments likely saved his crop.

Georgetown, Del., no-tiller Jay Baxter was planning on conducting a cover crop experiment with oats, but when Mother Nature got in the way, he quickly pivoted to another idea for a different type of cover crop experiment.

Tyler Troiola used John Deere See & Spray Premium for the first time. The retrofit kit uses 36 cameras and machine learning to selectively target spray weeds. Troiola used it on corn at 10 inches, 14 inches and 18 inches. When corn was 10 inches tall, he says See & Spray only sprayed about 18% of the field, which adds up to over 80% in herbicide savings. It went down to about 70% savings on 14-inch-tall corn, and 60% savings on 18-inch-tall corn.

We’re hopping in the DeLorean time machine for our Video of the Week and going way back to 2011 for a star-studded field day in Mercer County, Ohio. No-Till Innovators Jim Hoorman, Ray Archuleta and the late Dave Brandt, gathered to talk about the concept of ‘ECO Farming,’ which stands for eternal no-till, cover crops and other best management practices.