Frank Lessiter’s 1973 speech is considered the earliest congressional testimony on no-tillage. The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.

In the early 1970s, Jim Smith worked at the John Umstead Hospital in Butner, N.C. He managed 11,000 acres and the production of milk, eggs and meat that fed the mental hospital’s 3,000 patients. The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.

Country music, gaudy green silk jackets and the costuming of his bride up as a tiger, nothing was off-limits to Dick Foell when it came to attracting attention to the merits of no-tillage. The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.

While the “original” events in Hawaii were discontinued in 1980, our staff considered producing an event like the National No-Tillage Conference (NNTC) for years. But we always seemed to have more than we could handle in getting our magazines, newsletters and books out the door. The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.

Every no-tiller in the Southeast knows of University of Tennessee’s (UT) “Milan No-Till Field Day.” The AgResearch & Education Center at Milan was established in 1962 on former Milan Army Ammunition Plant land. Today, nearly 700 acres of cropland are used for research. The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.

Now a Tennessee dealer, this former Allis-Chalmers territory manager shares what it was like to work the Milan No-Till Field Day. The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.

Morris, a mechanic and ag engineer at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center (DSAC), watched first-hand as the late University of Illinois weed scientist George McKibben experimented with the no-till concept as early as the 1960s at the DSAC. The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.

With virtually no prior cropping knowledge, John Franz was an unlikely candidate to permanently change agriculture’s fortunes in 1970 -- when all other Monsanto chemists wanted no part of a dying research project. The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.

Glyphosate (or Roundup) brought to market by Monsanto in the mid 1970s and now owned by Bayer) is a virtually ideal herbicide, says international weed authority Dr. Stephen Powles and a “once in 100-years breakthrough.” The No-Till History series is made possible by Calmer Corn Heads.