So much to my surprise, a report from ASA arrived in my email inbox around the first of June. Authored by ASA chief economist Scott Gerlt, his analysis of government data indicates less than 5% of U.S. soybeans are currently being double-cropped each year. This double-cropped soybean acreage has continued to decline over the past decade, dropping from around 10% of the total in 2013 despite the continued growth in no-till soybean production.

On the opening day of our National No-Tillage Conference in January, John Deere introduced its first-ever autonomous tractor in Las Vegas to considerable fanfare. While the advanced driverless tractor is no doubt an engineering marvel, the package deal that requires the purchase of decades-old chisel plow technology is not so innovative.

The phrase “best available science and data” is a regulatory standard all federal agencies must follow when reaching Endangered Species Act decisions. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has chosen not to do so regarding the use of glyphosate, atrazine and simazine.