The editors of No-Till Farmer unearthed a large number of equipment innovations at the 2011 Farm Progress Show, held Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 in Decatur, Ill.

In 1977, Rod Nelson had accumulated enough savings to pay down 348 acres of farmland near Chatfield in the rolling hill country of southeastern Minnesota.

While many innovative farmers and manufacturers have played important roles in the growth of no-till, two men perhaps loom the largest — no-tiller Eugene Keeton and Howard Martin, the founder of Martin Industries.

Although researchers are not advocating paved lanes or painted lines down the middle of crop rows, some no-tillers are being encouraged to establish regular “tractor highways” in planting, spraying and harvesting.

To gauge the world’s supply of arable farming acres, an agricultural expert once compared Earth to the size of an apple, cut into 32 slices. The number of acres suitable for food production represents only one slice, and the apple’s skin represents the world’s supply of topsoil.

Guy and Mort Swanson played key roles in developing no-till in a unique region that both desperately needed — and could easily live without — the practice.

Agricultural manufacturers and farmers have played key roles in the development of no-till from its pioneering days to its modern-day look.