Jim Koepke would be the first to tell you that he doesn’t consider himself a no-tiller. “There’s plenty of tillage activity going on in our soils, it’s just that the tillage is being done by earthworms instead of iron,” he says. “And those earthworms do a tremendous job.”

Black cutworms can pose a serious threat to a corn crop, and no-till farmers can be at higher risk than other growers because the life cycle of the black cutworm fits well with the agronomic practices of no-till.

Cold, wet soils challenge no-tillers everywhere, but they’re old hat for Joe Breker. He’s now in his 28th year of no-tilling in Havana, N.D., where the warmth doesn’t last long — it’s a 95-day maturity zone with just 2,200 to 2,300 growing degree days — and excess moisture is a problem year after year.

Vertical tillage is described as a system of soil management that promotes root development. It's also sometimes called "soiling" or zone tillage because it's used to fracture the entire soil profile from the bottom up using specially designed vertical tillage tools. According to the Precision Planting Co., each tillage pass is designed to increase the vertical flow of nutrients, water and developing roots. Tillage points of the tools work to “heave” the entire section of earth from just below the line that separates topsoil from subsoil.

Ron Lampe wants the fertilizer placed into the soil profile exactly where it will do the most good. That’s why he’s adopted a strip-till system that injects fertilizer at two distinct depths. His goal: fertilize at and below the seed to expand the beneficial soil profile.

Tim Manchester was nonchalantly looking over yield maps when the clusters of dots representing yields glowed as brightly as a K-Mart blue light special.