Ruth Rabinowitz had a problem.
The long-time professional wedding photographer inherited hundreds of acres of fertile farmland in Iowa and South Dakota from her deceased father, David Rabinowitz, a Great Depression-era doctor, who invested heavily in Iowa farmland between 1978 and the mid 1990s.

The land institute's nearly 20-year-old breeding program with intermediate wheatgrass is on track to perfect a no-tiller’s “dream come true” — a cool season perennial that can be managed for both winter grazing and a grain crop the following summer.

About 8 years ago, when Ben Dwire learned that no-tilling required less equipment and labor, and could make planting crops as easy as pulling into the field and getting started, he started questioning conventional methods. Dwire and his wife, Kristi, who farm 550 acres near Arco, Minn., turned to Kristi’s father, who no-tills in north central South Dakota, for advice.