When people ask why I was the first farmer in our area of southeastern Iowa to start no-tilling 28 years ago, I answer that it was bred into me to control soil erosion any way I can — including extensive use of terraces and grass waterways. I couldn’t bear to see all that soil running into streams and rivers. I knew I had to do something to keep that from happening.

Some 41 years ago, when a few colleagues and I began what would become a three-decade scientific effort at New Zealand’s Massey University, we did not set out to invent a new no-tillage system.

When I joined the Henry County, Ohio, Extension service, it was more or less a “midcareer” move.

Their optimism as warm as the record-high temperatures that welcomed them in Cincinnati, no-tillers making up one of the largest crowds in the 16-year history of the National No-Tillage Conference eagerly absorbed information from top-notch presenters, as well as each other.