Elizabeth Runema still does not have oxen of her own for plowing, but she no longer needs them. Her secret: conservation farming. "These days I use zero-tillage, and I am getting much more yield than I ever used to get when I used to rely on other people’s draught power."

The next Green Revolution must be guided by small-holder no-till farmers, adapted to local circumstances and sustainable for the economy and the environment, said Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates to a crowded hall at last week's World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines.

A report that says the Clean Water Act has failed to reduce pollution in the nation's rivers and streams is being questioned by some no-tillers who say water quality is much better than it was 20 to 40 years ago.

Diplodia and Gibberella ear rot of corn have been observed in many no-till fields in Indiana this year.

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has commissioned a broad-based study of the possible economic consequences to the state’s farmers if a national carbon cap-and-trade policy is implemented as part of the climate change legislation now working its way through Congress.

Greg Appleyard steals a few minutes out of a whirlwind day to receive a special delivery with a much sweeter smell — a check for about $100,000.

Freezing temperatures this past weekend likely ended the growing season for late maturing no-till crops in northern and western growing areas before full yield potential was reached.

Monsanto will increase seed prices up to 10% overall next year even as it holds certain "workhorse" hybrid no-till seed prices flat for farmers unwilling to pay premiums for the company's genetically modified seed technology.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is launching this year a comprehensive new evaluation of the no-till pesticide atrazine to determine its effects on humans.

In late September, reports of "swarms" of aphids became common across much of central and southern Illinois.