Kenny Holsing faced a bit of a quandary. The De Witt, Neb., no-tiller needed a combine upgrade, yet he hoped to gradually ease back a bit. “I’m getting close to retirement,” Holsing says, “and I have only about 400 acres.”

At age 68, John Everts has embraced no-till farming as a way to boost his per-acre profit, farm with less machinery and improve the soil.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. For Paul Lanpher, a persistent desire for equipment that simply worked better on his farm led him to develop equipment designed for his no-till operation. It’s a desire that he dreamed up about 7 years ago. And after several modifications and updates, Lanpher is excited about his strip-till Dream Machine.

Corn residue generates increasing interest as a source of value-added products, most notably ethanol. But before you begin to collect corn stover, it’s important to realize the value of leaving residue for your no-tilled ground. Collecting the stover might offer some no-tillers a great opportunity to pull additional income from their fields; but for others, the value of the residue is greater if it is left on the ground.

Strolling through his dealer’s lot, Paul Butler had his eye on a new no-till planter. But, no matter how hard he pushed the pencil, he couldn’t justify the purchase. “A new model with the features I wanted was going to cost $28,000 to $32,000,” Butler says. “I couldn’t afford that expense.”

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.