“If you think no-tilling is just planting without tillage, you’re going to fail at no-tilling,” says Paul Jasa, an ag engineer at the University of Nebraska.

Greg Simpson has seen the big mistakes and speaks from experience when offering advice to no-tillers considering buying a sprayer. "The main thing is to ask yourself what your needs are. If you see a sprayer you like, ask yourself if the wheel spacings are right. Are the nozzle spacings right? Is the clearance what you need? Those are the kinds of things that should determine which sprayer you buy"; he says.

THE ANNUAL National No-Tillage Conference has evolved into part meeting of the minds, with no-till experts and novices gathering from across the country and the world, and part family reunion, with even first-time attendees bonding quickly during the intense but friendly event.

Once considered a radical cropping system, no-tilling continued its climb into the mainstream this year. News headlines noted the surging number of growers jumping into no-tilling to escape from skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer prices.

No-tillers could gain income for their crop residue as the United States seeks energy independence and relief from soaring oil prices.