SINCE STARTING a 1-acre grid sampling program in 1996, the Rulon family has realized considerable fertilizer savings on their 5,000-acre no-till corn and soybean farm.

"If you want to double the size of your farm, farm vertically,” says Ray Rawson. The developer of several pieces of zone tillage equipment and a no-till corn and soybean producer from Farwell, Mich., for many years has taken the time to look beneath the soil surface. The result has been higher yields on his own and and many other farms.

The potential for nitrogen loss in no-till presents you with both a problem and an opportunity, maintains Sam Ferguson, a customer agronomist with Dow AgroSciences in Omaha, Neb.

To maximize above-ground profits, Ed Winkle maintains that no-tillers must be attuned to the basics of what’s happening under the ground. The certified crop adviser with HyMark Consulting in Blanchester, Ohio, says a proper balance of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon is critical to harvesting top no-till yields.

For Mike Guetterman, who farms 7,000 no-till acres with his father and brothers, small details make a big difference in the success of a continuous no-till program.

When it comes to finding the solution to global warming, no-tillers will definitely play a key role. You may also be eligible to receive some supplemental income for sequestering carbon from your permanently no-tilled fields in the future.