Aside from the planter and combine, drills are one of the most common pieces of equipment seen rolling across no-till fields today — about 64% of readers who participated in the 2016 No-Till Operational Benchmark Study said they own and use a no-till drill. And with cover crops picking up acreage in no-till systems, no-tillers are no longer relying on the tool just for seeding cash crops.

Harold Grall already had extensive experience growing corn and grain sorghum in the Texas Panhandle when he bought out his mentor, Dale Coleman, and started farming on his own in 1994. At that time, he was farming 3,700 acres of High Plains silt-clay loam just north of Dumas, Texas, and was committed to ridge-till and furrow irrigation.

Kentucky grower Richard Preston says his operation represents the “worst-case scenario” for efficiently and responsibly sprayed chemicals.

Faced with commodity prices that mirror cost-of-production figures and continued challenges from resistant weeds, no-tillers continue to seek out crop protectants that offer flexibility in application and dependable performance.

Although farm equipment manufacturers have engineers specifically charged to design and build no-till planters that efficiently place seed in the ground at the optimum depth, in a variety of field conditions, it’s difficult to find a no-tiller running a truly “bone stock” OEM planter.

Poultry litter is a proven valuable resource for farmers who have access to it, but until recently the only way to apply the bulky, dry nitrogen-rich organic material has been to broadcast it on the surface of farm fields and pastures.

Soil compaction’s negative effect on yields, root development and nutrient uptake is of growing concern to farmers in the U.S., particularly given the widespread use of farm equipment that is bigger than ever.

Of all the agronomic variables in the life of a plant, the initial contact of the seed with the soil and moisture is the most crucial to germination’s spark of life and a viable stand emergence.

Ask major players in the ag industry what's driving tire design for North America and three themes pop up immediately: soil compaction, stubble damage and the increasing size of farm equipment.