Despite having a nominated “Natural Wonder” and busy village of 1,000 people in his backyard, no-tiller Brian Newcombe still finds a way to make manure a valuable part of his farming operation.

Monte: ‘Moonlight Farmer’ was my dad’s radio handle at the Case IH dealership in Cambridge, Ill., where he worked as a diesel mechanic. He farmed about 80 acres when he wasn't at his day job.

Before the many benefits of cover crops can be reaped, the plants must first be successfully established.

Seed production is our business, so we focus as much on the quality and health of the crop we produce as we do on pushing yields.

Soil is a no-tiller’s main business. And as in any business, there is a hierarchy of employees that must work together to get the job done.

I now know that what I was calling no-till in the early 1970s wasn’t what many would classify as no-till, but my farming operation now certainly fits the definition. Only the coulters on my no-till planter and drill crack the surface of my fields today.

Guy and Mort Swanson played key roles in developing no-till in a unique region that both desperately needed — and could easily live without — the practice.

Like fashion from your favorite decade, cover crops have come full circle and are once again en vogue.