Jon Stevens says his corn had front row seats on the struggle bus because Mother Nature just wasn’t cooperating. But the Rock Creek, Minn., no-tiller made some last-minute adjustments to get his corn back on trackAnd as he explains in our Video of the Week, those adjustments likely saved his crop.

A story out of Florida, where a large drone dealer can no longer fly drones over 55 pounds after multiple alleged FAA violations. FAA officials showed up at a training session hosted by the dealer and learned the pilot in command allegedly didn’t have registration for the drone, and he was flying it too close to a non-participating farmer.

Chris Perkins, who lives about 40 miles east of Ray McCormick, calls his John Deere 1775 ExactEmerge planter a cheat code. It’s helped him break the 300-bushel barrier multiple times. The 2024 Strip-Till Innovator Award recipient’s planter has hydraulic downforce, AutoPath and a 2-by-2-by-2 setup that allows for precise fertilizer placement. And he also has chains on his planter, which he says have some pros and cons but ultimately deliver ROI in more ways than one.

On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, southern Indiana no-tiller Ray McCormick shows off the unique features of his Horsch Maestro 2430 planter. Meanwhile, 40 miles east of McCormick, Strip-Till Innovator Award recipient Chris Perkins shows how chains on his planter deliver ROI in more ways than one.

Tyler Troiola used John Deere See & Spray Premium for the first time. The retrofit kit uses 36 cameras and machine learning to selectively target spray weeds. Troiola used it on corn at 10 inches, 14 inches and 18 inches. When corn was 10 inches tall, he says See & Spray only sprayed about 18% of the field, which adds up to over 80% in herbicide savings. It went down to about 70% savings on 14-inch-tall corn, and 60% savings on 18-inch-tall corn.

We’re hopping in the DeLorean time machine for our Video of the Week and going way back to 2011 for a star-studded field day in Mercer County, Ohio. No-Till Innovators Jim Hoorman, Ray Archuleta and the late Dave Brandt, gathered to talk about the concept of ‘ECO Farming,’ which stands for eternal no-till, cover crops and other best management practices.

There’s new smart spray technology from precision ag startup Sentera that could lower herbicide usage by up to 70%. It’s called Aerial WeedScout. It uses aerial imaging from a drone and artificial intelligence to detect weeds. Then it creates prescriptions within 24 hours that can be executed through any precision sprayer. Sentera CTO Eric Taipale explains what separates Aerial WeedScout from other precision spraying options on the market.