While leafing through a Plow & Hearth catalog a few days ago, I spotted a unique product that made me think of the many benefits of no-tilling.

As increased levels of dissolved phosphorus are identified as a major concern dealing with the increased algal blooms found in Lake Erie, some folks have been pointing a finger at no-till as the cause. Yet the facts regarding phosphorus runoff in the Western Lake Erie Basin watershed near Toledo, Ohio, don't back up that argument.

Winter wheat is the main crop in the Pacific Northwest and growers normally seed around 2.2 million acres every fall. Yet year after year, an average of anywhere from 1.3 to 22.3 tons of silt loam soil erodes from every acre that is in wheat production.

With the new profit opportunities Wall Street investment fund managers and analysts are seeing in agriculture, there’s more New York City interest in food and fiber production than there’s been in decades.