Mistakes have led to more than one production practice that has paid off on our farm. Replanting hailed out crops resulted in our current twin-row planting strategy and a load of fertilizer I couldn’t send back helped us achieve soybean crops capable of winning yield contests. In fact, in three out of the last five years I’ve had the highest yields for the local Pioneer yield contest and one of those years I won the territory. No-till wasn’t an accident, but some unintended lessons helped prove it was the right fit for our farm.

The motor begins to hum and the propellers begin their increasingly rapid revolutions. A gentle upward tilt of the joystick by the owner and the rotocopter is airborne — slowly elevating as it drifts over a cornfield to capture hundreds of images that will be processed and analyzed.