A product that serves as a foundation for innovative no-tillers looking to reduce compaction and enhance soil tilth has taken the top prize as No-Till Product Of The Year for 2012.

No-tillers — being innovative by nature — have a shrewd eye when it comes to evaluating the tools that bring them success in their operations.

With a desire to pump up small grain yields, no-tillers are searching for better ways to combat a growing number of costly pests. As a result, attendees at last winter’s 15th National No-Tillage Conference were keenly interested in learning to do a more effective job of controlling yield-grabbing pests.

Having invested in the latest sprayer technologies, cereal grain growers are gearing up to do a better job of applying pesticides — starting this fall with winter wheat.

There have never been more corn hybrid selections and protections on the market to help meet the needs of no-tillers. We’ve moved a long way from the hybrid guessing game no-tillers were in just a few short years ago.

A new formulation of paraquat herbicide from Syngenta Crop Protection has been registered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Syngenta says Gramoxone Inteon sets a higher industry standard for protection of users, provides control as effective as Gramoxone Max in burndown and harvest aid uses, and offers an effective alternative to glyphosate.

A NUMBER OF NEW products and Section 18 exemptions from the Environmental Protection Agency for the use of fungicides against Asian soybean rust means more options for no-tillers looking to protect their soybeans. Here’s a company by company rundown of the products no-tillers can add to their list of choices.