Mike Starkey admits being a little worried when researchers showed up on his farm in Brownsburg, Ind., 4 years ago, asking for permission to monitor the tile outlets leading from his fields.

Success is bound to come when even the performance of water is held to a higher standard as it is on Keith Schlapkohl’s Stockton, Iowa, farm.

When left to her own devices, Mother Nature makes sure there is something living and growing in the soil at all times.

Vertical tillage is described as a system of soil management that promotes root development. It's also sometimes called "soiling" or zone tillage because it's used to fracture the entire soil profile from the bottom up using specially designed vertical tillage tools. According to the Precision Planting Co., each tillage pass is designed to increase the vertical flow of nutrients, water and developing roots. Tillage points of the tools work to “heave” the entire section of earth from just below the line that separates topsoil from subsoil.

With no-till's high residue levels, a challenging environment is created in which to effectively manage your nitrogen. In any given year, you can expect nitrogen loss from immobilization, denitrification, leaching or volatilization.