Like many no-tillers, Archer Ruffin believes in the value of micronutrients like zinc to get no-tilled corn off to a good start. But it may come as a surprise that Ruffin applies zinc in a two-pronged approach when planting corn.

From the Pacific Northwest to the Great Plains to the Eastern Corn Belt, no-tillers John Aeschliman, Dan Forgey, Allen Dean and Romey Bardwell grow different varieties of dryland wheat in different soils in areas receiving vastly different amounts of rain.