While many strip-tillers would have preferred to build strips and put down fertilizer in the fall, a late harvest prevented much of the work from being completed.

If you haven't heard of Richard Follmer, just know that you've probably used a version of his invention if you've used a strip-till unit recently. The owner of Progressive Farm Products in Hudson, Ill., invented the midmount, dual-placement strip-till toolbar that is being used by thousands of Corn Belt farmers.

While most Corn Belt no-tillers grow only corn and soybeans, Charlie Hammer prefers a three-way rotation. The operator of Hammer & Kavazanjian Farms with his wife Nancy Kavazanjian at Beaver Dam, Wis., prefers a no-till rotation evenly split between corn, soybeans and wheat in the farm’s 2,300-acre operation.

Strip-Tilling since 1987, Cliff Roberts has learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work on his farm near Kentland, Ind.