Thirteen thousand pounds of residue sounds like a lot to manage, but on Bret Margraf's farm it's not something to worry about.

No-tilling slopes as steep as 60% that receive as little as 12 inches of annual moisture and summer-time temperatures that frequently run over 100 degrees F., John Aeschliman has been successfully no-tilling in the Palouse area of eastern Washington for more than 40 years.

When people ask why I was the first farmer in our area of southeastern Iowa to start no-tilling 28 years ago, I answer that it was bred into me to control soil erosion any way I can — including extensive use of terraces and grass waterways. I couldn’t bear to see all that soil running into streams and rivers. I knew I had to do something to keep that from happening.

There's a buzz — some of it positive, some not — coming out of southeastern Minnesota about a new strip-tilling machine. The chatter focuses on Mark Bauer’s Soil Warrior, which he says provides an unprecedented balance between conventional tillage and no-till.

Several St. Louis National No-Tillage Conference attendees who use GPS auto-steer systems raised the question of adding more GPS wizardry directly to drills, planters and sprayers for reducing costly side draft on steep slopes.