Industry figures returned to in-person sessions at the 2022 National No-Tillage Conference, held Jan. 4-7 at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, Ky.

No aspect of life in the pandemic has remained unscathed, and the 30th Anniversary of the National No-Tillage Conference was no different. Concern about the COVID-19 Omicron variant forced some minor changes to conference programming from a speaker who couldn’t attend to the absence of No-Till Farmer founding editor Frank Lessiter, and, of course, the presence of masks.

Amid these changes, portions of rural Kentucky were reeling from tornadoes that tore through the western part of the state on the evening of Dec. 10-11, storms that killed 76 people in the state, with others killed in Illinois, Tennessee and Missouri.

“You could not have predicted a model and a path that would have affected more farms in Kentucky,” state agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles told attendees during opening remarks.

But amid the storms and the virus there was hope. Attendees and organizers donated about $700 to assist with recovery efforts from the tornadoes. And the conference went off without a hitch.

Building on a Legacy

John Young, son of 1962 commercial no-till originator Harry Young Jr., and the scion of no-till pioneer Young family celebrated the family’s legacy.

The 60th anniversary of the planting of that plot was celebrated, along with the 30th conference anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of No-Till Farmer magazine. 

“We’re trying to rebuild the soil,” Young says…