No-Till Farmer’s annual benchmark survey received 480 responses from growers in the U.S. and Canada.

Results showed the ongoing strength of the no-till movement as the 60th anniversary of the commercial launch of the practice will be marked later this year.

Cover crops were applied to fewer acres this year, but farmers using the practice applied them to more land.

Growers also appeared ready to evaluate biologicals’ potential in 2022.

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No-Till Approaching 60 Years

Farmers in this year’s survey didn’t report the largest average farm size in acres. 

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That distinction belongs to the 2019 edition of the benchmark survey. However, this year’s survey tallied the second-highest average farm size at 1,365, the second-largest percentage increase (17%), and the third-largest swing since 2015. The largest jump in average acres was 26.3% between the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons, followed by the second-largest swing between the 2018 and 2019 growing seasons, when the average acreage dropped 25.3%.

Farms showed increases in the averages of all types of land. Land ownership jumped 20.9% from 2020, and increased about 2% from ownership share. Cash rent land increased 10.7%, but decreased its share of farmed land by about 1.2% from 2020 (34.7%) to 2021 (33.5%). Share cropping increased 12.7%, and lost a fraction of its share of total land at 32% from 32.8%.

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The average farm also grew 446 acres of no-till corn in 2021, a 9% increase from 2020. Soybeans were also…