How do I write a column about Bill Richards and not have it read like an obituary? One way is to also remember other No-Till Legends and how their pioneering spirit has formed a solid foundation for no-till today and in the future. 

Richards died Nov. 12 at his home on the Richards Family Farm, across the Scioto River from Circleville, Ohio. He was 93 years old. And for about 75 of those years, he was actively experimenting, learning, promoting and teaching no-till farming. 

You will be glad to know that he was mentally sharp to the end. Despite physical limitations, he was planning to speak at the Ohio No-till Conference in December. 

Richards was dubbed the “Grandfather of No-till.” Perhaps a more accurate and well-deserved title would be “GREAT grandfather of no-till.” 

His greatest impact on the growth of no-till was when he served as chief of the Soil Conservation Service (now NRCS) from 1989 to 1993. He gave no-till a jump start by implementing the conservation practices included in the 1985 Farm Bill. 

His friend, Jim Moseley, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, asked Bill to help him develop USDA programs to financially support conservation practices. Together they came up with EQIP and CSP, which were adopted in 1996. 

We have lost other key no-till pioneers in the last couple of years: 

• Glover Triplett, who, with Dave Van Doren, started the Ohio State Univ. no-till research plots in Wooster in 1962. 
• David Brandt, another No-Till Legend, of Fairfield County Ohio…