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A: I’ve noticed for sure. Long-time conventional farmers no-till all of their soybeans and a strip-till farmer no-tilled all his corn.

— Mike Starkey, Brownsburg, Ind. 

A: There is significantly more no-till in a 25-50-mile radius around our shop here in Kentucky compared to previous years, but most of the increased no-till acres are planted into full-season soybeans compared to full tillage or minimum tillage in previous years. 

This is especially true on larger farming operations who wanted to reduce costs, I’m sure, plus it was a drier spring and no-till was easy. Almost all the double-crop soybeans are no-tilled into wheat stubble in this region, and this practice has been common for 30-40 years or more. The corn acres are still about the same percent no-tilled vs tilled as previous years.

There is almost no strip-till corn and no strip-till soybean in this specific area, as most growers want to use row cleaners to move residue and warm the soil ahead of corn and place fertilizer in a band alongside and under the row at planting time. This is to save the cost and time of a pass across the field with a strip-till machine. There have been strip-till demos in the area around our shop, but no adoption. 

— Phil Needham, Calhoun, Ky.

A: Our neighbors have watched us for 20 years but still get the big tractor…