No-tillers drop seeds into hostile territory like paratroopers parachuting into battle. Once in the soil, they have to fight through disease, insects, nematodes and often cold stress before emerging victorious as a strong, vigorous seedling.

“No-till seed needs maximum protection,” says Paul Hewitt, seed treatment product manager, Bayer CropScience. “Without soil disturbance, you’re more likely to see higher insect and nematode populations along with wetter, cooler soils at planting.”

Seed protection companies say no-tillers are well aware of this challenge.

While seed treatments are the standard in corn, companies see more no-tillers taking advantage of seed treatments in soybeans and small grains.

“No-tillers should be and are among the first to adopt new seed treatment technology,” says Mark Jirak, Syngenta Seed Care crop manager. “They realize they’re planting into a challenging environment and with the value of seed going up, it’s not economically viable to compensate for difficult conditions by overseeding.”

Jirak estimates that no-tillers make up a large portion of the approximately 50% of soybean producers using seed treatments. But, he says, the rest of the industry should soon follow, with numbers reaching 90% adoption by 2013.

“Growers are looking for ways to reduce seeding rates while maintaining populations,” he says. “Soybeans are seen as more of a cash crop, so producers are taking better care of them.”

Using seed treatments is one way no-tillers can achieve better germination, stands and yields, he says.

Though no-till conditions can be tough, there is some encouraging news coming from seed protection…