Since herbicide-tolerant transgenic cotton varieties became widely available in 1997, the no-till cotton acreage has nearly doubled in the United States. A recent survey by the National Cotton Council indicates that no-till made up 29 percent of total cotton acres while reduced tillage made up 30 percent of all cotton acres in 2002.

In a 17-year Nebraska study, researchers found that conservation tillage gave higher irrigated corn yields and profits than tilled plantings. The average yield increase was 4 bushels per acre, while the three conservation tillage treatments resulted in $8 to $16 per acre less tillage costs than the conventional disc tillage treatment. The conservation tillage treatments were ridge-till, rotary-till and slot-plant, while tilled treatments consisted of chisel, disc or lister operations for the furrow-irrigated continuous corn plantings.