When it comes to ranking the most important developments in American agriculture over the past 75 years, a panel of conservationists recently placed no-till right at the top of the list.

The first confirmed case of weeds resistant to HPPD-inhibiting herbicides has been found in waterhemp in Illinois, according to University of Illinois weed scientists.

Despite the loss of support for crop residue surveys by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, some counties around the United States continued to gather information about tillage practices in 2006.

Despite whatever feelings you might have about the government, when it comes to no-till, Uncle Sam “gets it” and offers incentives to help growers adopt or expand no-till operations. That’s the good news.

The potential for nitrogen loss in no-till presents you with both a problem and an opportunity, maintains Sam Ferguson, a customer agronomist with Dow AgroSciences in Omaha, Neb.

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.

With growing concerns about worldwide oil supplies, no-tillers have an excellent opportunity to help conserve a considerable amount of fuel. It’s crucial as global oil production should peak between 2005 and 2010 before beginning a long and slow descent.

In a historic 6 to 2 ruling, the United States Supreme Court recently upheld the patentability of plants and seed, a ruling that will prove extremely beneficial to the biotechnology industry.

With approval pending from the Environmental Protection Agency, Monsanto expects to have a limited amount of a new corn rootworm product on the market for use next spring.