Over the years since my dad started no-tilling in 1978, we’ve had a lot to learn — and not much of a growing season to learn it in. On our extreme northern farm that is less than 30 miles south of the Canadian border, we’re lucky to get 90 to 110 frost-free days, creating a situation not unlike Siberia (our average January temperature is minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit). This year we even had snow on May 11.

Meet Jim Bullock. This no-tiller from Worcestershire, England, who also works as a farm consultant, believes that no-tilling is no longer an idealistic conservation idea in Europe, it’s reality. His switch to no-tilling on land his family has farmed for more than 485 years reveals what’s been happening on the no-till scene in Europe.