Defense planning is under way across the country. No-tillers are taking aim at the weeds, insects and diseases that could threaten their soybean crops in 2004. And as the threats to soybeans change - aphids have become a bigger problem in the past couple of years, and fast-acting rust disease seems ready to move into the U.S. from South America - the country's pesticide manufacturers are offering some new alternatives on top of proven performers to guard the fields.

When we started no-tilling 25 years ago, we really weren’t trying to solve a soil erosion problem. We hadn’t thought it through that far and we just wanted to stay competitive by reducing costs. And it took several years and dramatic changes in our cropping systems before we started to see the real long-term benefits of no-till (which we call direct seeding).

No-Tillers rarely apply post-emergence herbicides without an adjuvant, whether it’s part of the manufacturer’s herbicide formulation or is added during tankmixing. But selecting adjuvants is no easy task, with more than 4,000 products on the market.