Since 1969, select farm plots at the University of Illinois have been in continuous no-till. In that time, the measure of organic matter has been boosted three-fold – from about 1 percent to 3.2 percent, without use of cover crops. In the same period, rotating between corn and soybean crops, the stored carbon in that soil has risen from 25,200 lbs per acre to 99,300 lbs.

Like many no-tillers, Mike Starkey got his start with soybeans. But after struggling to make no-till corn work, he practiced rotational tillage for more than a decade.