Q: How many earthworms do you need in no-tilled fields? A: To gain the benefits of a good earthworm population with no-till, you need 8 to 10 worms per square foot of soil 6 to 8 inches deep.

Will a cover crop residue roller – considered essential in South American no-till fields – add value in the northern Great Plains? Dr. Dwayne Beck is studying that question under environmental conditions that are the equivalent of being several hundred miles north of tropical Paraguay and Brazil.

A strict no-till corn-and-soybean rotation leads you down a path to trouble. The more practical kind of diversity that you can work into your no-till system, the better.

When the hunters track across Jerry Lamp's fields in November, they wonder why the no-till soybeans haven't been combined. If they look closer, they'll find there aren't any beans or pods-only stems.

While a mixture of corn and sorghum is seeded in the pheasant rearing pens, lambsquarter is a favored protective cover crop.