Having no-tilled since 1972, Paul Schaffert has learned a few things while growing corn, wheat, soybeans, sunflowers, milo and grain sorghum on a 2,000-acre irrigated and dryland farm in Indianola, Neb. The lessons have come even harder recently, because the area, which normally receives 10 to 17 inches of rain each year, has been suffering through a drought for the past several years and irrigation is now restricted to 13 inches per year.

A new formulation of paraquat herbicide from Syngenta Crop Protection has been registered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Syngenta says Gramoxone Inteon sets a higher industry standard for protection of users, provides control as effective as Gramoxone Max in burndown and harvest aid uses, and offers an effective alternative to glyphosate.

No-tillers growing non-biotech crops in which genetically modified crops are also growing due to wind-blown pollen or volunteer plants from a previous year’s seeds are liable to be sued by Monsanto Company, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety. So are no-tillers who grow biotech crops without signing Monsanto’s technology agreement, the group says.

Low-interest loans — perhaps even interest free with the possibility of partial payment of the principal by the federal government might be obtainable through a program sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency.

When it comes to calculating seeding rates for no-tilled Roundup Ready soybeans, recent University of Maryland research indicates that you may not need as high a plant population as you might have thought to get top yields.