Part of the opportunity for me to recently present the “S.H. Phillips Distinguished Lecture In No-Till Agriculture” at the University of Kentucky was the chance to spend the day talking with faculty members and graduate students from around the world. Phillips was a pioneer in the early 1960s in getting no-till started on a commercial scale. And he would certainly be proud to know no-till has grown to an astounding 288 million acres today around the world.

With both extremely wet and dry conditions happening in the same growing season, it is not a stretch to call 2011 a strange year in Manitoba, but it has helped prove the effectiveness of perennial and annual forage seed blends known as "polycrops", or cover crops, in dealing with extremes of weather.

If you've never been to the National No-Tillage Conference and you'd like an idea of what it's all about, read our lead article today on Bismarck, N.D., no-tiller Gabe Brown.

The University of Missouri's Bradford Research and Extension Center is embarking on the university's first nationally funded organic farming research project.

It seems clear that No-Till Farmer readers are quickly moving away from the old recommendation that you need to apply 1.2 pounds of nitrogen for every expected bushel of corn.

Cover Crop Solutions, Steve Groff, Ken Ferrie, Ag Conservation Solutions, Dan Towery