Imgaine gaining 20 more bushels of corn per acre or similarly significant jumps in soybean, wheat and other crop yields. It could be possible next year just just by treating the phosphorus applied to your no-till fields with a new compound designed to improve uptake of the nutrient.

Biogenetics. Six years ago many, farmers may have raised an eyebrow about the word and wondered what it meant. Today biogenetics are as much a mainstay as the combine. But has time proven that it's worth the money?

Growers in all tillage disciplines have one common goal: yield. No matter whether you’re chisel- or moldboard plowing, strip-tilling, minimum-tilling or die-hard no-tilling, the more you grow, the more you make. Theoretically. But how do you make sure that you're reaching your crop's genetic potential? Since the days of Nostradamus, growers have been struggling with that question.

The dead of winter is a good time to ponder, repair, modify or replace equipment that will be essential when spring arrives. So we’re offering a few thoughts on the subject from visitors to www.no-tillfarmer.com

There was a time when manure was the chief fertilizer on farms. It helped the crops grow, but was eventually replaced by technologically advanced, high-grade fertilizers.

In late October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a favorable re-registration for atrazine, which paves the way for its continued use by no-tillers. “This decision confirms what extensive scientific studies have shown — that atrazine meets the most stringent regulatory safety standards,’ says Mike Mack, president of Syngenta Crop Protection, an atrazine producer.

“There are no downsides to biotechnology,” maintains Jay Lehr. The only exception, says the senior scientist with Environmental Education Enterprises in Ostrander, Ohio, is the public’s lack of knowledge about this new phenomena.

While the idea of using global positioning satellite technology took off quickly because the financial returns were immediate, Matthew Sullivan says the returns from variable rate technology may not be as noticeable.

While Hypoxia has been a serious issue for a half dozen years in the Gulf Of Mexico, pollution and sediment left nearly half of the Chesapeake Bay so depleted of oxygen this summer that it couldn’t sustain aquatic life.

The harvesting of corn residue, referred to as stover, as ethanol fodder will focus on “flat soils with high yields in wet areas. That’s where to start,” according to Jim Hettenhaus, a chemical engineer who works on ethanol-related issues with the U.S. Department of Energy and private companies.