In his former career as a lawyer, Doug Luebke was attending a Supreme Court hearing in Pierre, S.D., when he stumbled into a no-till club conference in the same hotel.

Of all the no-tillers in the world, probably no one possesses the zest and pizazz of Ivan Myers of Oregon, Ohio. At 74 years of age, this no-tiller began farming the hard way, shocking wheat behind a grain binder and handling hay with a fork instead of a baler.

Before heading for last January’s National No-Tillage Conference, Jack Herricks knew he wanted to narrow down his rows and make changes in his planting rig. Yet the Cashton, Wis., no-till veteran wasn't totally motivated to make the changes prior to the 1999 growing season.

Even if you wanted to, there would be no way to accurately measure the amounts of knowledge and information offered at the National No-Tillage Conference. 750 veteran no-tillers from all across the nation, Canada and even Australia will be gathering on January 12 to 15 in Des Moines, Iowa, to network, share ideas and learn from each other for 149 of the most intensive hours of no-till learning in the world.

Frank Lewis may have tilled his 160-acre farm for the last time.

Up in Manitoba, a number of farmers have sharply expanded direct seeded acres over the past 5 years. With innovations coming with fall seeding, some may again double direct seeded acres.