One advantage proponents of no-till have championed for years is getting on their no-till fields without making ruts long before their neighbors in conventional tillage can run. Sometimes there's a day's difference after a heavy rain. As it turns out, that's a mixed blessing.

It is commonly perceived that if summer weather is too hot and humid for people, then it must be ideal for corn because corn — in contrast to a crop like wheat — is a tropical crop. Up to a point, that perception is correct.

Combining gypsum and a buffer system can improve water quality by trapping some agricultural pollutants in field runoff, a USDA scientist says.

No-tillers in the Chesapeake Bay would benefit financially if Congress passes legislation that establishes nutrient trading to improve water quality, the World Resources Institute says.

While it’s too late to apply fungicides to soybeans with white mold symptoms, no-tillers can benefit in three ways from scouting their fields before harvest, Daren Mueller, Iowa State University plant pathologist, says.

Senators object to proposed EPA crackdown on farm dust.

Corn stalks and stubble are causing damage to agricultural equipment tires that range from sidewall cuts and punctures to chipping of large tractor tires. In some cases damage can be so severe it may require the farmer to replace tires.

If the 2010 growing season was any indication, disease management needs to be one of the top things on growers’ lists if they are going to have a great wheat crop, says an Ohio State University Extension plant pathologist.

Critics of agricultural biotechnology used the increasing problem with herbicide-resistant weeds to call for tighter regulation of biotech crops.

Iowa State University researchers are testing between-row cover grasses as part of research looking at ways to reduce soil runoff and keep vital nutrients in the soils while crop residue, called stover, is removed from farm fields to produce biofuels.