The first impulse of many growers may be to plow under CRP ground when converting it back into cropland.

Their optimism as warm as the record-high temperatures that welcomed them in Cincinnati, no-tillers making up one of the largest crowds in the 16-year history of the National No-Tillage Conference eagerly absorbed information from top-notch presenters, as well as each other.

Banding is good. Virginia Tech agronomist Mark Alley explains to no-tillers the reasons for banding nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, near the seed during a break at the 16th annual National No-Tillage Conference.

Just because herbicide-tolerant crops now dominate the majority of acres in the Midwest does not mean that crop protection manufacturers are bowing out of the new herbicides race. In fact, many are adapting their portfolios to the way that growers prefer to control weeds today, particularly in corn.