Drive as far as you can along the 120-mile southern shore of New York’s Long Island and you’ll arrive in the Hamptons.

For years, growers in northwest Ohio have battled claims that farm runoff of phosphorus (P) is the cause of the extensive algae blooms that develop most years during the summer months in western Lake Erie.

Whether it's finding a new way to boost yields, apply variable rate nutrients, trim seed and chemical costs, control weeds or check out novel farm machinery ideas, no-tillers are always ready to try something new if it makes sense in their operations.

In the more than 45 years that I’ve been covering no-till, I’ve never seen anything that sums up the many merits of no-till as well as the chart shown here. It’s an excellent resource for showing rural and city folks alike what no-till is all about and the impact crop residue can have on improving yields, the environment and food security.

As a veteran farm magazine editor told me years ago, no-tillers have such a good thing going economically, why do they get so discouraged when neighbors refuse to switch to less tillage?

With ag prices in the dumpster, it’s easy to become discouraged about what’s happening on America’s farms. But if you awoke in Indianapolis after a 5-year nap, you wouldn’t have known prices were down.

While much has been written on the economic aspects of the 2018 Farm Bill, the legislation included a number of items of special interest to no-tillers. Probably the most important one is new language specifically defining the rules for cover crop termination.

With lower commodity prices and increased cropping costs, University of Minnesota ag economists are urging growers to take a closer look at their machinery investments.