A few days ago, Guy Swanson of Exactrix Global Systems tipped me off to a ridiculous YouTube video that totally paints an inaccurate picture for consumers of what modern-day corn production is all about. Produced by Farming Discovery Quest, this is a group I’d never heard of who says their mission is to show consumers the latest and most efficient agriculture technologies that go into producing the food they eat.

Unfortunately for corn producers and no-tillers, it’s estimated that the video could receive more than 67 million views. Yes, not 67 thousand views … but 67 million views of a totally misleading picture of today’s corn production. 

In addition, it is apparent that the video script writer has never heard of the fact that no-till is used today on more than 105 million acres of U.S. ground.

Swanson is a long-time time advocate of no-till and has many years of experience no-tilling the family’s farm located in the steep Paulose area of eastern Washington. He says much of the preposterous narration and numerous scenes in the video encourage a return to moldboard plowing as the best way to grow corn today.

Starting off with his tirade that you can read later in this “Frankly Speaking” column, Swanson immediately cites two rather apparent key untruths about the video:

• “Moldboard plowing buries residue and builds soil health and soil quality, right?” 
• “Most farmers today are running 36-row, 48- or 54-row planters, right?”

Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but it’s interesting to note that the video, "Exploring Advanced Techniques for Large-Scale Corn Harvesting" was removed a couple of days after my blog was first posted. Could my unflattering “Frankly Speaking” blog be the reason behind the video’s removal?

Two Personal Reactions

My first reaction after watching the video was that it was an artificial intelligence (AI) generated video. Some things in the video did not look right and much of the video was terribly out of date. And unfortunately, the narrator stated that most of today’s corn ground is plowed or minimum tilled. That reference to minimum tillage probably goes along with the “minimum research” that he or she did for this video.

My second thought — which is probably the correct one — is that the video script must have been done by a script writer with no farm background, leading to a totally skewed picture of modern-day corn production.

Here are a few examples of the ignorance I’m referring to:

• Referring to corn varieties rather than corn hybrids. 
• Dropping 2-3 kernels in the ground at one time — so-called doubles or triples that corn growers want to avoid.
• Referring to corn planters as “corn seed drills.”
• When describing how planters seed corn, the accompanying video shows anhydrous ammonia being applied.
• The narration describes planting corn while showing video of a combine and an out-of-date corn picker from the 1940s.
• Showing moldboard plowing while describing it as corn planting.
• Describing how corn is planted — with images of a chisel plow.
• Video showing numerous trips across the field with a disc and chisel plow after the ground was plowed. 
• Implying to consumers that 36-, 48- and 54-row (90-foot wide) planters are used by most corn growers today. (Incidentally, our 2025 No-Till Operational Benchmark Study shows 18% of no-tillers run 24-row planters, less than 2% run 36-row planters and only 0.3% run 48-row planters.)
• Combining can start with corn safe for grain bin storage once the grain drops to 25% moisture.

And if you could watch the 9-minute video, I’m sure you would spot more discrepancies.

A Disgrace to Every No-Tiller 

Sadly, it’s an unfortunate message many consumers will get in their heads about agriculture today. My guess is that the script was written by a “city slicker” who has never set foot on a farm. This lack of intelligence reminds me of asking a city person where milk comes from and the answer is the supermarket — rather than a dairy cow.

With all the John Deere historical film and modern-day video used in this video, it should be a terrible embarrassment to the company, even with no involvement on their part in producing this terrible video.

And as promised earlier, check out these 21 “blasts” coming up below that were made by Guy Swanson.

— Frank Lessiter, Editor, No-Till Farmer

My Goodness … A Major Misunderstanding About Today’s Corn Production

By Guy Swanson, Exactrix Global Systems, Spokane, Wash.

Surely, John Deere did not authorize or pay for this video, as the moldboard plow has gone the way of the horse and the threshing machine.

1. The equipment is current…and the plows are old. 
2. Deere plows after 186 years were dropped from production in 2023 since sales were declining due to a new era of no-till and reduced tillage practices. 
3. There was no peer review of this video clip….About 50 years ago the video would fit nicely in the farm picture. This is not the way we grow corn today. 
4. Being a no-till farmer requires patience with the misinformed authors. 
5. Large-scale corn producers favor no-till to cover acres timely and store soil moisture while using cover crops. 
6. Soil remains in place with no-till, while avoiding soil loss into rivers, streams and lakes.
7. No-tillage systems relying on new technologies and equipment for accurate and efficient fertilization that is banded into the soil at a 6-inch depth are preventing nutrient loss into the atmosphere or water while building soil organic matter. 
8. No-till allows for the formation of a dynamic carbon sink. 

1. The only authorization for such an article would need to sublimely come from the fossil fuel industry. The video certainly did not come from John Deere. 
2. This unfortunate look at old-fashioned tillage did not come from an organic farmer, a regenerative rancher/farmer or a no-tiller. 
3. The fossil fuel industry has a total disregard for modern no-till systems because diesel fuel usage is dramatically reduced with no-till.
4. The fuel use on 254 million acres of corn, wheat, soybean, and cotton in 50 years ago equaled 1.524 billion gallons of diesel fuel. 
5. In today’s world, the fuel cost difference between moldboard tillage and no-till based on a cost of  $3.00 per gallon for #2 diesel represents a savings of $3.810 billion dollars annually. Yes billions of dollars. Not millions.
6. What about the machinery and maintenance cost savings with no-till? Unfortunately, today’s farming world is suffering from very low commodity prices and no-till has a profit advantage of anywhere from $40 for dryland up to $100 per acre or more with irrigation.
7. USDA soil scientists tell us that no-tilled soils can bank or store about 4 inches more rainfall than other tillage systems, which can have a major impact on crop yield. Here in the Pacific Northwest, an extra 4 inches of stored moisture would typically generate an additional yield increase of 28 bushels per acre of winter wheat and 20 bushels of spring wheat.
8. The “Large-Scale Corn Harvest” video showed a tillage system that burns 6 gallons of diesel fuel per acre and releases tremendous amounts of CO2, CH4 and NO3 into the atmosphere. 
9. A true no-till system only burns 1-1.5 gallons per acre of diesel fuel while sequestering significant amounts of carbon.
10. You can’t be a successful “Large-Scale Corn Harvester” and use a moldboard plow. It is impossible to raise corn at $3.80 per bushel, anhydrous ammonia at $750 per ton and still compete using a plow. 
11. The moldboard plow is truly “the tool of the devil.” The end of farming with the moldboard plow came 20-25 years ago.   
12. The “Large Scale Corn Harvest” video is a vindictive production. Sadly, it is encouraging corn production to revert backward to the destruction of soil using the moldboard plow and tillage. Moldboard plowing has very little regard for our streams, rivers, and lakes. 
13. Tremendous amounts of topsoil has disappeared with the use of the plow. The plowing system is gone. No-till has arrived, thank goodness.

Guy Swanson is the founder of Exactrix Global Systems, a Spokane, Wash., company that specializes in building innovative TAPPS equipment to enhance nitrogen application. He is a long-time user and supporter of no-till.