Lucas Criswell isn’t afraid to try new things for the benefit of his soils, crops, and ultimately profits. So when he learned that Penn State University entomologist John Tooker’s work suggested that neonicotinoid seed treatments may have negative effects on beneficial insects, he decided to make a change.

The no-till movement seems to be going strong across South Dakota. That’s the conclusion, at least, of this year’s South Dakota Cropping Systems Inventory, which is a statistical ‘snapshot in time’ for the types of cropping systems farmers are using in the state.

Drought, heat, hot wind, heavy rainfall, flooding and other extreme weather cost the top 10 U.S. agriculture states more than $25 billion the last 5 years, says the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

The latest round of taxpayer funds aimed at the declining Ogallala Aquifer shows why no-tilling, cover crops, precision irrigation and prescription grazing will be extremely important tools for farmers in the years ahead.

If you’ve been relying on the corn stalk nitrate test (CSNT) to evaluate and adjust your nitrogen (N) program, you may want to think again, one recent study suggests.

Cover crop adoption has been a little slower in parts of the Great Plains, possibly more over fear of the unknown than actual poor outcomes seen by growers. But researchers reviewing decades of cover-crop studies say there are plenty of benefits to covers, whether you farm in the warm southern Plains or cooler prairies of western Canada.

It’s well known that the ability of no-tilled soils to retain more moisture can pay off in drought years, but the practice can also beat out conventional tillage when there’s too much water.

Early termination, inclusion of legume species and a little patience might be what’s needed to make green manures and cover crops work in the drier areas of the U.S. without dinging yields and profits.

After reading Fifty Years of Disruptive Innovation over a recent weekend and reflecting on the many examples of innovation, passion and perseverance found in Jon Kinzenbaw's story, No-Till Farmer requested permission to share an excerpt of the book's content with our subscribers.

If you’re in a corn-soybean rotation, even with continuous no-till, you’re probably still having some soil erosion, says an Iowa State University agronomist.