Recently, I read an interesting take on how technology and economic criteria appear to be reshaping decisions farmers make about conservation efforts — in this case, shelterbelts installed in fields to prevent erosion. 

Even though no-till isn’t the norm in his area, Barry Evans has been faithfully notilling his wheat, grain sorghum and cotton crops near Kress, Texas, for 14 years. 

When it comes to no-till adoption in the Great Plains and Pacific Northwest, new figures released this month from the 2012 Census of Agriculture paint a mixed picture. 

If you carry crop insurance and have considered seeding cover crops on your summerfallowed acres, do your homework this spring before hauling out that drill or air seeder.