Foreseeing a day when the government will simply forbid fall nitrogen applications, Larry Tombaugh hit the shop last winter to get ahead of the game.

Paul And Mike Schweitzer don’t see the sense in tilling every inch of every field of their 1,200-acre farm operation.

The more I learn about farming, the more I’m impressed with the things my father did when he was more involved in the operation.

Strip-tillers and agronomists agree about the need to maximize the use of fertilizer to produce high-yielding corn and soybean crops.

Just down the road from the machine shed of Pennville, Ind., strip-tiller Shane Houck, a tan boulder stands halfway between the edge of the cornfield and the county blacktop. Cut into the top of the rock is the inscription, “Houck Homestead Farm 1838.”

Five years ago, Nick and Luke Miller returned to Miller Farms near Oconomowoc, Wis., bringing with them a passion for change that works well with the no-till tradition their father, Bob, began 16 years ago.

Strip-tilling helps manage residue, increase continuous-corn yields and protect the soil, say four Iowa strip-tillers and an ag retailer who have been using the system for years.