Rulon Enterprises in Indiana shares how cover crops free up fertility, increase yields and improve soil health, providing a $69.17-per-acre benefit.

Do you believe you’ve seen a yield increase from using cover crops on your no-till operation, and if so, how much?

University of Missouri agronomists found corn and soybean yields increase by 20% or more when they use drainage control systems.

Our farm hit a plateau in the 1990s. Yields were flat and we just weren’t making the gains we thought we should be. It’s not that we sought out no-till as the magic solution; we just knew we had to try something different, as conventional tillage wasn’t cutting it.

Mississippi State University researchers found that replicated trials from 2005-14 indicate pretreated seeds are effective at whichever level of treatment a no-tiller chooses.

Corn has the potential to yield 500 bushels per acre. But according to the USDA, the average corn yield lands short at 158, and with an estimated 27% global population growth by 2050, the increasing demand will not be met.