Farming in Weston, Neb., in the eastern part of the state, Ron Kadavy is accustomed to dealing with high winds, low humidity and inconsistent rainfall on his 2,000-acre corn and soybean operation.

As corn harvest is concluding, many farmers are turning their thoughts to preparing for next year's crop. One thought is on how to best apply nitrogen (N) fertilizers to maximize N use efficiency and corn yields. Nitrogen fertilizers can be applied at many times throughout the year including: fall, spring, preplant, at planting, sidedress, or through fertigation.

Whether you lose the heart of your watermelon or the heart of your line-up on your ball team, your overall production will suffer, and that is what has happened to U.S. corn production as all of the major corn growing states suffered a reduction from their expected trend yield.

Strip-till works well for Chatsworth, Ill., farmer Tim McGreal, whose family started strip-tilling in the 1990s.

It had been years since I'd talked with Iowa strip-tiller Jim Keiper, but after visiting with him at the Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines, Iowa, last winter, I stopped in at his farm near Cedar Rapids a few weeks ago. I'm glad I did.

Corn producers can often increase profit by minimizing or eliminating tillage, but in some situations this can reduce corn yields, say researchers at Kansas State University, the University of Guelph and the International Plant Nutrition Institute.

Placing fertilizer both shallow and deep, and planting in the middle of the bern, can maximize your strip-till corn yields.

Strip-tilling has increased dryland corn yields 30 to 45 bushels per acre for Scott Darling of Pender, Neb., since he started strip-tilling 4 years ago.

Hermiston, Ore., corn grower Jordan Bennett started strip-tilling in 2008 after the price of corn shot up, and now he strip-tills 3,800 acres of corn with a one-pass system.

Strip-tillers in South Dakota are gaining at least 20 bushels per acre or more in corn yields compared to other tillage systems.