For agronomist Joey Hanson, Elk Point, S.D., spring 2020 is business as usual — so far. Hanson, owner of Diversified Agronomy, a crop consulting and custom strip-till business, has been assisting his 30-plus customers in South Dakota and Nebraska get ready for planting season.

Strip-tillage has been a viable option in North American corn and soybean production for over 30 years, and its use accelerated when RTK guidance became more commonplace. But what are the keys to capturing the most value from targeted nutrient placement — understanding the proper depth, delivery and distance of placement from the row.

Starting this spring, global commodities trader Cargill will pay American farmers for capturing carbon in their field soils and cutting fertilizer runoff.

Mitchell Hora thrives on the collaborative aspects of agriculture. As a farmer, agronomist and owner of Continuum Ag, a precision farming-focused consulting business in Washintgon, Iowa, this time of year, Hora is accustomed to close contact customer interaction, setting up field trials and scouting at clinics across the country.

Our editors dig deep into the cover cropping habits of strip-tillers, evaluating seeding methods, termination practices, variety selection and much more in the first Cover Crop Strategies Benchmark Study. Nearly 1,500 respondents identifying themselves as farmers or ranchers participated in the study, including more than 200 strip-tillers. 

Craig Stehly is a no-tiller who farms 12,000 acres of corn, soybeans, winter wheat and a variety of cover crops around Mitchell, S.D., with his brother, Gene. I caught up with Craig the afternoon of Wednesday, April 8.

As nutrient and land management practices continue to change, more growers are considering strip-till. Advances in equipment technology, GPS, and application control systems have helped to overcome many challenges growers typically associate with strip-till.

Whether you are thinking about trying strip-till or already using strip-till in your farming operation, the question of timing comes up—fall or spring? There are many factors that go into this decision, including availability of equipment and labor and weather and field conditions that change year to year.

Known for his record-breaking corn yields, Charles City, Va., farmer David Hula will explain his motivation, results and challenges transitioning to strip-till and where he plans to take the practice in the future at the 2020 National Strip-Tillage Conference.

In this episode of the Strip-Till Farmer podcast, we get a glimpse at some of the speakers and topics on tap for the 7th annual National Strip-Tillage Conference, coming up Aug. 6-7 in Omaha, Neb.