As Steve Frahm began adding acreage to his irrigated Ashland, Neb., farm more than a decade ago, one mounting challenge was finding the time and labor to continue ridge-tilling.

When talking with farmers, some will refer to their strip-till system as a "gateway" from conventional-tillage practices to no-till. They'll often talk about the versatility that strip-till provides for retaining valuable residue cover, while also loosening less-forgiving areas of a field for more efficient planting and fertilization.

When he moved to strip-till nearly 15 years ago, Rick Childs wanted a simpler, more efficient way to cover his 1,400 acres of corn-on-corn and soybeans.