The program has engaged 43 farmers in Idaho, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, covering 50,000 acres and 43,000 cows so far. 

“The networking is one of the things I love most about the Strip-Till Conference,” says Zack Smith, who strip-tills in Lake Mills, Iowa. “The farmers attending this conference are some of the most innovative folks you’re going to find."

Farmers explored a range of conservation practices, from drainage water recycling and oxbow restoration to strip-till and cover crops during a choose-your-own-adventure field tour designed to bring real-world solutions to life across western Iowa last week.

“We’ve been doing high-yield plots for about 6 years now,” Mark Schleisman says. “Every year, we try something new and learn what we can do across all our acres. Some things work and some don’t.”

Strip-tiller devises mobile grazing system that guides livestock down cover-cropped strips between corn.