Galva, Ill., strip-tiller Brian Corkill began using cover crops on his 1,200-acre corn and soybean operation to help minimize compaction and control erosion in 2012.

I’m a first-generation farmer on the Tennessee/Alabama border. I’ve finished 1st in multiple NCGA yield contests in both states and hold the Alabama dryland record of 316 bushels of corn per acre.

33-year-old Alex Harrell, who grows corn, soybeans, wheat and watermelons across 3,000 acres in Smithville, Ga., learned a lot from one of his biggest mentors — Randy Dowdy.