As a long-time and loyal baseball fan, I have always enjoyed this time of year to catch a glimpse of some prospective talent that major league ball clubs summon from the minor leagues starting Sept. 1.

Returning from the 3rd Annual National Strip-Tillage Conference in Bloomington-Normal, Ill., last week, I’ve had some time to digest the group discussions and one-on-one conversations during the event.

Building confidence in a strip-till system can come through a variety of avenues — utilizing cover crops to strengthen soils, refreshing fall-built strips with a spring pass to create an ideal seedbed, or variable-rate applying fertilizer with a strip-till rig for more efficient placement and usage of nutrients.

One of the often-mentioned benefits of strip-till is its adaptability to different regions, climates and soil types. That’s not to say success is universal, but advantages tied to soil strength and fertilizer retention can offer enough incentive to at least experiment with a system.