Strip-tilling combines precision tillage technology and efficient nutrient management to achieve operation goals, whether those are yield-based or soil health-centric.

The practice of using cover crops still has plenty of room for growth, according to the results of the August Purdue Ag Economy Barometer. Forty-one percent of growers with production of more than $500,000 annually said they are currently using cover crops, while 65% of growers responded that they had either used cover crops in the past or were currently using covers.

The USDA is looking to create a set of pilot projects that provides incentives to implement climate smart conservation practices on working lands and to quantify and monitor the carbon and greenhouse gases associated with those practices. The pilot projects could even expand or develop new and additional markets.

Landowners could receive payments of $25 per acre on up to 1,000 acres if cover crops are established in their fields for the purposes of soil health, according to a preliminary Senate draft of the Build Back Better bill and corresponding budget. Non-operating landowners could receive payments of $5 per acre for encouraging tenants to seed covers on rented fields.