I was digging through the 2026 No-Till Farmer Benchmark Report today and came across the following noteworthy nugget:
Just over 22% of no-tillers also strip-tilled some of their acres in 2025, which is the highest percentage within the last 4 years of the survey.
Survey participants also reported higher corn yields in their strip-tilled fields (210 bushels per acre) than their no-tilled fields (188 bushels per acre).
What’s the reason behind this increased number of strip-tillers? Let’s ask Andy Thompson, Yetter AOR manager, who’s been entrenched in the strip-till world for over 25 years.
“The single biggest reason why is because we better understand what strip-till is. And perhaps, what it isn’t,” Thompson says. “A farmer doesn’t have to own a specific piece of equipment to strip-till. A farmer doesn’t have to perform all input tasks at one time to strip-till. A farmer doesn’t have to do the same thing on 100% of their acres. And a farmer doesn’t have to change everything they’ve been doing in order to strip-till.”
In the past, the idea of transitioning to strip-till with baby steps was almost unheard of, Thompson says, and the unwritten strip-till code was to buy a rather complicated and expensive tool that was meant to replace all other tools previously used to perform everything needed for the crop.
That’s no longer the case in 2026.
“The price of entrance was high, management of the system required a completely different mindset, and the learning curve was daunting,” Thompson recalls. “Now that we know strip-till is the system of managing residue and providing controlled seedbed prep within specific zones (or strips) in a field, we realize there are multiple ways to achieve our goals. If someone wants to step into strip-till a little bit at a time, they can.”
Case in point, Thompson has seen longtime conventional farmers who are interested in changing their operation start by replacing a field cultivator with a strip freshener. Then once they get comfortable with that, they take other steps to improve their soil health with less disturbance, different fertilizer application methods and more residue for soil armor.
In other instances, he’s seen no-tillers use strip-till to create a better seed zone without compromising their soil health principles.
“With strip-till, you don’t have to till a certain depth. We can strip-till with minimal disturbance,” Thompson says. “A farmer stepping into strip-till now and in the future doesn’t have to fit a specific mold like we used to think they did. This is allowing more people to transition to strip-till, and it will continue to grow at a rapid pace.”
As strip-till continues to grow, we’ll keep tracking the trends with our annual Strip-Till Farmer Benchmark Study Report, which comes out next month.
In the meantime, are you seeing any interesting strip-till developments in your area? Also, if you’re getting ready to make spring strips, I’d love to see a photo of your strip-till rig in action! Email me at NNewman@LessiterMedia.com.
