My journey into conserving soil and building a resilient soil system has been an adventure in experimentation and learning. I first learned about strip-till when I visited a colleague’s farm to view a new way of working soil to prepare for corn planting.

Would landowners in your area rent ground to a no-tiller or strip-tiller for fewer dollars than to farmers using other conservation systems or even conventional tillage?

As combines get rolling this fall, one of the measuring sticks for an efficient harvest is maximizing the performance of those six-figure machines.

We’ve all seen and heard about the widespread devastation caused by the recent hurricanes in the southern U.S. Images and stories covering the immediate impact was startling, but the aftermath is perhaps even more astonishing.

Most strip-tillers I visit tend to be loyal practitioners or, at the very least, recent converts who are seeing enough promise to continue their journey. But there are certainly those who struggle and perhaps even question their decision.

Returning from this year’s National Strip-Tillage Conference (NSTC) in Omaha, Neb., I always appreciate the new connections made at each event, and especially with those attendees who are new to strip-till.

En route to Omaha, Neb., and our 4th annual National Strip-Tillage Conference this week, I had a lot of windshield time to mentally run through the paces of the event ahead of time and try and proactively plan for the unexpected.

Timing can be everything when building strips, and in talking with farmers, it seems more are becoming loyal to one time of year or the other, depending on convenience, weather or availability of hired help.

Traveling through parts of Wisconsin during the holiday weekend, I took note of the height and health of crops I passed along the highway. Most looked to be thriving and it got me thinking about the expectations farmers may have for this year’s cash crops, coming off a record 2016 for many — at least in terms of yields.

The last few years have prompted some strip-tillers to reevaluate their crop rotation and adjust to the fluctuating commodity market. Talking with a few farmers, they acknowledged making some pre-season planting decisions based in part on the price of corn and soybeans.