It's always good to get out of the office and talk to strip-tillers and representatives of the ag equipment industry.

Having 200 farmers, agronomists and other agri-business people at a recent summer field day represents a great turnout in any year, but it may be even more noteworthy this summer. To me, it was heartening to hear that last week's residue management field day sponsored by the Hancock Soil & Water Conservation District in western Illinois drew that many people. It means that despite the drought, people are looking ahead

When I met Jay Petty at a strip-till meeting last June, the Pasco, Wash., farmer was still evaluating strip-till. That evaluation meant working with a salesman at a local Deere dealership, watching fields being strip-tilled and talking with a strip-tiller.

Lessiter Publications last week launched a new Web site dedicated to strip-till practices and equipment at StripTillFarmer.com.

It had been years since I'd talked with Iowa strip-tiller Jim Keiper, but after visiting with him at the Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines, Iowa, last winter, I stopped in at his farm near Cedar Rapids a few weeks ago. I'm glad I did.

Driving between Des Moines and Milwaukee earlier this week, it gave me some time to reflect on the choices strip-tillers make as they strive to boost yields and profits.

Let me say from the outset: I don't know for sure whose idea was developed into modern-day strip-till. But I was intrigued to find a 50-year-old report describing strip-till research and testing done by the University of Missouri from 1956 to 1962.

If you could start over again, or upgrade your equipment, what kind of design and technology would you want in a strip-till rig?

At first, Michigan farmer Jim Millett liked using the Rawson zone system for planting corn, but he found the weather didn't always cooperate. When strip-till machines became available in the late 1990s, Millett and his father demoed two strip-till rigs before choosing a Progressive machine.

When someone in Europe wanted to know about conservation tillage some months ago, I turned to a number of people, including Dean Carstens, co-owner of Twin Diamond Industries in Minden, Neb. His company makes "Strip Cat" machines for strip-tillers.