Strip-tilling in northcentral Illinois, Cade Bushnell doesn’t have the luxury of naturally high organic matter in his primarily sandy clay soils, or a consistent weather pattern he can count on each year to produce a bumper corn crop. He prefers to always have a Plan A and Plan B to manage his 1,300-acre corn and soybean operation. Planning and flexibility are paying off with consistent yields in continuously strip-tilled corn-on-corn fields.

As a fifth-generation farmer, Dave Delhotal takes pride in producing high-quality crops while caring for the land in an environmentally sustainable way. Through the dual efforts of strip-tilling continuous corn and a controlled-traffic system, he’s been able to fight compaction and dramatically increase soil health on the family’s West Brooklyn, Ill., operation.