In the last few years alone, we’ve covered strip-till success stories in Arizona, central California, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas just to name a few. But oftentimes that success doesn’t happen overnight.

“When you approach the rootworm as just a problem that has to be solved, you’re not taking into account the animal’s biology,” Ann Marie Journey says. “You’re hitting it just at certain points or with certain methods or controls, and you’re not allowing yourself in effect to have a conversation to gain insight back from the rootworms about what it is that makes them successful in any given place."

Alyssa Essman, assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science at Ohio State University, has been researching integrated weed management strategies and how cover crops can be used to supplement conventional herbicide programs.

Daniel H. Smith, nutrient and pest management program manager for the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, checks in from the Lancaster Agricultural Research station with details from a 6-year study.

Russell Hedrick noticed that late-season fertility uptake was being limited by inadequate moisture availability in his soil. He solved that problem in 2023 by attaching a deep-banding fertilizer bar with Yetter 2996 20-inch coulters to his planter.

Andrew Focht is still trying to figure out the best fertilizer rates for his farm, but his goals are clear. He wants to slash his fertilizer bill by 25% and use only 0.8 pounds of N per bushel, which is about 0.3-0.4 pounds less than he’s used in years past.

It’s that time once again to see how your farm stacks up to others with our 12^th annual Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study. Since the industry-first survey launched in 2013, your average strip-tilled corn yields have gone up — from 184 to 205 — and so have our questions — from 30 to over 130!

Charles City, Va., strip-tiller David Hula recently captured his 13th NCGA High Yield Contest title with a 490-bushel yield in the strip-till irrigated class — nothing new for the third-generation farmer, who remains the only one to break the 600-bushel mark (2019, 2021 and 2023).