After nearly a quarter-century of strip-tilling a variety of crops, third-generation farmer Eric Wallendal and his wife, Megan, still view their Grand Marsh, Wis., operation as a work-in-progress. All of their strip-tilled acres are under center-pivot irrigation and in 2014, they spring strip-tilled 2,000 acres of soybeans, forage corn and snap beans.

An early adopter of strip-till in his area nearly 20 years ago, Windom, Minn., farmer Tom Muller understands that creating an ideal seedbed and limiting compaction in his silty clay loam soil is only a partial benefit of the practice. Farming 2,600 acres of corn and soybeans, he’s been able to virtually “drought proof” his fields through increased water-holding capacity and infiltration.