Jerry Hatfield, the former director of the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, leads off the 2025 National Strip-Tillage Conference with a big-picture look at how strip-till fits into the soil health puzzle and why it’s key to the long-term outlook of your operation.

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.