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.

Undecayed corn stalks and other plant residue can lead to disease and insect infestations, soils slow to warm in the spring, volunteer corn and challenges for planting equipment and seedling emergence. And while residue provides protection to soils, it’s a source of valuable nutrients to the following crop when released properly.