Winter wheat is the main crop in the Pacific Northwest and growers normally seed around 2.2 million acres every fall. Yet year after year, an average of anywhere from 1.3 to 22.3 tons of silt loam soil erodes from every acre that is in wheat production.

No-Till Farmer has entered into the world of Facebook. Within essentially 1 week, we had nearly 900 friends. However, we quickly saw that sometimes your "friends" may not really understand you.

Managing editor John Dobberstein and I are visiting two western Iowa no-tillers today on the final day of a 3-day farm tour around Omaha, Neb. We started with two visits near Lincoln, Neb., on Monday; then visited no-tillers in southeast Nebraska, northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa on Tuesday.

With the new profit opportunities Wall Street investment fund managers and analysts are seeing in agriculture, there’s more New York City interest in food and fiber production than there’s been in decades.

It was with the best intentions that a few of us at the No-Till Farmer offices planned to drive down to Illinois this week to see no-tillers in action. We heard last week that some no-tillers might have been about halfway done with putting corn seed in the ground.

I'm wrapping up this issue of E-Tip in the wee hours. The reason is simple. We're about to send our blockbuster Spring Buyer's Directory issue to the printers on Thursday, and we're working OT to get it done.

With more no-tillers interested in cashing in on cover crops to boost yields, slash fertilizer costs and curb soil erosion, everyone needs to understand the ramifications of qualifying for crop insurance. Otherwise, you may find yourself with a substantial yield loss claim that ends up being denied.

If you're using cover crops that overwinter, be careful that you don't find yourself in violation of your crop-insurance terms.

Widespread planting of genetically modified Bt corn in the upper Midwest has significantly reduced losses from European corn borer damage. Even growers that don’t plant transgenic corn have benefitted from neighboring use of these products.

If you're able to access RFD-TV, you might want to make a note on your wall or electronic calendar to tune in to a special no-till program on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 8:30 p.m. Central time.