With the New Year having just rolled in, we're rolling in a new look with our No-Till Farmer E-Tip e-newsletter.

Part of the opportunity for me to recently present the “S.H. Phillips Distinguished Lecture In No-Till Agriculture” at the University of Kentucky was the chance to spend the day talking with faculty members and graduate students from around the world. Phillips was a pioneer in the early 1960s in getting no-till started on a commercial scale. And he would certainly be proud to know no-till has grown to an astounding 288 million acres today around the world.

If you've never been to the National No-Tillage Conference and you'd like an idea of what it's all about, read our lead article today on Bismarck, N.D., no-tiller Gabe Brown.

While it was purely coincidental, it seemed rather fitting that as we were celebrating the 40th anniversary of No-Till Farmer and the 50th anniversary of no-till on U.S. farms, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter was receiving a prestigious award.

One of the comments No-Till Farmer editors heard while pulling together material for last month’s 40th-anniversary issue was that some educators aren’t on board in promoting no-till. Such appears to be the case with Emerson Nafziger, who continues to devote considerable effort to the need for tillage

So, should no-till and other conservation-tillage practices have a major place in the Farm Bill? Managing editor John Dobberstein recently posed that question on the No-Till Farmer Facebook page.

Some 35 years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture staffers predicted we’d see more than half of all U.S. cropland being no-tilled by now. The 1975 report also indicated that by 2010, 41% of the ground would be minimum tilled and only 5% conventionally tilled.

It seems clear that No-Till Farmer readers are quickly moving away from the old recommendation that you need to apply 1.2 pounds of nitrogen for every expected bushel of corn.

Several years ago with the support of Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers, we added the Responsible Nutrient Management Practitioner's Program. The idea was to honor no-tillers being efficient and effective with their fertilizer program, and provide them a forum to share their tips and techniques with other no-tillers.

50-40-20. Those three numbers have great significance to the No-Till Farmer family.