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.

As part of the 40th anniversary of publishing No-Till Farmer, we’ve selected a group of 40 individuals who have made tremendous contributions to the growth and popularity of no-till.

Editor's Note: This article is from the November 2011 issue of No-Till Farmer Conservation Tillage Guide. Not all details are current of this electronic posting.

My son, Mike, and I recently spent 6 days looking at no-till in the Palouse, a 3,000-square-mile area located in the southeastern corner of Washington, north central Idaho and northeast Oregon. While I've visited this area several times where no-tillers grow crops on slopes as steep as 60%, I’d never been there during harvest of wheat, barley, peas, lentils and garbanzo beans.

My son, Mike, and I spent 6 days in mid-August looking at no-till in the Palouse, a 3,000-square-mile area located in the southeastern corner of Washington, north central Idaho and northeast Oregon.

Properly handling straw, chaff and stalks as they exit the combine is key to managing your residue throughout the year with no-till. It’s due to the fact that effective residue management influences erosion control, moisture conservation, seed placement, fertilizer distribution, crop emergence and weed control.