No-Till Farmer Podcast: Recent Episodes
No-Till Farmer
The No-Till Farmer Podcast is the no-tiller's audio source for in-depth knowledge on high-profit no-till crop production, including planting, fertilizing, residue management, crop protection, cover crops and other management practices that promote stewardship of the environment.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, managing editors Noah Newman and Mackane Vogel report from the National Strip-Tillage Conference pre-conference workshop at the Bayer Crop Science Research Farm in New Berlin, Ill.
In the latest edition of the No-Till Farmer podcast — brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we go 1-on-1 with award-winning author and rural policy analyst Brian Reisinger.https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/articles/15457-podcast-land-rich-cash-poor-author-discusses-biggest-challenges-facing-farmers-today
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Greg and Janis Thoren share how they’re eliminating insecticides and fungicides on their Leopold Conservation Award-winning operation in Stockton, Ill.
In the latest edition of the No-Till Farmer podcast, Kim Tutor, technical marketing manager for BASF, shares her knowledge about the symptomology of tar spot and important points to consider when deciding when and how to spray fungicides to manage potential outbreaks. For more information, read this article on the No-Till Farmer website about tar spot management.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we get the scoop on the benefits of planting green with Jackson, Wis., no-tiller Ross Bishop.Across the road from Bishop’s farm, we catch up with Greg Olsen, field projects director for Sand County Foundation, as he installs CropX Soil Sensors for a new soil health study.
An analysis of 11 years of in-depth data shows no-till and cover crops are a good choice for Corn Belt soybean and corn growers.https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/blogs/1-covering-no-till/post/15388-less-tillage-more-covers-consistently-leads-to-lower-costs-and-higher-returns
In the part two of this series of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Bio-till Cover Crops, we continue the No-Till Ted Talk with Iowa no-tiller James Hepp and Modern Ag Alliance Executive Director Elizabeth Burns-Thompson to share their thoughts on where agriculture is headed.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Titan International, a big piece of equipment is unveiled at the Kinze Product Innovation Day in Williamsburg, Iowa. Plus, we pay another visit to Robert Boyle’s farm in Coolidge, Ariz., for a look at a unique rotation that includes a 5-way cover crop mix.
In this No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Bio-Till Cover Crops, we share the first of this two part series of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we welcome Field to Market President Carrie Vollmer-Sanders and regenerative ag tech advisor Monte Bottens to share their thoughts on where agriculture is headed.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Titan International, we catch up with young Kentucky no-tiller Quint Pottinger to see how he autonomously planted his entire crop in 2026.Senior editor John Dobberstein checks in from the CTIC Conservation in Action Tour in Scotland Neck, N.C., where no-tiller Zeb Winslow III talks about his multi-species cover crop program.
Since the 1980s, Ray McCormick has seen that the major benefits of no-till include saving fuel, curbing erosion, building soil organic matter, boosting wildlife numbers and protecting the environment for future generations.
Well it finally happened! One of our 50 states has decided to ban the herbicide that got no-till started in the early years before glyphosate came along. It happened in Vermont, a state with an extremely low acceptance of no-till that has decided to ban the use of paraquat amid growing concerns about links between paraquat exposure and Parkinson’s disease.
If you are a white male farmer who has been received EQUIP funds from the JU.S. Department of Agriculture, the feds may have been costing you dollars. A recent piece from the Wall Street Journal editorial board states women and minority farmers have been getting a better deal than most white male farmers.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Titan International, we pay a visit to Strip-Till Innovator Robert Boyle’s farm in Coolidge, Ariz., for an up-close look at how he’s transforming his soils with cover crops and diverse rotations.Plus, we poll no-tillers from around the U.S. to see how they’re using different methods and equipment to seed cover crops.
The same highly sophisticated seismic tools and methods used to measure the severity of earthquakes show promise in determining the impact tillage has on soil moisture and water retention. University of Washington scientists say these research results indicate tillage and compaction disrupt the intricate capillary networks within the soil in ways that affect how it soaks up water.
Mike Lessiter, president and CEO of Lessiter Media, sat down with Pivot Bio CEO Chris Abbott to talk about the company’s approach to researching and manufacturing biological nitrogen products, and Pivot Bio’s commitment to creating products that help no-tillers and strip-tillers maximize their ROI with crop nutrition.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Titan International, Latimer, Iowa no-tillers Landon and Anne Plagge describe the soil health practices that propelled them to the 2025 Leopold Conservation Award, including a unique cover crop grazing system.
In the Spring issue of our No-Till Farmer Conservation Tillage Guide, I wrote my “Frankly Speaking” column about Jon Lundgren and his tour of duty as a USDA scientist.The founder of Blue Dasher Farms and the Ecdysis Foundation at Esteline, S. Dak. Lundgren gave up a career path at a USDA scientist due to political pressure. Now free of government and congressional interference, he and his team do independent on-farm regenerative farming studies and analyze data from over 1,000 farmers already using this practice.
Tom Cotter has embarked on a long journey adopting no-till on his farm and then evolving it to both organic and regenerative principles side by side. The Austin, Minn., no-tiller runs 14 cash crops in rotation with cover crops and grazing on every acre.
At this year’s 34th National No-Tillage Conference in St. Louis, I heard the real story behind a federal controversy I’ve wondered about for 10 years. This revelation came during a classroom session presented by Jonathan Lundgren. Now the operator of Blue Dasher Farms in Estelline, S.D., Lundgren gave up a career path as a USDA scientist due to unfortunate political manipulation by folks in Washington.
A half-dozen years before I concentrated my ag journalism career on no-till, I edited Massey-Ferguson’s 6-times-a-year Farm Profit magazine that circulated to 400,000 U.S. growers. This memory came up with the recent news that a western Canadia startup company (Ursa Ag) is building tractors with very little technology — selling them for half the price of today’s more advanced tractors.
In recent years, our No-Till Farmer editors have shared numerous conversations with no-tillers interested in finding new ways to expand farm income past traditional cash crop, milk and meat production. While we’ve seen many opportunities for developing a direct-to-consumer business, many growers maintain it seems like too much work.
If you’re no-tilling and seeding cover crops, you’re in a much better position to deal with higher nitrogen (N) prices than many other growers. That’s because cover crops can provide up to 100 pounds per acre of N you don’t have to buy.
No-Till Farmer Editor Frank Lessiter returned to the National No-Tillage Conference in January to moderate a thought-provoking discussion with No-Till Innovators Jim Moseley, Rodney Rulon and Lisa Holscher about the critical role farmer-to-farmer mentorship plays in the advancement of no-till, cover crops and other conservation practices.
If you ever had the chance to meet Dick Foell, you quickly realized his excitement for no-till knew no bounds. Unfortunately, Dick passed away at the age of 90 on March 1 at his home in central California. Through his journey he touched many lives with his wisdom, humor and an unwavering spirit of perseverance. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Laraine ‘Chic’ Foell, two daughters, two sons, 12 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
In this No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Bio-Till Cover Crops, we’re sharing the conversations we had this week with Quality Drills and Alaska Agro about the logistics of this long haul, the no-till retrofit project, and hear more about the no-till field coming up at the farm.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Titan International, we share a key takeaway from the USDA Prospective Plantings report, and catch up with Wisconsin no-tiller Kevin Klahn to discuss his state record-breaking soybean yield.
In this No-Till Farmer podcast brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Senior Editor John Dobberstein shares highlights from his interviews with several exhibitors at the Commodity Classic show in San Antonio as they discussed products, innovations and management strategies that you’ll find of interest for this coming season.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, Lake City, Iowa no-tiller/strip-tiller Mark Schleisman shares how cover crops helped his family sweep the NCGA corn yield contest in Iowa last year. Wisconsin Leopold Conservation Award recipient Michael E. Berg shines light on his family’s conservation practices near the flood-prone Pecatonica River.
At Commodity Classic 2026 in San Antonio, U.S. Secretary Brooke Rollins, NRCS Secretary Aubrey Bettencourt and USDA Undersecretary Richard Fordyce answered many questions from the farm media about the state of U.S. trade, the fighting to eliminate the new world screw worm, input costs, E-15, the USDA’s relocation to hub offices in the heartland, farm succession and more.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, we head out to Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas, for key takeaways from the USDA press conference addressing its computer network overhaul. Plus, Environmental Tillage Systems and Case IH give us a first-look at the companies’ new strip-till rigs that debuted at Commodity Classic.
In today’s episode, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, listen to a discussion with Bladen, Neb., no-tiller and Co-Owner of Green Cover Seed, Keith Berns, as he talks about his new book Cover Crops 101. The book explores cover crop benefits, species selection, seeding methods and much more.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, we head inside the 2026 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky., for a look at new equipment and residue management insights from No-Till Innovator Phil Needham. Plus, agronomist Brad Forkner shares some innovative new inputs, including a product called Squid Juice.
In today’s episode, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, listen to a discussion about Pennsylvania No-Till Pioneer Bill Cannon. You’ll hear from 4 different people who were heavily influenced by Bill and worked closely with him before his passing.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, longtime no-tiller Chris Weaver explains how he prepared his record-breaking soybean plot with a roller-crimper in the fall.Plus, we get the scoop on some breaking news in the equipment world, including Yetter’s plans to acquire Martin, and Horizon Ag’s big debut in the U.S.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, Leopold Conservation Award recipient Jim Hershey shares some of his latest conservation tips and tricks from his Elizabethtown, Pa., farm. Fellow no-tiller Joseph Kern describes how planting green has transformed his operation in Mariah Hill, Ind.
Iowa no-tiller and executive director of the Conservation Technology Information Center, Ryan Heiniger, and his son Mat talk about the new cover crop business they founded and what it’s like to go from father and son to business partners.
In the latest edition of the No-Till Farmer podcast — brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, No-Till Farmer President and CEO Mike Lessiter caught up with Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, Executive Director of the Modern Ag Alliance, following her TED TALK-style presentation at the 2026 National No-Tillage Conference in St. Louis. Burns-Thompson discusses the work being done to protect farmers’ choices in crop protection tools, reflects on her ag journey and dives deeper into the important role everyone in conservation agriculture plays and much more.
This blog is a first for me. Of the 600 words or so that follow below, onlyabout one-third are mine. The rest of you’re about to read on this blog on artificialintelligence (AI) came from AI itself.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, we’re headed inside the 34th annual National No-Tillage Conference in St. Louis. Both longtime and first-time attendees share some of their biggest takeaways from the conference. We catch up with Jeff Martin from Mt. Pulaski, Ill., during one of the networking breaks for a conversation about how the longtime no-tiller is applying ocean water and more to his crops.
There are many distinct types of seed treatments, including those already on the market that prevent diseases and deter pathogens. But a fast-growing segment of biological seed treatments goes beyond protection and actively support seed germination, seedling growth and early root development.In the latest edition of the No-Till Farmer podcast — brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment — Doug Miller, vice president of MidWest Biotech, explores the common ingredients in biological seed treatments and explains their role in germination and early plant growth.
Ted-style” talks he’s participating in, as well as cutting-edge technology for killing weeds and planting non-GMO seeds.
In this No-Till Farmer Podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Senior Editor John Dobberstein shares some of the exciting educational sessions and networking opportunities growers will have at their fingertips at the 2026 National No-Till Conference, Jan. 6-9, in St. Louis.
As time has marched on, the future of Conservation Agriculture rests with the tribal knowledge of those who’ve made the transition work – and who is willing to share it.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Bio-Till Cover Crops, Cambridge, Ill., no-tiller Monte Bottens explains why the USDA’s recently announced $700 million commitment to regenerative ag is a big deal for the no-till and soil health movement.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Bio Till Cover Crops, Austin, Minn., no-tiller and Leopold Conservation Award recipient Tom Cotter shares the building blocks of his no-till system. Hickory, N.C., no-tiller Russell Hedrick reveals results from his on-farm biologicals trials and also details the program he uses to test new products.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Bio Till Cover Crops, we head inside Jimmy and Andy Gray’s Leopold Conservation Award-winning operation in Stony Point, N.C. Jon Stevens takes us along for the ride as he harvests a no-tilled corn-on-corn field in the challenging soils of Rock Creek, Minn.
On this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, technology editor Noah Newman sits down with young farmers James Hepp and Joel Reddick for a discussion about their strip-till and no-till systems, and the challenges they face as young farmers.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Bio Till Cover Crops, No-Till Innovator Marion Calmer checks in from Alpha, Ill., with 7 tips for a better harvest. Plus, we pay a visit to Tony Peirick’s farm in Watertown, Wis., for a conversation about planting green and whether you need to overhaul your equipment to make the practice work.
Soybean yields can be stubbornly stagnant for some farmers, but Bryan Severs has found a way to break through the yield barrier. The Potomac, Ill., grower, who no-tills non-GMO soybeans and strip-tills corn across 5,000 acres, shares his program for raising high-yielding soybeans as his farm shoots for 75 bushels an acre in every field, every year.
On a visit to our local hardware store earlier this month, the autumn display shown here caught my eye. In our western suburb of Milwaukee, this is not a place of business that attracts farmers, but city slickers and suburbanites with dollars to spend on seasonal home decorations.
In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, editor John Dobberstein spoke with Ray Weil, an internationally renowned soil scientist at the University of Maryland and former speaker at the National No-Tillage Conference.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Bio Till Cover Crops, Univ. of Illinois analysts dive into new data from the Precision Conservation Management program, comparing the economic differences between no-till, strip-till and other tillage systems.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Bio Till Cover Crops, West Union, Iowa, No-Till Innovator Loran Steinlage shares what he’s learned from farmers in Ukraine.2025 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Michael Thompson checks in from his farm in Almena, Kan., with a look at his planter setup and unique approach to starter fertilizer applications.
In this podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we’ll finish up the road trip with a visit to New Park, Pennsylvania grower Paul McPherson at Maple Lawn Farms.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we head inside the Watershed Protection Committee of Racine County’s annual field day in Rochester, Wis., for a look at the latest takeaways from their no-till vs. conventional research plots. A ‘slake test’ reveals eye-opening differences between no-till and conventional soils, and independent research agronomist Jim Stute shares his big economic takeaway from the test plots.
In today’s episode, come along on the road with me as I travel across parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania to visit 3 different farmers who are working with cover crops and no-till in unique ways. Our first stop in part 1 of this journey took us to Jim Hershey’s farm in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Last week, we met Cecil County, Maryland farmer Bryan Racine, who is relatively new to the no-till and cover crop movement, but is learning and innovating at a rapid pace. Let’s pick up where we left off with Bryan and head out into the field to see what he has been working on this year.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we go inside the 2025 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill. Our first stop takes us to the Syngenta tent, where a roots demonstration showcases the impact of a brand-new solution for nematode defense. Technology editor Noah Newman catches up with Warrensburg, Ill., no-tiller Dave Brown for an update on the 2025 growing season and some of his top takeaways from the show.
In this podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment,let’s hop in the car and head to Cecil County, Maryland to visit Bryan Racine, who is relatively new to the no-till and cover crop movement, but is learning and innovating at a rapid pace.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Mike Starkey shares something new he’s trying on his Brownsburg, Ind., farm to slash inputs. In southeastern Wisconsin, no-tiller Ross Bishop explains how farmers are dealing with historic rainfall, including a “1,000 year” flooding event.
In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, come along on the road with Cover Crop Strategies Associate Editor, Mackane Vogel, as he travels to parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania to visit 3 different farmers who are working with cover crops in unique ways.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we head inside the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance's 20th anniversary field day in Elizabethown, Pa.Lisa Blazure of the Stroud Water Research Center and Sjoerd Duiker, Penn State no-till and cover crop researcher, dig deep into a soil pit to show the true impact and value of living roots and nightcrawlers.
On this episode of the No-Till Farmer Podcast, come along on the road with No-Till Farmer Associate Editor Mackane Vogel as he travels across parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania to visit 3 different farmers who are working with cover crops in unique ways.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Ohio State Univ. retired ag engineer and No-Till Innovator Randall Reeder discusses the true cost of erosion, and why no-till and cover crops would help cut down on dust storms.
In this No-Till Famer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Tidal Grow AgriScience’s President and Chief Commercial Officer, Norm Davy, discusses the purpose behind this new alliance and what farmers could expect to see as formulators get on board.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Alpha, Ill., No-Till Innovator Marion Calmer discusses his top goals when it comes to managing heavy residue at harvest time.
In this No-Till Farmer Podcast, brought to you by NewFields Ag, the No-Till Innovator unpacks the eye-opening results and explains how drainage over time dramatically impacts no-till yields, cover crop growth, water quality and more.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter, Michael Thompson, No-Till Farmer’s 2025 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow, shares how he’s alleviating compaction with an AerWay unit in Almena, Kan. Plus, no-tillers exchange ideas and strategies for fighting slugs in soybean fields.
No-Till Innovator and 2-time NNTC Presenter of the Year Rick Clark saves an estimated $2 million on inputs per year on his Williamsport, Ind., farm through adoption of regenerative farming practices.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, the team pays a visit to No-Till Innovator Jim Leverich for a look at some of his new equipment in Sparta, Wis. In the Cover Crop Connection, associate editor Mackane Vogel gets an up-close look at No-Till Innovator Jim Hershey’s new cover crop plot in Elizabethown, Pa.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by NewFields Ag, we’ll hear a panel discussion about the state of soil conservation from the most recent Conservation in Action Tour in Sioux Falls, S.D. hosted by the Conservation Technology Information Center.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter, we’re headed inside CTIC’s Conservation in Action Tour in Sioux Falls, S.D., where a pair of conservation ag legends were inducted into the CTIC Hall of Fame. Dwayne Beck, Dakota Lakes Farm Research Manager, and Jay Brandt, son of the late no-till legend David Brandt, explain how they’re continuing to blaze the trail for conservation ag.
A “green and growing crop” is often perceived as a visual validation of a healthy no-till system. But subsurface investigation is wise to truly understand the biological stability of your soils for long-term success, says Brad Forkner. In the latest edition of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by NewFields Ag, the seasoned agronomist will explain how to decipher soil biology and soil moisture profiles and utilize the information to determine when to quit on a crop or when to pump it up with biologicals, plant growth regulators, nitrogen and much more.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Arion, Iowa, no-tiller Kelly Garrett discusses the importance of balancing the soil during planting seasons. Plus, Kyle Hawkins explains how changing his planting date allowed the Bogard, Mo. no-tiller to win the Golden Harvest “Go for the Gold Challenge” with a 103-bushel soybean yield.
In the latest edition of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by NewFields Ag, Associate Editor Mackane Vogel talks with John Cussans, a weed biology and weed management specialist with the ADAS — provider of agricultural and environmental consultancy, policy advice, and research and development — based in the U.K. Cussans addresses multiple confirmed cases of glyphosate resistance in the U.K. and how these cases differ and relate to confirmed cases of glyphosate resistance in the U.S., as well as what role cover crops might play in cases of glyphosate resistance.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, longtime no-tiller Ross Bishop shares some of the keys to achieving even corn emergence with no-till. Plus, Chuck Gruenberger from John Deere dealer Riesterer & Schnell explains why fields without cover crops are like rebellious teenagers!
In the latest edition of the No-Till Farmer Podcast, brought to you by NewFieldsAg, Jill Clapperton, a world-renowned soil biologist and rhizosphere ecologist, helps farmers better understand what lives — and must thrive — below the soil surface to regenerate and maintain healthy soil structure.The No-Till Innovator, No-Till Living Legend and 2-time National No-Tillage Conference Presenter of the Year breaks down the characteristics of healthy soil and goes over the crucial steps to creating and sustaining productive soils for improved no-till operations.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, No-Till Innovator Rick Clark gives a presentation at the Regenerative Agriculture Summit in Chicago, Ill., explaining how cover crops are saving him hundreds of dollars on inputs per acre.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, executive director of the Modern Ag Alliance (founded by Bayer), details the organization’s work to protect the availability of crop protection tools such as glyphosate. She also highlights state and federal legislation that has been introduced that could limit or end the litany of legal claims, and she predicts what effects a ban on glyphosate would have on farmers and conservation efforts.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Sound Agriculture, planter expert Clay Scott gives no-tillers 5 action items to tackle before taking the field this spring. The Precision Planting field support specialist also explains why he tells farmers to plant no more than 10 acres on the first day of planting season.
At the Colorado Convention Center, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks with No-Till Farmer and all the ag media at the Commodity Classic about cost-cutting and refocusing happening at the USDA to better serve farmers, the U.S. ag trade deficit, the future of conservation programs and more.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Sound Agriculture, we head inside Commodity Classic 2025. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins promises a standing-room-only crowd rapid action and support from her agency to help get the industry on its feet this year.
The number of incentive programs hitting the market to reward sustainable agricultural practices is increasing – but figuring out the how’s and the why’s of all the programs can be a daunting task. Federal incentives to lower greenhouse gas emissions could result in a windfall for no-tillers raising low-carbon corn.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Sound Agriculture, we head inside the first-ever Conversations about Conservation workshop for landowners at No-Till Innovator Mike Starkey’s farm in Brownsburg, Ind.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, visionary farmer Michael Horsch explains how he and his family buck cultural norms on conservation practices to farm 55,000 acres in Germany and the Czech Republic.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Sound Agriculture, 4 Leopold Conservation Award recipients — Russell Hedrick, Richard Lyons, Colleen Kershaw and Wendy Mariko Johnson highlight some of the unique conservation practices on their farms.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Sound Agriculture, No-Till Innovators Allen Berry, Barry Fisher, Ray McCormick and Loran Steinlage share 4 tips for the upcoming growing season.
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Sound Agriculture, young no-tillers James Hepp of Rockwell City, Iowa and Joel Reddick of Bardwell, Ky., share their opinions on what it will take for the next generation of farmers to carry the conservation torch.
In this podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, world renowned no-till expert and former Dakota Lakes Research Farm manager Dwayne Beck shares essential lessons learned from the early days of no-till.Description: In the second episode of this 2-part No-Till Farmer podcast, world renowned no-till expert and former Dakota Lakes Research Farm manager Dwayne Beck shares another round of essential lessons learned from the early days of no-till that can help growers turn their modern-day operation into one that is sustainable and profitable. Beck discusses the benefits of livestock integration, proper crop rotation and residue retention in regenerative no-till systems. He also covers the potential for perennial crops to further improve soil health.
In part 1 of this 2-part No-Till Farmer podcast, world renowned no-till expert and former Dakota Lakes Research Farm manager Dwayne Beck shares essential lessons learned from the early days of no-till that can help growers turn their modern-day operation into one that is sustainable and profitable. Beck focuses in this episode on the need to farm with nature instead of against it, including the need to keep residue in fields and promote ecological diversity on farms to improve resilience.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we're joined by AgroLiquid CEO Nick Bancroft and Monty'd Plant Food Co. CEO Jeff Sangalli who share more insights about the integration of their two companies, new opportunities for joint technology advancement between the companies and how the companies will continue to be “farmer first” in their market approach going forward.
In the final segment of this three-part podcast series, Dennis Michelsen and Michael Musselman, hosts of the podcast Innovations in Your Fields -- powered by NewFields Ag -- interview No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter and Lessiter Media President Mike Lessiter about working together as a father-son team and the importance of drafting and refining succession plans, whether it’s a farming business or any business. They also discuss the inspiration behind Frank’s newly released book – “Frankly Speaking: A Non-Whitewashed ‘First-Hand’ Account of No-Till Farming’s Rise over 50-Plus Years.”
In part two of this podcast series, Dennis Michelsen and Michael Musselman, hosts of the podcast Innovations in Your Fields -- powered by NewFields Ag -- interview No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter and Lessiter Media President Mike Lessiter about the role improved corn genetics played in the growth of no-till, and the value proposition of the practice even with today’s high input costs. Frank also talks about the beginning of the National No-Till Conference, mixes in anecdotes from decades of interviews and farm visits to lend perspective.
Dennis Michelsen and Michael Musselman, hosts of the podcast Innovations in Your Fields -- powered by NewFields Ag -- interview No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter and Lessiter Media President Mike Lessiter about the evolution of no-till, the founding days of No-Till Farmer, and trends and technologies that helped no-till practices grow across the U.S. They also discuss the vision behind Frank’s first book about no-till, “From Maverick to Mainstream: A History of No-Till Farming.”
We’re back this week with another conversation with No-Till Living Legend and 2024 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Ray McCormick — this time from the cab of his truck as he’s out scouting after a heavy rainstorm in Vincennes, Ind.Today’s episode was recorded in mid-May, a day after the Vincennes area received 5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Let’s listen in as Ray scouts fields with No-Till Farmer contributing writer Michaela Paukner.
Dover, Minn., no-tillers Dan and Abby Fohrman raised a no-till yield of 298.95 bushels in 2023, securing them a first-place win in the National Corn Growers Association’s Minnesota no-till non-irrigated category last year.In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons’ Over Pass Lineup, contributing writer Laura Barrera talks with Dan Fohrman about his contest-winning corn yield and his approach to raising high-yield no-till corn.
The problem with traditional tissue testing for crops is the lack of information about how much of a nutrient is needed to correct a problem, according to Hickory, N.C., no-tiller Russell Hedrick. In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons’ Over Pass Lineup, Hedrick and Sarah Martello, CEO and co-founder of Transparency Wise Technologies, talk about Foliar Scripts and the benefits it brings for farmers.
When Muncie, Ind., farmer Joe Hamilton decided to switch from conventional tillage to no-till, everyone told him he’d be crazy to make the transition on 1,000 acres during his first year. In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons’ Over Pass Lineup, Hamilton shares the lessons he learned in year 1 and beyond.
No-tillers stand to benefit from updates to the U.S. Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) tax credit. The U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS released a notice April 30 that details an updated version of the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model, which is used to determine CI scores of SAF feedstocks.
More than 91% of no-tillers who responded to the 2024 No-Till Operational Practices Survey use precision technologies on their farms, and many experts see no-tillers on the cutting edge of new agriculture technology like autonomy.In this episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, no-tiller Nick Guetterman of Bucyrus, Kan.; John Fulton, Ohio State University Extension ag engineer; no-tiller Joe Hamilton of Muncie, Ind.; and no-tiller Tim Norris of the “No-Till Capital of the World” Knox County, Ohio, discuss their outlook on autonomy in agriculture and the most valuable precision technologies in use on their farms.
No-Till Living Legend Ray McCormick has improved and restored thousands of acres of farmland, woodlands and wetlands in the Vincennes, Ind., area and beyond. In this episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, McCormick takes us on a tour of some of the farm and wetland projects he’s completed around Vincennes.
No-Till Living Legend Ray McCormick from Vincennes, Ind., is No-Till Farmer’s 2024 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow. The annual fellowship spotlights the real-time decision-making McCormick uses to make no-till — or never till as he calls it — work on his farm. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, McCormick talks about how he first got involved with restoring farmland into wetlands, seeding cover crops with the combine, his planting philosophies and more.
For this latest episode in this series of Influencers & Innovators podcasts, brought to you by Source by Sound Agriculture, Roy Pfaltzgraff of Haxtum, Colorado, talks about his 30-year assessment of the costs of tillage, no-tillage with fallow and no-till with a soil health focus. Cropping 2,200 dryland acres in an area that receives less than 14 inches of average rainfall yearly, Roy shares his insights from a presentation at the thirty-second annual National No-Tillage Conference on how he’s changed the operation’s focus over the past 8 years while raising 12 or more different crops each year in this extremely dry aera of northeastern Colorado.
At the 2024 Commodity Classic show in Houston, extreme weather conditions were on many no-tillers’ minds as they thought ahead to planting season.In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, managing editor Michaela Paukner talks to 9 growers about their expectations and preparations for the 2024 planting season.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to No-Till Innovator and CEO at Rodale Institute, Jeff Moyer as he tells the story of how he helped to create and popularize the first roller crimper, which would completely change the game for no-tillers, cover croppers and regenerative ag growers around the world.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, technology editor Noah Newman talks to Ron Digman, a no-tiller from Mount Hope, Wis. about the planter technology investments and management it took to raise 96-bushel per acre soybeans, a yield that earned him second place in the 2022 Wisconsin Soybean Association Yield Contest.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to the Dave Brandt Memorial lecture from this year’s 32nd Annual National No-Tillage Conference.
Bill Northey, the former Iowa agriculture secretary and USDA leader, passed away in early February, leaving behind a legacy of farm policy leadership and influence on conservation agriculture.In this episode, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we’re sharing Northey’s keynote presentation from the 2015 National Strip-Tillage Conference about applying science and technology to improve conservation tillage practices.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, President of Lessiter Media, Mike Lessiter, talks about the history of the National No-Tillage Conference, what it’s grown to today, and his thoughts on the future of no-till and the conference. We also hear from Hans Kok, an independent conservation consultant, as he talks about his time at 25 of the 32 conferences, which have been held in January since 1993.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, contributing editor Dan Crummett talks to Bill Chism, chair of the Weed Science Society of America, about how evolving EPA regulations to protect endangered species will affect your herbicide use in the coming months.
In this episode, we count down the most popular episodes of 2023, starting with a rapid-fire panel discussion between Alan Berry, Ross Bishop and Stan Miller, three farmers who spoke on a No-Till Innovator panel at the National No-Tillage Conference.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, editor Frank Lessiter chats with Nebraska cropping systems specialist, Bob Klein. The conversation covers no-till history as well as the concept of Eco-Fallow —the process of controlling weeds after wheat harvest with herbicides, while minimizing soil disturbance as much as possible and conserving soil moisture.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to a compilation of audio clips from the 3 most popular episodes of the podcast released in 2023 featuring stories about no-till legal battles, small acreage no-till, cover crops and much more.
“The USDA’s Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities program represents an investment of over $3.1 billion into U.S. agriculture,” writes Todd Janzen, ag attorney at Janzen Schroeder Ag Law, “but what I am most interested in is USDA’s collection of production data from U.S. farms and fields through Climate-Smart Commodities grants.”In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Janzen explains what no-tillers need to know about the USDA’s data collection through these grants, potential legal liabilities for artificial intelligence in agriculture and more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, University of Nebraska extension engineer Paul Jasa discusses the benefits and economics of no-till, how cover crops and grazing fit with no-till and what he has learned from his 45+ years of no-till research.
Potomac, Ill., no-tiller Bryan Severs likes to keep things as simple as possible — and that’s helped him break the 100-bushel barrier with non-GMO soybeans.In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, technology editor Noah Newman talks to the third-generation farmer about the keys to his high-yielding no-till soybeans.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, editor Frank Lessiter has chosen to pick up a recent episode of the Soil Sense Podcast, created by Farmers for Soil Health. The episode features Nancy Kavazanjian, who along with her husband Charlie Hammer, farms in the south-central part of Wisconsin where they grow corn, soybeans and wheat in rotation. Over the years they have been innovators in no-till and strip till farming and were the first in their area to regularly use cover crops.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Purdue weed science professor Bryan Young talks about strategies to fight herbicide-resistant weeds in no-till, including some of the most promising precision technologies to consider adding to your toolbox.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, editor Frank Lessiter sits down with Guy Swanson, a 50+ year no-till veteran. The two of them discuss deep band fertilizer applications, the creation of the no-till Yielder Drill known as “Old Yeller,” and the early no-till movement that Swanson and his father sparked in the Palouse.
Ahead of his capstone presentation at the 2024 National No-Tillage Conference, 2023 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Loran Steinlage of West Union, Iowa, has been putting the focus on farmer-to-farmer learning through a series of free monthly webinars.In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Steinlage shares a harvest update, takes your cover crop questions and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Steve Hunt, president of Case IH dealership H&R Agri-Power (winner of the 2023 No-Till Innovator Award for business category), talks about his dealership’s involvement with Harry Young Jr. and the first-ever commercial no-till plots on U.S. soil.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we talk with Dylan Vaca, the brand and marketing manager for the DeLong Company’s Grown Climate Smart program. He talks about how you can be rewarded for no-till and sustainable farming practices — even if you’ve been doing them for decades.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Thomas Gent, a 4th-generation farmer, shares the details of the no-till system on his family farm in Tydd St. Giles, England. Gent’s father and grandfather made the decision to switch to no-till 16 years ago, and for him, it’s the only way he’s ever known how to farm.
In this rapid-fire panel discussion from the 2023 National No-Tillage Conference, 3 No-Till Innovators share their top profit-building no-till soybean ideas. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Alan Berry, Ross Bishop and Stan Miller discuss soybean row spacing, planting green, cover crops and more to help you implement money-making changes to your operation.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Joel Reddick, a young Kentucky no-tiller, talks about his family’s operation and how they’ve been successful with 100% no-till for 5+ years. The Reddicks also have cover crops on 100% of their acres and have been referred to by some as the “pioneers of planting green.”
Ryan Gibbs, an Iowa no-tiller and the owner of Gibbsfield Ag, makes and sells vermicompost extract to improve the health of his no-till soils. The liquid product is crucial to his goal of growing 250 bushel corn without commercial fertilizers on no-till ground.In part 2 of this interview with Gibbs, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, he talks about the logistics of making and spraying his compost extract, plus how he uses sap analysis and soil testing to make nutrient management decisions.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, Indiana organic no-tiller Rick Clark explains why he thinks that sometimes, it’s best to think outside of the box in the world of no-till.
Ryan Gibbs, an Iowa no-tiller and the owner of Gibbsfield Ag, makes and sells vermicompost extract to improve the health of his no-till soils. The liquid product is applied to his corn fields and has allowed him to cut back on nitrogen.In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, Gibbs introduces his method of making vermicompost extract, its benefits and how he applies the product at field scale.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, assistant editor Mackane Vogel sits down with Don Reicosky, retired USDA soil scientist, to talk about what truly defines conservation agriculture systems and what key pillars are necessary to be able to accurately describe a farm as one that is practicing conservation agriculture.
In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, we’re bringing you Calmer’s 2023 National No-Tillage Conference presentation about top tips for setting your combine for a stellar soybean harvest.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, Frank Lessiter sits down with Penn State University soil scientist and agronomist Sjoerd Duiker to talk about what no-tillers should be doing to make their cropping systems even better.
North Carolina no-tiller Russell Hedrick made history with his 2022 corn harvest, raising a dryland no-till corn crop that topped 459 bushels per acre. His willingness to challenge conventional wisdom, try on-farm experiments and use regenerative agriculture practices all contribute to his success.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, listen to No-Till Innovator Ray Archuleta’s presentation from the 2023 National No-Tillage Conference, a powerful talk that earned him a standing ovation from hundreds of no-tillers. In this session, Archuleta explores the true power of biologicals in the soil and discusseshow regenerative agriculture can become more widespread.
In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, contributing editor Dan Crummett talks with Michael Kaiser and Britt Fossum from the University of Nebraska Lincoln about biochar and the university’s biochar, which currently make up one of the largest in-field biochar studies in the U.S.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, Editor Frank Lessiter hosts a panel discussion with six individuals who have attended every National No-Tillage Conference since it began in 1993: Allen Berry, Allan Brooks, R.D. Wolheter, Bryan Van Holten, Randall Reeder and the late Scott Davidson. Davidson passed away in April of 2021 but attended all 29 National No-Tillage Conferences held during his lifetime.
Join No-Till Farmer on a road trip across southern Wisconsin in this week’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture.
Michaela Paukner, managing editor at No-Till Farmer, and Jim Stute, a no-tiller and independent research agronomist, traveled from Stute’s East Troy, Wis., farm to a meeting in the southwestern part of Wisconsin near the border with Illinois. Ride along as they talk about herbicide-resistant weeds, Stute’s Wisconsin operation and research trials, the history of phosphorus use in agriculture, and more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, editor Frank Lessiter sits down with Mitchell Hora, a 7th generation farmer from Washington County, Iowa, and current CEO and founder of Continuum Ag, a soil health data intelligence company.
In today’s episode of No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, Greg Butler, the long-time research and development manager for the South Australian No-Till Farmers Association, and David McGavin, farmer and founder of the Precision Seeding Solutions dealership, talk about how the more than 85% of farmers in the region manage to successfully no-till in dryland conditions.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Crop Vitality and Thio-Sul, editor Frank Lessiter sits down with Grant Troop, a no-tiller and a long-time soil health specialist and consultant in Oxford, Pa.
This episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, No-Till Farmer president Mike Lessiter talks with McCormick from the hospital just a few days after the accident about what happened, his memories of the late Dave Brandt, the deadly dust storm crash in Illinois in May and more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Crop Vitality and Thio-Sul, editor Frank Lessiter sits down with Monte Bottens, a northwest Illinois no-tiller and the current CEO of Ag Solutions Network. Bottens talks about all things soil health and regenerative agriculture, including cover crops, ideal row widths, biologicals and his cattle operation.
No-Till Legend Dave Brandt of Carroll, Ohio, showed the farming community the tremendous value of cover crops and regenerative practices in improving soil health. Brandt passed away unexpectedly in late May of 2023, leaving behind a legacy of challenging status quo farming methods and providing mentorship to countless farmers. Today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, features audio from a presentation Brandt gave at the National No-Tillage Conference, teaching no-tillers how to find success with interseeding cover crops.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Crop Vitality and Thio-Sul, listen back to a popular episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast from our archives featuring Ohio State University Extension ag engineer John Fulton.
In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, Ryan Schroeter with National Land Realty talks about 2023 farmland value trends and what needs to happen for no-till and other conservation practices to influence land valuation.
This episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Crop Vitality and Thio-Sul, is a departure from normal no-till history, but no less important. This episode details how a single no-tiller by the name of Percy Schmeiser fought an army of lawyers as agribusiness giant Monsanto accused the farmer of stealing its Roundup-Ready canola seed. Perhaps you’ve seen one of the movies on the subject, including the recent Percy vs. Goliath major motion picture that was released in 2020 and starred academy-award winner Christopher Walken.
Gregg Sauder has been at the forefront of no-till planter technology for decades — first as the founder of Precision Planting, which he later sold to Monsanto, and now as the founder of 360 Yield Center.In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, Gregg reviews the evolution of planter technology over his career and the important no-till planter lessons — and life lessons — he’s learned in the years since.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Crop Vitality and Thio-Sul, listen back to one of the most popular episodes of the No-Till Farmer podcast from our archives featuring no-till innovator Marion Calmer.
Federal and state incentive programs for cover cropping can be hard to find and difficult to navigate. That’s why Maria Teresa Tancredi and Michaela Lubbers, researchers at the University of Georgia, created an online cover crop incentive tool to organize information about the programs and make it easier for no-tillers to be rewarded for adopting cover crops.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Crop Vitality and Thio-Sul, North Dakota State University Extension soil specialist Dave Franzen shares his unconventional trajectory into the world of agriculture and why he thinks no-till is so critical for improving soil health.
In this episode of the podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, contributing editor Dan Crummett talks with Mike Tweedy and Danielle Watts of Pattern Ag about the company’s soil testing process, predictions for the 2023 growing season and what ROI the company’s testing can provide for no-tillers.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Source by Sound Agriculture, No-Till Legend and former Ohio State Extension ag engineer Randall Reeder talks about his secondary career portraying the old pop culture icon Will Rogers.
In this episode of the podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Jonathan Correa, owner of La Cosecha Tortilla Company in Madison, Wis., and No-Till Legend Dave Brandt from Carroll, Ohio, join Steinlage to talk about how they’ve built a mutually beneficial partnership that benefits the health of their communities in a variety of ways.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Source by Sound Agriculture, listen to part 2 of Howard G. Buffett’s presentation on feeding the world with no-till from a previous National No-Tillage Conference.
No-Till Farmer’s 2023 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Loran Steinlage of West Union, Iowa, and No-Till Legend Dave Brandt from Carroll, Ohio, have been thinking beyond yield for decades — focusing on soil health, doing more with less, and lately, producing high nutrient density crops that could be used as medicine in the future.
Under the guidance of 2022 No-Till Innovator Dan Forgey, Cronin Farms in Gettysburg, S.D., vastly diversified its rotation to include nearly a dozen crops — all with the goal of improving soil health. Cronin Farms is a 10,000-acre operation with 640 irrigated acres and over 8,000 acres of native prairie along the Missouri River. In 1993, Forgey and the Cronins transitioned the farm to no-till and established a rotational grazing system for their 850 head cow/calf operation. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, managing editor Michaela Paukner talks with Forgey about the 10,000-acre South Dakota operation he manages, why crop diversification is so important and why he has a passion for soil.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Source By Sound Agriculture, listen back to a presentation on feeding the world with no-till farming by Howard G. Buffett from the 2010 National No-Tillage Conference.A champion of no-till farming, Buffett manages a 1,500-acre family farm in central Illinois and operates a 400-acre farm in Nebraska. He also oversees multiple research farms in Arizona, Illinois and Nebraska totaling 9,500 acres.
In this episode of the podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, hear from Loran Steinlage and Rolan, his son, about the crisis that became a pivotal day in Loran’s career and the reason why connection and mentorship are so important to his operation.
Greenfield Robotics’ vision for the future of weed control is a fleet of 10 robots, weighing 350 pounds each, that use spinning blades to chop weeds growing among broadacre row crops.In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, contributing editor Dan Crummett talks with Clint Brauer, the CEO of Greenfield Robotics, about Greenfield’s weeder robots, how the company plans to expand the robots’ capabilities beyond weeding and why Brauer wants to take the chemicals out of no-tilling.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Source By Sound Agriculture, Frank Lessiter sits down with long-time southeastern Wisconsin no-tiller Bob Wildermuth and his wife, Anita.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Source By Sound Agriculture, Frank Lessiter sits down with Fall Line Capital Director of Agronomy and no-tiller in Manitoba, Canada, Scott Day about no-tilling in the extreme climate of Canada’s prairies and why choosing a diverse crop program has been so successful on his no-till farm.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Source by Sound Agriculture, we’re replaying the very first episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast that was posted on January 18 of 2019. In this episode, brought to you by SOURCE by Sound Agriculture, Lessiter Media President Mike Lessiter interviews his dad, Frank Lessiter, on the roots of no-till and conservation tillage farming.
As 2022 comes to a close, we’re revisiting some of the most-played episodes of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment. Listen in as we count down the top five most-played episodes of 2022.5. Finding No-Till Success in the Face of Adversity4. Adapting No-Till In the Palouse With Russ Zenner3. Barry Fisher, Soil Health, and the Future of Carbon2. Soil Scientist and Educator Joel Gruver1. Boosting Your Bottom Line with Humates & Mineral Nutrition
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, No-Till Farmer Editor Frank Lassiter talks with Kelly Cheesewright about his 37 years of successful no-tilling and how it has now led to moving to organic no-till on nearly half of the over 2,000-acre operation that he farms with his son Keaton.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, contributing editor Dan Crummett talks with Cully about Susterre’s system and what it means for the future of no-till.
No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Moeller about the particulars of planting equipment, why high-speed might not be in the cards for no-till planters, what right-to-repair means for no-till and more. This week’s episode of the No-Till Farmers: Influencers & Innovators podcast is brought to you by Source by Sound Agriculture.
On this week’s episode of the No-Till Farmer Podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Associate Editor Noah Newman talks to Jared Kenney of Amherste, Neb. Kenney finished second in the National Corn Growers’ Association Annual Yield Contest for Irrigated No-Till in Nebraska.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Moeller about the particulars of planting equipment, why high-speed might not be in the cards for no-till planters, what right-to-repair means for no-till and more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we're joined by Kyle Schomers. Schomers picked his best 10 acres and hit it with maximum nutrients in order to prep the ground for entry into the National Corn Growers Assn. (NCGA) Annual Yield Contest.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Nuffield scholar and Merlin, Ont., no-tiller Blake Vince about his heavy use of cover crops, dealing with suboptimal precipitation, and more.
Ron Ohlde farms more than 1,000 acres of no-till land near Palmer, Kan. He started working smarter, not harder with the advent of precision farming in the 1980s, and handheld GPS units. Today, he’s a champion, riding a 289.7 bushel per acre yield to first place for Kansas in the National Corn Growers’ Association’s Annual Yield Competition.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, Ag consultant Joe Nester says phosphorus (P) is leaving soil. In this presentation from the National No-Tillage Conference, Nester covers how to measure and recover P, as well as the issues that arise when too much P shows up in the wrong place.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we're joined by Karl Dirks who farms about 1,000 acres of Pennsylvania ground near Mount Joy, Pa. He faced better-than-usual precipitation conditions and higher pest pressure to accomplish no-till success.
Randall Reeder and Frank Lessiter discuss ridge-tilling on this week’s episode of the “No-Till Influencers and Innovators” podcast. The method pushed weed seeds near the crops into valleys between the ridges, along with residue, where it would be quickly canopied over by the growing crops – usually corn – and help retain water.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by SOURCE by Sound Agriculture, we're joined by Steve Wilkens who farms about 1,000 acres of Wisconsin ground that his family has worked since the 1850’s. In 2021, Wilkens recorded a yield of 315.4 bushels per acre, enough to claim second place in the Wisconsin No-Till Non-Irrigated category for the National Corn Grower’s Association Corn Yield Contest.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Verdesian Life Sciences, features two members of commercial no-till’s founding family: John and Alex Young. Their presentation to the 2017 National No-Tillage Conference touches on just about everything, from the origins and rise of no-till farming to climate change, cover crops, and residue management.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by SOURCE by Sound Agriculture, we're joined by Rod Rejesus, who studies economics, land values and crop insurance for North Carolina State University. He and collaborators from other academic institutions authored and published a paper earlier this year showing increased land values corresponding with a 1% increase in no-till adoption at the county level.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Verdesian Life Sciences, features Missouri-based fertility expert Neal Kinsey. Kinsey’s discussion examines the findings of seven soil samples from various geographic regions, soil types and crop rotations.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by SOURCE by Sound Agriculture, Brad and Joel Reddick joined Cover Crop Strategies podcast host and editor Noah Newman to cover the basics of their operation, how they came to add on additional practices to no-tilling.
In this week’s “No-Till Influencers and Innovators” podcast, Frank Lessiter speaks with early strip-till adapter Dean Fehl about how he got started strip tilling, and his current role as a retiree helping his sons work the family farm, and more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by SOURCE by Sound Agriculture, we caught up with Jim Leverich of Sparta, Wis., to ask him about some of the things he’s learned about no-till since he was first introduced to the practice back in the 1980s.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Verdesian Life Sciences, we take another look back at the early days of no-till in western Kentucky. However, this episode is different than most of the podcasts in this series as it features a former John Deere dealer and his memories of the rapid growth of no-till in the western Kentucky area.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by SOURCE by Sound Agriculture, we caught up with Steve Savage to chat with him about a couple of his recent articles. Stay tuned to hear him discuss the history of no-till farming, why the practice has been so important, and how it will play a role in the future of conservation. He’ll also share why he says using the term “synthetic nitrogen” is misleading, the inconvenient truth about the greenhouse gases associated with making compost, how small-scale, local Haber-Bosch nitrogen production could help reduce the reliance on foreign inputs and more.
This week’s edition of the No-Till Farmer: Influencers & Innovators podcast, we all thrill to no-till. Or maybe we’re all no-till tigers. Whatever you do, remember to farm ugly.
These are a few of the slogans and gimmicks used by this week’s guest, Dick Foell during the early days of no-till farming in the early 1970s. Foell worked at Chevron to promote and develop a then little-known chemical by the name of paraquat, a herbicide that helped move no-tilling from a loose collection of bottom-line minded innovators to a national soil health movement.
For this installment of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by SOURCE by Sound Agriculture, we visited Dakota Lakes and chatted with Sam Ireland about his plans for the operation, including long-term crop rotation trials, experiments the farm is conducting on dealing with seed weevil pressure in sunflowers, innovations in livestock feeding, closing the loop on the energy cycle and more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Verdesian Life Sciences, we're joined by Blake Brown, director of the AgResearch and Education Center at Milan. The center, one of ten in Tennesee, shares a significant anniversary in the annals of No-Till history.
Parker Cohn works on more than just golf courses. The young soil services entrepreneur and operator of Performance Resources Management is an example of a company offering bespoke — that is, customized to individual fields and operations — fertility recommendations for agricultural and horticultural operations in California. Parker’s customer base and operations are out on the coast, where water pressure on the agriculture sector is tightening amid persistently drier conditions. If you’re a grower in Illinois or Iowa, plane fare is part of what you’d pay for to get Parker’s professional opinion.
This week’s edition of the No-Till Farmer: Influencers & Innovators podcast discusses the intersection of no-till and technology in Saskatchewan, Canada. The need for autonomy arose in Saskatchewan because of the shortage of available labor, says Norbert Beaujot. Farms — like his 3,000-acre no-till mixed crop and testing operation — were getting larger, but labor remained scarce. He formed Dot Technologies Corp, featuring remote controlled power units with variable attachments for seeding, spraying, rolling, or moving grain carts.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Bio-Till Cover Crops, we followed up with the recently-retired manager of Dakota Lakes Research Farm, Dwayne Beck about his time at Dakota Lakes and how he came to develop some of his controversial beliefs.
This week’s edition of the No-Till Farmer: Influencers & Innovators podcast focuses on the early days of no-till in the keystone state. Joel Meyers is nearing retirement now, but for 20 years as the NRCS State Agronomist for Pennsylvania, he helped to advocate no-tillage for the gently rolling hills and steeper slopes in Northern Appalachia.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Bio-till Cover Crop Seed, Robert Paarlberg, associate at the sustainability science program at the Harvard Kennedy School, talks about the research that went into his book, his advice to commercial farmers and farm organizations about advocating for sustainability, what those groups need to do to combat the myths surrounding sustainable agriculture and more.
This week’s edition of the No-Till Farmer: Influencers & Innovators podcast is a continuation of the previous Influencers & Innovators podcast featuring NNTC presenter Dwayne Beck. Beck discusses the particulars of the discussion he started with the last episode: the particulars of crop rotation and using rotations to fight pests. Beck recently retired as the director of the Dakota Lakes Research Station in South Dakota.
Micronutrients and humates are critical to soil fertility and plant nutrition, but their effects aren’t widely understood. That’s where independent soil health specialist Jim Hoorman comes in.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Podcast, we’re headed to Cajun Country for a talk with fourth-generation farmer Justin Fusilier. Corn and soybean operations dominate most of our readership here at No-Till Farmer, according to our benchmark survey, but Justin stumbled onto something he thinks holds promise in Lousiana, where crops like rice and sugarcane are far more common.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, we’re heading underground. We’re going deep under the soil surface to concentrate on one of the major benefits of no-tilling when it comes to improving soil health. Today’s agenda is worms: Earthworms, red worms, nightcrawlers, and other kinds of worms and the impact the have on no-tilled soils.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Bio Till Cover Crop Seed, Aaron Locker, Vice President of sales for HELM Agro joins us to discuss what farmers can do if they can’t get the glyphosate supply they’re used to.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, editor Frank Lessiter talks with entomologist Dr. Jonathan Lundgren about his motivations for making this move and how he hopes to remove barriers to the adoption of regenerative agriculture.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, fifth-generation Arkansas farmer Adam Chappell, joins us to talk about how he got into no-till, what methods he employs, what he sees for the future, and more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers Innovators Podcast, brought to you by NewLeaf Symbiotics, we dug through our archives to find the speech Frank Lessiter presented during his 1973 testimonial before the House Agriculture Committee on the important role no-tillage was playing in American agriculture.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Himanshu Gupta, CEO and founder of Climate Ai, joins us to talk about how his company measures heat risk and drought risk and turns those into what he calls the planting risk index, a metric that can help growers make better operational decisions for their farms.
"Where I grew up, we have real narrow roads, and if you’re going to have wider than 60 foot and 80-foot equipment, they’re going to have to change the infrastructure, not only just because of width but also because of the loads on the roads and and bridges and things like that. I think autonomous vehicles will come into their own.”
Keith Wendte
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by NewLeaf Symbiotics, Frank Lessiter talks with farmer, data guru and long-time CNH engineer Keith Wendte. During his tenure (the company was known as International Harvester when he started), Wendte worked to design implements for no-till farming and had designed a spring-based down-pressure adjustment system before electronics innovations beat his system to the market. Wendte is retired from the implement design industry, but still works actively at the family farm near Effingham, Ill. He’s bullish on wheat prices this year, and encourages the use of wheat as a cover crop. In this week’s podcast, Gruver and Wendte talk about the roots in the family farm, his work at CNH, alternatives to ever-increasing tractor size, and more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Contributing Editor Dan Crummett speaks with plant biologist Lee DeHaan of The Land Institute where the breeding of Kernza and other perennial crops has been underway since 2003. Listen in as Dan and Lee discuss the characteristics of Kernza, how to grow it, the potential of the developing markets and more.
In this week’s podcast, Gruver and Lessiter talk about the prospects for biological farming supplements, the perils and opportunities that arise from combining no-till and organic methods, hands-on learning at WIU, and more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we talk with Russell Hedrick and Liz Haney of Soil Regen, the consulting company behind a trio of new labels — “Regeneratively Grown” “Regenerative Certified” and “Regenerative Verified.” Join us to hear what’s behind the new labelling and how farmers who qualify to use them can get paid premiums for the products they grow.
Today’s episode of the No-Till Innovators and Influencers is a rebroadcast of a 2020 conversation agronomist Betsy Bower had with No-Till Farmer’s Executive Editor Julia Gerlach. In it, Bower discusses leveraging technology to improve yields, the potential for biological farming improvements, cover crops, and more.
Jimmy Emmons and Loran Steinlage have built dynamic, profitable no-till operations, but the challenges they face are very different. Jimmy no-tills cash crops and raises livestock in hot, dry western Oklahoma, while Loran uses a variety of creative planting systems to no-till several different crops in a veritable stew of soil types in eastern Iowa.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, sponsored by Yetter Farm Equipment, Jimmy and Loran were joined by moderator Rick Clark at the 2022 National No-Tillage Conference in Louisville, Ky., to share the management tactics they’ve relied on to achieve no-till success in such differing climates, including how they’ve incorporated cover crops, managed water infiltration issues and how they’re preparing their operations for the future.
Back in 2019, Frank and Mike Lessiter sat down to discuss 25 legends of the no-till movement who are still alive today. This episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Terrasym, we revisit that conversation in celebration of these three anniversaries and the ongoing no-till movement.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, associate editor Sarah Hill caught up with John Wallace, Penn State University assistant professor of weed science, to discuss his thoughts on how best to get covers established in row crops. He explains how available equipment, herbicide programs and fertility management affect interseeding decisions.
In September of 2021, No-Till Farmer commissioned a project to determine the most significant research and publications that assisted in the understanding, and adoption, of no-till agriculture. Randall Reeder, retired ag engineer from Ohio State University and Don Reicosky, retired USDA soil scientist, collaborated on a detailed process to complete the large and aggressive project in advance of three important no-till milestones in 2022.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, we caught up with Mitchell Hora on the sidelines of the Big Soil Health Event in Riverside, Iowa and spoke with him about, getting named to the list, the potential for regenerative agriculture, his company’s web-based application TopSoil, and more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Paul Schaffert, founder of Schaffert Manufacturing Company in Indianola, Neb. about his early successes in no-till, how innovation continues, how he transitioned from farming to manufacturing, and more.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, we caught up with No-tiller Rick Clark to hear about many of the ways his operation and mindset have had to change in order to succeed with the transition. He explains his 70/30 theory on weed suppression, how learning to crimp cereal rye was a lightbulb moment that really pushed his practices forward, and how he came to appreciate beneficial predator insects. He also discusses how a personal health issue has helped him develop his thinking on the intersection of soil health and human health.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Terrasym, Frank Lessiter talks with Lloyd Murdock, professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky about his early lessons from no-till, how soil changes over the decades after tillage stops, an experiment that took years to take off, and more.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, we caught up with Hickory, North Carolina, no-tiller Russell Hedrick to hear about his latest venture, a mobile grain milling operation he launched alongside partners Liz Haney and Sarah Varble called Regen Mills. Join in to hear how the trio sees this as a way to return more profit to farmers, how this new approach to grain milling supports that goal, the requirements and expectations they have for farmers signing on to the program, likely financial returns a farmer could expect to see and more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Dick Wittman, a no-tiller in Lapwai, Idaho, about his transition to no-till, his resource management mindset and how Wittman is positioning the next generation of farmers in his family for success.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, we caught up with Paul Mikesell, founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics, a new company that is tackling weed control with a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and lasers. This past year, in 2021, the company released its first production units of a machine called the LaserWeeder, which has the potential to eliminate the need for herbicides or tillage for weed control. Join in to hear about how the LaserWeeder can distinguish between crops and weeds, how it effectively kills weeds without chemicals, why grasses are more challenging to eliminate than broadleaf weeds, when the technology might be rolled out to row crop farmers and more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, we’re sitting in on a presentation by Ray Weil, Soil Scientist at the University of Maryland to discuss his research. He explains how cover crops influence nutrient profiles, optimal planting dates for cover crops and how well different kinds of cover crops can penetrate dense, compacted soils.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Tim Brannon, former Allis-Chalmers territory manager and current president of B&G Equipment, Paris, Tenn., talks with Frank Lessiter about the early days of Allis-Chalmers and shares some memorable stories from the road as he introduced no-till planters to growers around the world.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, we caught up with Anthony Bly, Soils Field Specialist with South Dakota State University Extension, who was a presenter at the event. In an interview with associate editor Sarah Hill, Anthony discusses the interconnected relationship between water and soil, how cover crops fit into profitable cropping systems, the importance of minimal soil disturbance and more.
Listen to no-tiller & philanthropist Howard G. Buffet's keynote presentation at the 2010 National No-Tillage Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. At the time of his presentation, Buffett (son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett) had been no-tilling since 1992 on 16,000 acres in Illinois and Nebraska as well as another 6,000-plus acres in South Africa.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Terrasym, Frank Lessiter gets into the weeds with Kelly VanBeek, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Migratory Bird Program to discuss which no-till fields provide the best habitats for songbirds, what cover crops are most hospitable to birds and finding a balance between productivity and conservation on farmland.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, we caught up with Tom Cotter, a no-tiller and strip-tiller in Austin, Minnesota, right after a Minnesota Soil Health School session he hosted at his farm. He explains how he has skirted many of the problems facing hemp farmers by following the farm-to-table production model to grow the product for his own Superior Cannabis Company stores in Austin and Duluth.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, Frank Lessiter talks with Betsy Bower, an agronomist for Ceres Solutions in Lafayette, Ind., about the task force and some of the hottest areas in no-till farming – from carbon sequestration to biologicals and more.
Carbon market programs are a hot topic amongst farmers today, as they represent a potential new revenue stream for growers who implement conservation practices such as no-till, strip-till and cover crops. But every program is a little different in how they approach qualifying acres, establishing baseline measurements, practice verification, farmer compensation and more.
For this No-Till Farmer podcast, we caught up with representatives from three companies who were talking with farmers about their carbon programs at the 2021 Farm Progress Show. We spoke with Ben Gordon, carbon and ecosystems global portfolio leader with Corteva; Lisa Streck, grower carbon lead with Bayer Carbon; and Cristian Barcan, sustainability officer with Rabo Carbon Bank. Listen in to hear about how these three companies are navigating the complexities of the carbon offsets market and bringing this new offering to U.S. farmers.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, we caught up with Lance Gunderson, president and co-owner of the recently launched Regen Ag Lab in Pleasanton, Nebraska to talk about some of the new soil tests, how they differ from conventional tests and why it matters.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Director of Agronomy at Fall Line Capital and no-tiller in Manitoba, Canada, Scott Day about no-tilling in the harsh climate of Canada’s prairies and how diverse crop choices have become a legacy of no-till on his farm.
Finding ways to improve farm profits without taking on more acres is one of Zack Smith’s goals. In fact, the Buffalo Center, Iowa, strip-tiller has a name for it – biohacks. With his mindset of finding natural, vegetative solutions for farm problems, he recently started developing a unique autonomous structure he calls the Stock Cropper that integrates strip-cropping with mobile grazing.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Amy Bartow about the NRCS’ recent initiatives to promote the establishment of pollinator plots and strips. Tune in as they discuss native vs. non-native pollinator mixes, the importance of diversity in the mix, the pollination value of cover crops, how no-tillers can make extra income with pollinator habitat, how weed management fits into the equation and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, we chat with independent crop consultant Jeremiah Durbin about those physical, chemical and biological aspects of soil health and how he uses his mechanical background to help trouble-shoot issues in the field.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Jackson, Wisconsin, no-tiller Ross Bishop about how he got turned on to no-tilling back in the 1990s and how that impacts his operation today. Join us as they discuss using cover crops and planting green, no-tilling in 20-inch rows, why he’s experimenting with growing Kernza, the benefits of using sulfur and dry boron and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we chat with Ross Evelsizer of Iowa Resource Conservation and Development. As the director of the organization’s Multi-Cropping Iowa project, Evelsizer works with growers around the state to implement cropping systems that help achieve soil health goals while expanding market opportunities.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Vincennes, Ind., no-tiller Ray McCormick about his approaches to conservation and farming intersect. Join us as they discuss how he got the idea to seed covers with an air seeder attached to his combine header.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, Frank Lessiter continue his talk with Retired Michigan State Agronomist Jerry Grigar, about many of the lessons learned from decades of using no-till practices on Jerry’s 140-acre farm, where he no-tills black beans, soybeans, oats, wheat and hay.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we chat with no-tillers Sheldon Luehmann of Lewiston, Minn., and Mike Unruh of Winona, Minn., as well as Lance Klessig, a Resource Specialist with the Winona County Soil & Water Conservation District.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we caught up with chief of the NRCS, Terry Cosby to hear about how his childhood experience on the farm shaped his views on conservation, his goals for the agency during his tenure, his thoughts on the Biden Administration’s plan to have 30% of U.S. lands and waters under conservation by the year 2030, and much more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, Frank Lessiter talks with Retired Michigan State Agronomist Jerry Grigar about many of the lessons learned from decades of working with farmers to improve no-till techniques and equipment.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we're featuring Josh Lofton, Cropping System Specialist with Oklahoma State University. Lofton will discuss the timing of cover crop termination, differences in termination timing for various cover crop species, improper cover crop termination, and more.
Recently retired from a multi-decade career with the NRCS, agronomist Barry Fisher has been a long-time booster of no-till. Based in his home state of Indiana, Fisher’s efforts helped the state’s no-till acres grow to the point where it was among the states with the highest percentage of no-till ground in the U.S.
Fisher devoted much of his government career to encouraging the adoption of no-till and cover crops. Over the years, he’s worked with thousands of farmers while conducting numerous field days and has tested a wide variety of no-till equipment options to demonstrate no-till best practices.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Fisher about his lengthy career and the changes in no-till equipment and strategies he’s witnessed over the years. Join in as Fisher talks about why aerial seeding cover crops in ridge-till fields was successful, the equipment upgrades that made the biggest impact on-till success, how learning to manage the microenvironment around the seed made a big difference for corn-on-corn systems, how no-tillers can adopt organic practices by getting the soil to function at a higher level and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we chat with Léa Vereecke and Nic Podoll, two recent additions to Rodale’s consulting team, to learn more about the process of transitioning land to organic.
With the current interest in climate change, sequestering carbon and farmers getting carbon sequestration payments being at an all-time high, many no-tillers have been excited about the thought of earning additional income through incentive payments. Whether it’s through current privately-financed carbon programs or new ones being developed by the Biden administration in Washington, there’s considerable interest in sequestering carbon to avoid the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But adding carbon incentive payments to your bank account may be easier said than done. There appear to be a number of roadblocks to getting on the carbon sequestration bandwagon, especially when it comes to being paid for having no-tilled for a number of years. Today’s spring 2021 episode of our “No-Till Influencers and Innovators” podcast will zero in on whether veteran no-tillers can qualify for carbon payments.
“A highly functional soil will reduce the negative impacts of our agricultural practices…Runoff and soil erosion are major contributors to degrading water quality…and as we discuss soil health, we are simply promoting the practices that by default will address both of those right off the bat…” – Bill Stangel, independent agriculture consultant, Madison, Wis.
Healthy soils are key to productive and profitable farm operations as they can increase nutrient availability, improve water infiltration, reduce soil erosion and much more. But they can also lessen the negative affects some farming practices have on the environment.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we chat with independent agriculture consultant Bill Stangel of Madison, Wis., who joins us to discuss some of the ways farmers can minimize environmental impacts by focusing on developing healthy soils.
Listen in to hear about how different cropping systems are able to store carbon below ground, how soil type affects nutrient and water management plans, lessons learned from installing on-farm phosphorus reduction systems, the challenges of dialing ion nitrogen use efficiency, why matching the crop to the soil matters and much more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, we chat with soil health experts Ray Archuleta, Gabe Brown and Russell Hedrick at a Soil Health Academy training seminar held in Watertown, Wis. They talk about how regenerative agriculture is different from traditional conservation farming techniques, that can help farmers make more money and reduce inputs, why they like the Haney soil test and much more!
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we’re sharing the story of Kindred, North Dakota no-tiller Lynn Overboe, as narrated by frequent No-Till Farmer contributor Dan Crummett. Farming 1,200 acres near the North Dakota-Minnesota border, about 30 miles from Fargo, Overboe has developed a number of solutions and hacks to improve his chances of success over his past 2-plus decades of no-tilling.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer "Influencers & Innovators" podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, Frank Lessiter talks with Jason Casselman, a no-tiller from Fairview, Alberta, Canada to find out how they make no-till work so far north.
Join us as North Dakota no-tiller Gabe Brown discusses that experience and shares his thoughts on how government programs could be designed so as to allow farmers to adopt regenerative practices more easily rather than hinder their efforts, how regenerative ag can unlock biological functions in the soil, why he’s not advocating farmers sell their carbon credits – yet – and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer "Influencers & Innovators" podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., Frank Lessiter talks with Retired Agronomy Consultant Harold Reetz about his approach to fertilizer management, including the 4Rs — right source, right rate, right place and right time — as well as other practices that underscore success in a no-till system.
Our guest for this week’s podcast is Brendon Blank, an independent certified forage specialist who works for Byron Seeds. Based in Ixonia, Wisconsin, Brendon helps farmers solve management problems by designing cropping systems that make better use of the land and human capital while focusing on diversity, enhancing animal health, and improving the soil.
In this podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Allen Berry about the various configurations he’s tried, why he’s currently planting 20-inch non-GMO corn, his thoughts on whether or not no-tillers need coulters, and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we’re checking in with co-founder and co-CEO of Big Iron Auctions, Mark Stock as he shares some industry trends and predictions. Join us to hear Mark’s thoughts on the importance of transparency and honesty in online auctions, what the recent high commodity prices and low interest rates mean for the industry as a whole and much more.
For this podcast, Frank Lessiter talks with Rich Follmer, who became known as the ‘grandfather ‘ of strip-till, about that early strip-till toolbar, how he started building berms in the fall, his thoughts on using cover crops in a strip-till operation, the future of the strip industry and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, fifth-generation grower Kelly Garrett discusses how his management practices align with the carbon credits marketplace, why he started entering National Corn Growers Association yield contests, the benefits of using a soybean byproduct fertilizer and much more.
For this podcast, we, sat down with Bill Richards to talk about the history of no-till adoption on his farm, the early innovators that helped him along, such as Kinze founder John Kinzenbaw and international product engineer Ralph Bumheckel, and some of the equipment modifications he made that helped him successfully adopt no-till.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter, we’re sharing a conversation with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, entomologist Dr. Jonathan Lundgren to discuss a new research paper he’s written called “Defining and validating regenerative farm systems using a composite of ranked agricultural practices.”
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, editor Frank Lessiter talks with Thompson about how his understanding of no-till evolved through experiments with ridge-till, skip-till and strip-till before he converted 100% to no-till in 1991.
For this week’s podcast, we’re sharing a conversation between Cover Crop Strategies associate editor Sarah Hill and Bill Johnson, professor of weed science with Purdue University. In this interview, Johnson discusses how field management impacts weed problem, how herbicide applications influence cover crops and cash crops, herbicide antagonism, how cover crops can mitigate weed growth, and more!
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, editor Frank Lessiter talks with Marion about the discoveries he’s made in his nearly 4 decades of no-tilling, including why he says no-till offers at least a $50 per acre advantage over tillage, what he considers his biggest mistakes early on, his thoughts on getting P & K deeper into the soil profile, plans for capitalizing on the $4 return he gets for every $1 of applied nitrogen, and much more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, we share a reading of a story from David Moose, which explains how he’s succeeded with continuous soybean acres by widening the rows, cutting populations and using a biological seed treatment to aid in germination.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer "Influencers & Innovators" podcast, brought to you by Mosaic Susterra, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with the production ag manager for the Spokane Conservation District, Ty Meyer who discusses how no-till got started in the Palouse area, the challenges of integrating cover crops on dryland acres and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter, we caught up with ong-time agronomist with Ceres Solutions, Betsy Bower, to get an agronomist’s viewpoint on no-till and cover crops.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer "Influencers & Innovators" podcast, brought to you by Mosaic Susterra, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Attica, Ohio, grower Jerry Eitle about the equipment and technology that made it possible to make the switch, including an Aerway aerator, Kinze planters and RTK guidance and much more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, Jack Zemlicka, editorial director here at Lessiter Media, spoke with 6th-generation farmer Ben Riensche, owner and manager of Blue Diamond Farming Company in Jesup, Iowa. Riensche uses innovative and cutting-edge technology and management practices to guide the success of Blue Diamond, which has expanded dramatically over the past two decades.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer "Influencers & Innovators" podcast, brought to you by Mosaic Susterra, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Pennsylvania no-tiller Jim Hershey about some of the practices that have put him on a successful no-till path.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, I spoke with Holtwood, Pennsylvania no-tiller Steve Groff about his book, “The Future-Proof Farm,” which explores the market changes facing today’s farmers and how cover crops can help them stay resilient and relevant.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer “Influencers and Innovators” podcast, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Ohio State University weed scientist, Glover Triplett about some of his early experiences.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, we caught up with Jeff to talk about a new white paper put out recently by Rodale Institute, called “Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Carbon Solution,” which identifies the potential of regenerative ag practices to sequester carbon and improve soil health while feeding the world.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer “Influencers and Innovators” podcast, we’re bringing you part 2 of an interview that Cover Crop Strategies Associate Editor Sarah Hill did with Dwayne Beck, research manager of The Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre, South Dakota, during the summer of 2020.
Indiana no-tiller Rick Clark has gained some notoriety recently as one of a handful of farmers who is making organic no-till work — and on a large scale. Cropping about 7,000 acres near Williamsport, he’s intensely focused on building soil health in his diverse system that includes seeding cover crops, planting green, reducing inputs and incorporating livestock. Acknowledging that he doesn’t have all the answers, he nonetheless stresses the importance of challenging the status quo. At the 2019 National No-Tillage Conference, for example, he said “I challenge everyone to get a little uncomfortable. I think you’ll like the way it feels.”
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, I caught up with Rick after he hosted a field day on his farm at the end of August, 2020 called “Regenerative Systems Deconstructed.” 250 people turned out for the event and several hundred more tuned in online to hear what Rick and other local experts had to say about his organic no-till operation. Tune in to hear about the equipment he uses, his approach to diverse cropping rotations, the weed outbreak progressions he’s seen since going organic, his thoughts on weeds becoming resistant to cover crops, and much more.
In 1976, Roy Applequist founded Great Plains Mfg. which went on to become one of the major suppliers of no-till farming equipment. A few years later, the company saw the need for equipment designed specifically for the no-till industry and built its first no-till drill prototypes in 1981. For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter reminisces with Roy about how he got involved with building no-till equipment. Tune in as they discuss how Roy’s background making bearings led to the first Great Plains folding grain drill, turning a product flaw into a customer relations success, why Great Plains started putting depth wheels on individual row units, diversifying with twin-row and vertical tillage equipment, spreading the word about no-till around the world and much more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, I caught up with Josh and Rebecca to get a little inside scoop about their latest film, Kiss the Ground, which takes a wide-ranging look at regenerative ag practices and how they can be used to can help sequester carbon in the soil, reduce greenhouse gasses in the environment and improve the nutrient content of the food we eat.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer “Influencers and Innovators” podcast, No-Till Farmer Editor Frank Lessiter talks with soil health specialist and rhizosphere ecologist, Jill Clapperton about the importance of no-till in building healthy soil structure.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Pivot Bio, we're joined by Trace Genomics co-founder, Poornima Parameswaran, who explains what Trace Genomics’ soil DNA test is able to analyze and how it can help farmers and agronomists target inputs and better understand the variables that affect crop health and yields.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, we're joined by Cover Crop Strategies Associate Editor Sarah Hill in the first of a two-part interview with Dwayne Beck to discuss the Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre, South Dakota.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Pivot Bio, senior editor John Dobberstein spoke with Craig Bednarz, director of the West Texas A&M Semi-Arid Agricultural Systems who discusses his recent appointment, the big changes in store for the research program at the Institute and the renewed focus on promoting no-tilling and cover crops that growers should start to notice later this year.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Halford about the zero-till movement in Canada, the development of the Conserva Pak and how no-till has made it possible for growers to farm more acres.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Pivot Bio, we caught up with no-tiller Bryan Tomm of Carmi, Illinois by phone to talk about nitrogen and his efforts to preserve this costly input.
In this episode of the “No-Till FarmerInfluencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter Frank Lessiter talks with David about his approach to converting CRP ground, including why he says soybeans are a great crop to plant for the first-year of production and how he goes about terminating sod beforehand.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Pivot Bio, West Union, Iowa no-tiller Loran Steinlage sat down with Jay Baxter, who no-tills more than 2,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, sweet corn, and more in Georgetown, Delaware, in a conversation that was moderated by Jen Nelson of Resource Smart.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Sixth-generation farmer Ray McCormick about his diverse operation. Listen in as Ray talks about growing non-GMO corn and why he plants it late, how he uses annual ryegrass in flood-prone areas, using cover crops in food plots for deer and waterfowl, keeping his landlords happy, how Roundup has been instrumental in conservation efforts and much more.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Pivot Bio, we caught up with soil scientist Rattan Lal and talked about how he came to focus on carbon instead of synthetic inputs, the connection between the health of the soil and human vitality, how carbon affects the soil’s ability to hold onto nutrients and water, the 5 components of conservation agriculture, optimizing production instead of maximizing production and much more!
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Ag engineer Paul Jasa with the University of Nebraska about his many years studying no-till.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by FR8STAR, we met up with Gary Zimmer, also known as the “father” of biological farming, on the Taliesin grounds where he talked about his system of biological farming.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Dr. Erin Silva, associate professor specializing in organic and sustainable cropping systems at the University of Wisconsin.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by FR8STAR, we’ll hear excerpts from our conversation with Wolford, North Dakota no-tiller Paul Overby and General Mills’ Senior Principal Scientist Research Agronomist Tom Rabaey in which they talk about the General Mills Regenerative Agriculture pilot program.
In this No-Till Farmer “Innovator and Influencer” podcast, we look back at a reduced tillage practice that was developed even before the no-till movement got started. In this episode, No-Till Farmer Editor Frank Lessiter talks with “Bud” Fleischer of Columbus, Nebraska.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by FR8STAR, West Union, Iowa no-tiller Loran Steinlage is joined by Dale Richardson, who no-tills about 500 acres of corn, soybeans and cover crops just outside of Springfield, Missouri.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer “Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with independent ag consultant Joe Nester.
In this podcast, we hear from veteran no-tiller Mark Chapman, who systematically refines his operation with efficiency as one of his main drivers. Andrew Reuschel, who was a speaker at the 2020 conference, says his system is guided by his profitable use of soil-building cover crops. My third guest was Alan Smock, who runs a demonstration farm on a university campus and is always looking for ways to prevent further erosion and nutrient loss on the rolling ground.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer “Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with retired USDA soil scientist Don Reicosky.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by FR8STAR, we’ll hear from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, who outlines the CFAP relief package and then takes questions from the press.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor catches up with two experienced farmers — David Hula and Darin Stolte — from the floor at this year’s Commodity Classic Show in San Antonio for insights into record-breaking corn yields and targeted nutrient management.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Auction Time, we'll share a discussion between Ralph Upton Jr. of Springerton, Illinois and ag researcher John Pike. We’ll cover their exchange which delves into research Upton had done on his farm after a 1983 drought revealed that he had a plow pan layer about 6 inches deep in his soil profile that was preventing his crops from getting needed moisture.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Rogers, Neb., farmer Ed Neesen, who, after a series of dry springs combined with a problem with potential carryover of a soybean herbicide, was inspired to make some tillage equipment changes in the 1980s.
For this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, and for occasional future episodes, we’ve paired West Union, Iowa, no-tiller Loran Steinlage up with a no-tiller he’s never met before and asked him to record their conversation. In this installment., brought to you by Yetter Mfg., Loran met with Angela Knuth who’s been no-tilling and strip-tilling in Mead with her family since 2005.
In this episode of the "No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Jeff Mitchell, a Cropping Systems Cooperative Extension Specialist at the University of California, Davis, who has been active in leading the evolution of reduced-disturbance and cover crop systems in the Golden State.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we’re joined by Russell Hedrick who talks about how his experience as a young first-generation farmer faced with soil erosion led him on the path to using no-till, cover crops, incorporating livestock, and more.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Jake Kaderly, an agronomist with 38 years of experience and a 2018 winner of No-Till Farmer’s Responsible Nutrient Management Practitioners program who also no-tills 300 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and cover crops in south-central Wisconsin.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we’re going to talk tires, and specifically, we’ll hear about central tire inflation systems (CTIS), which are becoming increasingly prevalent on today’s tractors and other heavy ag equipment.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Frank Martin who has been no-tilling for nearly 20 years and continually updates and modifies his practices.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we caught up with Gaston, Indiana, no-tiller Jason Mauck by phone and he shared some details about how his ever-evolving system works and some of the experiments he’s been implementing to utilize the abundant manure generated by the 12,000 hogs in his operation.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Ross Morgan of H&R Agri-Power, who had a front-row seat during the growth and development of the no-till movement.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we caught up with Mike Bredeson, a research scientist with the Ecdysis Foundation who'll share some of his findings about how neonicotinoids are metabolized as well as background info on the Ecdysis Foundation.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Garth Mulkey of GS3 Quality Seed, who grows about 15 different crops outside of Monmouth, Ore, mostly for the seed industry.
“No-till has been a great time saver. It’s been great for our soils. We’ve implemented cover crops the last 5-7 years on the ground where it fits. I’m very happy being a no-till farmer, and we’ve had some influence, my peer group and myself, on our neighbors. There’s not a big revolution in no-till in our area, but it’s certainly a tool that people are open to using these days.…” — Garth Mulkey
Listen in as Garth talks about no-till transplanting, developing the daikon radish seed known as NitroRadish, how no-till cut his planting window by about 70%, how he keeps slugs in check, the business challenges he faced when commodity prices dropped in 2012, and much more!
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we’re joined by long-time no-tiller Steve Groff from Holtwood, Pa., who talks about how to cope when cover cropping goes awry, shares stories from his own cover crop failures, and answers questions about cover cropping challenges.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with retired no-tiller Bob Featheringill of Attica, Ohio, who began no-tilling more than 40 years ago on highly erosive clay soils 25 miles from Lake Erie. He also did a lot of work calibrating and improving seed meters to optimize seed placement.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we’re sharing a recent talk that soil microbiologist Dr. Kris Nichols gave at the Clemson Soil Health Conference, where she delved into the biology of soil and how producers can maximize their soil biological systems.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, founder of Blue Dasher Farm and the Ecdysis Foundation.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we're joined by Doug Newton and Loran Steinlage, who talk no-till, compare notes about their experiences, the soil health and other benefits they’ve seen from the practice.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Mike Starkey, who no-tills 2,500 acres of wheat, corn, soybeans and hay in Brownsburg, Ind..
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we're joined by veteran no-tiller Dave Brandt of Carroll, Ohio, who shares some of his many experiences with cover crops.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with soil scientist Ray Ward, who founded Ward Laboratories after identifying the need for a new approach to making soil fertility recommendations.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we're joined by Douglas Jones, an entomologist for Bayer Crop Science working in Nebraska where he does field research and trials on 60 acres of cropland.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Randall Reeder, who has done years of research on ridge-till, strip-till no-till and conventional tillage through his work at the Hoytville Research Station in northwest Ohio.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., ag engineer at the University of Nebraska, Paul Jasa, spoke at the 2019 National No-Tillage Conference, explaining the benefits of a 100% continuous no-till system, including improved soil structure, proper nutrient cycling, better water infiltration, soil temperature management, higher crop yields, and more!
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Dan Towery, who has worked to advance conservation ag practices for the past four decades as both an independent consultant and in various roles at the USDA and other conservation organizations.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with Ray Rawson about zone tillage, the Zone Builder, his ever-changing planter setups and some of the inventions Ray developed over the years.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Mfg., we catch up with Ray Ward of Ward Laboratories, at the 2019 National No-Tillage Conference where he gets into the nitty-gritty on nutrients that are removed from a field during harvest or foraging.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Midwest Bio-Tech, we're joined by Jamie Patton, a senior outreach specialist for the nutrient and pest management program for the University of Wisconsin who shares her insights on sequestering carbon in the soil and the impact microbes, fungi, and organic matter have on the soil biome.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks Guy Swanson, who, along with his father, Mort, developed the Yielder drill, nicknamed “Old Yeller” which helped producers in the Palouse area no-till crops on steep slopes.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Midwest Bio-Tech, we're joined by NRCS soil health specialist Jim Hoorman who explains how improving soil structure with no-till and cover crops can help alleviate compaction problems.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with no-till legend John Tye, who was instrumental in creating the Tye grain drill that supported narrow-row soybean seeding.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Midwest Bio-Tech, we we hear listen in as Rick Clark explains how for the past few years he’s avoided applying pesticides, fungicides, insecticides and even starter fertilizer.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with no-till legend John Bradley about his experiences directing the annual mid-summer Milan No-Till Field Day and how no-till has revolutionized agriculture.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Midwest Bio-Tech, we hear from long-time no-tiller Steve Groff , who explains everything from hemp basics to best methods for weed control, general fertility tips, and what can go wrong with your hemp crop.
This episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, No-till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter talks with longtime no-tiller and county extension agent Jim Leverich on the role he played in advancing no-till in the area around his Sparta, Wis., home.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Midwest Bio-Tech, we listen in on a Conklin conference call, with host Dan Willgohs and special guest Kip Cullers as they discuss Kip’s tips for using these products, especially in the cool and incredibly wet conditions that were so widespread this spring and are still plaguing isolated areas across the country.
This episode of the “No-till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, features one of the most successful value-added projects ever started by no-tillers. After mastering no-tilling in the dry areas on eastern Washington, guest Karl Kupers joined forces with Fred Fleming to form Shepherd’s Grain, a unique organization aimed at promoting and utilizing the benefits of no-till while also creating a new marketplace that offered premium prices on their products.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Midwest Bio-Tech, we'll hear from Robby Bevis of Lonoke, Arkansas; Mike Brocksmith of Vincennes, Indiana; and Jerry Peery of Clinton, Kentucky; each of whom will share five nutrient management practices they’ve implemented on their own farms.
In this episode of the “No-till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, conservation consultant Hans Kok joins Frank Lessiter for an exploratory conversation about what it takes to farm slopes vs. flat ground, making money while using cover crops, why no-till hasn’t been adopted widely in certain areas, how no-tillers could get by without glyphosate, and much more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we're joined by Ron LeMay of Main Street Data, who talks about the importance of precision in agronomic data collection.
In this episode of the “No-till Farmer Influencers & Innovators” podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, no-till pioneer Bill Haddad joins Frank Lessiter for a wide-ranging conversation about early no-till innovations and how a dogged pursuit of understanding and excellence developed into successful practices.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we’ll hear from Maryland farmer Trey Hill as he shares his thoughts on the ecology of farming and talking about what he’s doing with cover crops, how he incorporated planting green into his operation, yield results he’s been seeing, and more.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, retired John Deere engineer Bob Recker shares an innovative idea for making better use of available sunlight that will allow you to protect your soils — and your no-till yields — when growing corn.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we share a Q&A interview conducted at the Understanding Ag and the Soil Health Academy, featuring certified professional soil scientist Ray Archuleta; farmer, rancher, author, and speaker Gabe Brown; and first-generation farmer and field consultant, Russell Hedrick.
In this No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Copperhead Ag, we welcome Frank Lessiter, Allen Berry, Allan Brooks, R.D. Wolheter, Bryan Von Holten, Scott Davidson, and Randall Reeder to reflect on the past 25 years of no-till learning.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we share a Q&A interview with senior editor John Dobberstein and Rob Myers, regional director of extension programs for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE).
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, editor, Frank Lessiter, chats with the husband and wife team of Charlie Hammer and Nancy Kavazanjian of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, retired USDA soil scientist Don Reicosky outlines the connection between soil health principles and carbon management in the context of conservation agriculture and no-till farming.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovations podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, Frank Lessiter, chats with retired ag economist Howard Doster, who received a PhD in agricultural economics from The Ohio State University and began working at Purdue in 1968.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, Casey Seymour of Moving Iron LLC sits down with Kristen Nichols of Hemp Industry Daily for an overview of the hemp industry and the opportunities in agriculture. Kristen has been covering the marijuana legalization movement since 2009 and wrote about Colorado’s first legal hemp harvest.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers &Innovations podcast, brought to you by Martin Industries, editor, Frank Lessiter, chats with Canadian no-tiller and strip-tiller Brian Newcombe.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, Lessiter Media president Mike Lessiter sits down for an exclusive one-on-one talk with the newly appointed 16th chief of the NRCS, Matthew Lohr.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovations” podcast, brought to you by Ingersoll & Agrisolutions, Frank Lessiter sits down at the 2019 National No-Tillage Conference with Allen Brooks, a pioneering no-till vegetable farmer from Wisconsin.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we are joined by longtime no-tiller Jan Layman, who shares the economic payoffs he’s gained as a result of diversifying the operations on his 4,800-acre Kenton, Ohio, farm.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovations” podcast, brought to you by Ingersoll & Agrisolutions, Frank Lessiter chats with Phil Needham, owner of Needham Ag Technologies.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we share excerpts from our conversations at the National Farm Machinery Show, where manufacturers and farmers shared their advice, challenges and outlooks for the organic farming market.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovations” podcast, brought to you courtesy of Ingersoll & Agrisolutions, Frank Lessiter chats with John Aeschliman who no-tills on the steep slopes of the Palouse area of Washington State.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we’re pleased to share excerpts from Abbey Wick’s conversation with Tony Kramer on the RDO Equipment Co. Agriculture Technology Podcast. Tony and Abbey discuss defining soil health, cover cropping strategies, and the value of strip-till to retain moisture and size residue.
In this episode of the “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovations” podcast, brought to you courtesy of Ingersoll & Agrisolutions, Frank Lessiter chats with long-time West Virginia no-tiller, Mike Wolpert.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we are joined by Carl Bradley, plant pathologist at the University of Kentucky, to discuss how no-tillers can stay ahead of new disease pressure and further development of resistant diseases.
For this first “official” episode of the all-new “No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovations” podcast, Mike Lessiter interviews his dad, Frank Lessiter, on the roots of no-till and conservation tillage farming.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we're joined by no-tiller and on-farm research coordinator for the University of Wisconsin, Jim Leverich, to discuss a three-part plan that could help you boost soil productivity and allow crops to access nutrients more efficiently.
In premiere this episode of the new No-Till Farmer podcast, Influencers & Innovations brought to you by Ingersoll & AgriSolution, Frank Lessiter will talk about why no-till is still as important today as it was 45 years ago.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we're joined by experimental plant ecologist J.C. Cahill from the University of Alberta to discuss root movement and foraging.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we're joined by University of Illinois crop physiology research assistant Alison Vogel who will discuss how accelerating residue degradation and nutrient cycling is necessary to maximize yield potential when no-tilling continuous corn.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we're joined no-tiller Darren Grogan, who he shares how the family’s irrigation and drainage program helps them control their water supply. Darren will also discuss improvements his family made in precision technology that has improved nitrogen-use efficiency and increased yields.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we're joined by co-director of the University of Wisconsin’s Discovery Farms program Amber Radatz who will share on-farm data from more than 200 site years in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we're joined by Adam Daugherty who will discuss planting logistics when no-tillers are seeding cover crop mixes, including the pros and cons of different tools available to get seed in the ground.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing, we continue the conversation with selected excerpts from our roundtable conversation from the 4th annual National Strip-Tillage Conference in Omaha, starting with some insight on influential factors in making precision farming purchases.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, we share selected excerpts from our roundtable conversation from the 4th annual National Strip-Tillage Conference in Omaha, touching on defining precision objectives and early payback.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, we're discussing healthy soils and diverse organisms with Dennis Chessman, the team leader for the NRCS Soil Health Division in Lexington, Ky.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, we continue our discussion with John Grove, director of the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center, shifting focus to nutrient management after crops have emerged.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, we welcome John Grove, director of the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center, to discuss the unique characteristics of no-till soil environments when compared to soils on conventionally tilled farms and how those can affect the availability of nutrients to plants.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Calmer Corn Heads, we welcome Damon Reabe, aerial cover crop applicator and co-owner of Dairyland Aviation from Waupun, Wis., to explain the necessary steps to ensure a successful cover crop stand, including the best timing of application and what soils have the greatest success rate.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we continue our discussion with Penn State University no-till and cover crop researcher Sjoerd Duiker on the thought-provoking topic of increasing soil organic matter.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome Penn State University no-till and cover crop researcher Sjoerd Duiker to discuss the thought-provoking topic of increasing soil organic matter.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome Ohio State University field crops specialist Kelley Tilmon to discuss the rise of Bt resistant Western bean cutworm.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome Barry Fisher, a veteran soil health expert and regional team leader with Indiana’s NRCS office to discuss soil health strategies.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome veteran application expert and the owner of Wolf Consulting & Research in Mahomet, Ill., Bob Wolf will discuss sprayer nozzle technology advancements over the past 30 years.
In the second part of this two-part podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., cover crop educator and Pennsylvania no-tiller Steve Groff concludes by sharing important insights for no-tillers who are grazing cover crops on their operation, as well tips for successfully planning and purchasing cover crop seed, and questions no-tillers should ask when identifying suitable seed suppliers.
In the first part of this two-part podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg. Co., cover crop educator and Pennsylvania no-tiller Steve Groff will talk about the mindset necessary to be successful in adopting cover crops in a no-till system.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, brought to you by Yetter Mfg. Co., we welcome Gabe Brown, a veteran no-tiller and the owner of Brown’s Ranch in Bismarck, N.D. Gabe shares his no-till journey, where he developed a management system that positively impacted soil biology and allowed nature to help his farm thrive.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing Company, we welcome Bob Wolf, a veteran application expert and the owner of Wolf Consulting & Research who discusses the recent changes in labeling and application requirements for three major herbicides.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing Company, we welcome John Tooker, an entomologist from Penn State University who says, "integrated Pest Management is more than just knowing what to spray and when."
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing Company, we welcome Neal Kinsey, a fertility expert and agronomist from Charleston, Missouri who will examine the findings from seven soil samples in various geographic regions, soil types and crop rotations.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing Company, we feature three short podcasts originally developed by the Illinois Soybean Association checkoff program. These presentations include, “Evaluating Early Season Plant Health,” “Fungicide Timing & Use in Production” and “Stinkbug Activities in Soybeans.”
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Manufacturing Company, principal scientist at Rhizoterra Inc. Jill Clapperton discusses the characteristics of healthy soils and the importance of building soil structure in creating a diverse, viable no-till system.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, Ohio State University ag engineer and precision specialist Scott Shearer discusses how big data trends will affect the future of agricultural production.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, author and University of Maryland researcher Ray Weil discusses his findings regarding the principles of soil productivity.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, we sat down with Bill Richards, know as the “Grandfather of No-Till,” to discuss the storied history of no-till adoption and the major influencers who helped prove no-till as a viable, profitable farm practice.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, we are joined by no-till consultant with Ag Conservation Solutions, Dan Towery, who discusses some of the benefits of annual ryegrass as a carbon provider and nitrogen scavenger in no-tilled soils, and the optimum seeding window for its use in the U.S.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, we are joined by fertility expert Neal Kinsey, to discuss the need for sulfur and its significant role in plant protein, nodulation in legumes, seed and chlorophyll production, rooting ability and disease protection.
In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, we are joined by Doug Miller from Midwest Bio-Tech who provides an in-depth look into the science behind residue breakdown
Time and time again, no-tillers have proven that they have a genuine interest on what’s going on below the field surface. Where some farmers call the ground they farm “dirt,” almost as if it’s something negative and a hindrance to their farming efforts, no-tillers call it “soil” and genuinely and properly look at that ground as life.
During the 2017 National No-Tillage Conference, Jeremy Wilson, technology specialist at Crop IMS, spoke at length about the best practices for collecting, sorting through and using precision data, as well as calibrating equipment properly and confirming data accuracy.
We continue our discussion with University of Nebraska Extension engineer Paul Jasa who, over a 40-year career studying no-till, has become one of the best sources of information in the Midwest on no-till planting equipment and proper placement of seed in the soil.
Over a 40-year career studying no-till, Paul Jasa has become one of the best sources of information in the Midwest on no-till planting equipment and proper placement of seed in the soil. The University of Nebraska Extension engineer will admit that if there is a mistake to be made with no-till, he's either made it himself or has seen it done.
Check out the 22nd episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, “The Shoulders on Which We Stand ... The Living Legends of No-Till History,” brought to you by Topcon Agriculture. In this podcast, we hear for directly from the desk of Frank Lessiter, owner of No-Till Farmer, who has covered no-tillage from 45 years.
Check out the 21st episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, "Onfarm Research Results: The Many Things One No-Tiller Has Learned," brought to you by Topcon Agriculture. In this episode, we welcome Marion Calmer, where we discuss the importance of onfarm research.
Check out the 20th episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast series, "Why Phosphorus is Leaving the Farm and What to Do About it," brought to you by Montag Mfg. In this episode, we welcome Joe Nester to talk about why he thinks we're seeing more problems with phosphorus runoff and what growers can do to keep the nutrient from leaving their fields.
In the 19th episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome President of Ward Laboratories, Ray Ward to share his knowledge on micronutrients and what no-tillers can do to ensure their crops have the fertility they need.
In the 18th episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome Doral Kemper to share how no-tillers can increase their soil’s water table — and yield — with earthworms.
In the 17th episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome the 9th class of Responsible Nutrient Management Practitioners to share their 15 tips for a more effective and efficient fertility program.
In the 16th episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome Jim Leverich to discuss how he’s developed an efficient fertility system for his no-till operation, and what he recommends other no-tillers do to build their own.
In the 15th episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we welcome Seth Watkins to talk about how he’s using conservation to benefit his farm and his community.
In the 14th episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Copperhead Ag, we welcome no-till innovator Marion Calmer to share the lessons he’s learned and the improvements he’s made, thanks to on-farm research.
In our thirteenth No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Copperhead Ag, we welcome John and Alex Young to share the lessons they’ve learned from the first 55 years of no-tilling.
In our twelfth No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Copperhead Ag, we welcome Eddie Hoff to discuss the keys to effective no-till farming on poorly drained, claypan soils.
In our eleventh No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Copperhead Ag, we welcome Jim Howard to share the lessons he’s learned from no-tilling corn, soybeans and wheat in Mooresville, North Carolina.
In our tenth No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Copperhead Ag, we welcome Frank Lessiter, Allen Berry, Allan Brooks, R.D. Wolheter, Bryan Von Holten, Scott Davidson, and Randall Reeder to reflect on the past 25 years of no-till learning.
In our ninth No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Copperhead Ag, we welcome Mike Wolpert to talk about the steps no-tillers need to take to ensure they have a successful operation in the long run.
In our eighth episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome Steve Berger to talk about how to protect and build the soil with no-till and cover crops.
In our seventh No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we welcome Richard Mulvaney to talk about why nitrogen fertilizers are not building your soils, and what you can do about it.
In our sixth episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., Ward Laboratories founder and president Ray Ward will discuss the two methods of evaluation: soil testing and plant analysis, and what the proper sampling protocol is for each.
In our fifth episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome Ray Ward, founder and president of Ward Laboratories, to discusses the essential nutrients plants need, the optimal test value of each nutrient, trace elements that are crucial for plant growth and development, and the importance of returning animal manures to fields at proper rates.
In our fourth episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome back Dwayne Beck, director of the Dakota Lakes Research Farm near Pierre, S.D., to continue discussing the importance of diversity in a cropping system and how to create a rotation that’s not consistent in either sequence or interval.
In our third episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., we welcome Dwayne Beck, director of the Dakota Lakes Research Farm near Pierre, S.D., to discuss the importance of diversity in a cropping system and the consequences a grower may face if his system isn’t diversified enough.
In our second episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., John Fulton discusses the opportunities for timing and placement of nitrogen and phosphorus, and how new technology can help enhance delivery. The Ohio State ag engineer will also discuss environmental risks, agronomic response and application field capacity, as well as tips to consider for success.
In the first No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, we welcome our Responsible Nutrient Management Practitioners to share their 15 valuable ideas for you to consider on your own no-till operation. The No-Till Farmer Podcast is brought to you by Montag Manufacturing.