Crop residue serves an important role in physically protecting soil by preventing soil erosion during rain events or high winds.

Most producers would prefer to spread manure on their fields in spring and summer when the crops are going to get the most use out of it. Although the Department of Environmental Protection discourages winter manure application, there are circumstances when manure has to be applied in the winter, such as when wet fall weather kept field conditions unsuitable and the lack of a large enough storage structure to hold the manure until spring.

Beneath the snow now blanketing Michigan's corn fields lays a valuable but underused commodity: corn stover.

The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) reminds producers to work with the local NRCS office to remain in compliance with their current conservation plan on highly erodible land.

Questions have been asked if soil sampling plans for the upcoming fall should change because of the drought we have experienced in 2012.

Starting back in first decade of this century, the buzz words of carbon sequestration has appeared in articles and has become frequently discussed with farmers in the USDA's Farm Service Agency and NRCS offices as one of the methods to reduce or offset carbon emissions.

When Jason Lay attended a conference last year with other Illinois farmers, he was amazed by the level of interest in strip-till, a system in which the crop is planted in a narrowly tilled strip and most crop residue is preserved to protect the soil from erosion.

Banded application of fertilizer at planting is a key management practice for achieving the best yields in strip-till, no-till and ridge-till systems, says George Rehm, a retired nutrient management specialist with the University of Minnesota.

Strip-tilling has increased dryland corn yields 30 to 45 bushels per acre for Scott Darling of Pender, Neb., since he started strip-tilling 4 years ago.

Hybrids that were susceptible and highly susceptible to Goss's Wilt had increased yields under strip-tillage and conventional tillage vs. no-till in a 2010 Monsanto study in Nebraska.