It had been years since I’d talked with Iowa strip-tiller Jim Keiper, but after visiting with him at the Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines, Iowa, last winter, I stopped in at his farm near Cedar Rapids a few weeks ago. I’m glad I did.

Jim is always testing and measuring results. This year, tests include a population study in continuous corn. Like many farmers, Jim has heard the calls for doubling the average U.S. corn yield to 300 bushels per acre. He wants to see what it may to take to make this happen.

If you’re testing different things in your strip-tilled corn, soybeans, sugarbeets and other crops this year, let me know what you’re doing and why. These and other suggestions provide great leads for stories we’ll share with you in future issues of Strip-Till Strategies.