This week’s lead story includes specific recommendations from Iowa farmer and tillage consultant Kevin Kimberley on how strip-tillers can cope successfully with the bone-dry, rock-hard fields they’ll be facing this fall in much of the Midwest and Great Plains.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve learned many things from Kevin, but three things stand out most. He’s candid to a fault, loves learning and, above all, wants to help strip-tillers and other farmers improve their yields and profits.

When I caught up with Kevin earlier this week, he was working from dawn to dusk — well, past dusk — at Dakota Fest in Mitchell, S.D.. It’s farm-show season and much of the ag industry is getting ready.

Speaking of farm shows, next week it’s the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. Nine editors from Farm Equipment, No-Till Farmer and Strip-Till Strategies will be there to once again provide comprehensive coverage of the latest farm-equipment technology available in the U.S. and Canada.

I’ll be at the Farm Progress Show, too, assisting the experts at the Oregon Ryegrass Commission’s booth. From strip-tilling to seeding cover crops, the drought prompted many questions about how to make things work.

If you have tips to share about making strip-till work in hard, dry ground, leave them in the comments below.