The Environmental Working Group, with the Iowa Daily Erosion Project, estimates that millions of acres of Iowa farmland are losing dangerous amounts of soil through wind and water erosion at levels far exceeding the so-called tolerable rate of soil loss (5 tons per acre).

In the chemical age of agriculture that began in the 1960s, potassium chloride (KCl), the common salt often referred to as potash, is widely used as a major fertilizer in the Corn Belt without regard to the huge soil reserves that were once recognized for their fundamental importance to soil fertility.

Just 3 years ago, many strip-tillers in the Corn Belt struggled to harvest crops in wet fields, which limited or even eliminated fall strip-tilling. This fall, it's fields with dry soils that may pose problems for strip-tillers. But following three strategies can help strip-tillers manage dry soils, says , says Jodi DeJong-Hughes, University of Minnesota Extension crops and tillage educator.

If there ever was a time to consider nitrogen choices other than anhydrous ammonia, this might be one of them

Even during the driest of times the strip-till approach can still do a lot for farmers.