It’s that time once again to see how your farm stacks up to others with our 12^th annual Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study. Since the industry-first survey launched in 2013, your average strip-tilled corn yields have gone up — from 184 to 205 — and so have our questions — from 30 to over 130!

Brian Dougherty says growers combatting compaction in their fields should realize they have bigger problems than merely compressed soil, and compaction is a symptom of poor soil function.

I first got involved with precision ag in college after growing up on a row crop farm in east central Iowa. I spent 5 years working as a software support specialist with Ag Leader, where I learned a lot about the industry, but decided a desk job just wasn’t for me.

Research into accurately estimating total biomass of standing cover crops from a moving tractor may eventually spawn new ways for strip-tillers to save money on planting rates and herbicide use in row crops.