No-Till Farmer Podcast

In the final segment of this three-part podcast series, Dennis Michelsen and Michael Musselman, hosts of the podcast Innovations in Your Fields -- powered by NewFields Ag -- interview No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter and Lessiter Media President Mike Lessiter about working together as a father-son team and the importance of drafting and refining succession plans, whether it’s a farming business or any business. They also discuss the inspiration behind Frank’s newly released book – “Frankly Speaking: A Non-Whitewashed ‘First-Hand’ Account of No-Till Farming’s Rise over 50-Plus Years.”

In part two of this podcast series, Dennis Michelsen and Michael Musselman, hosts of the podcast Innovations in Your Fields -- powered by NewFields Ag -- interview No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter and Lessiter Media President Mike Lessiter about the role improved corn genetics played in the growth of no-till, and the value proposition of the practice even with today’s high input costs. Frank also talks about the beginning of the National No-Till Conference, mixes in anecdotes from decades of interviews and farm visits to lend perspective.

Dennis Michelsen and Michael Musselman, hosts of the podcast Innovations in Your Fields -- powered by NewFields Ag -- interview No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lessiter and Lessiter Media President Mike Lessiter about the evolution of no-till, the founding days of No-Till Farmer, and trends and technologies that helped no-till practices grow across the U.S. They also discuss the vision behind Frank’s first book about no-till, “From Maverick to Mainstream: A History of No-Till Farming.”

We’re back this week with another conversation with No-Till Living Legend and 2024 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Ray McCormick — this time from the cab of his truck as he’s out scouting after a heavy rainstorm in Vincennes, Ind. Today’s episode was recorded in mid-May, a day after the Vincennes area received 5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Let’s listen in as Ray scouts fields with No-Till Farmer contributing writer Michaela Paukner.

Dover, Minn., no-tillers Dan and Abby Fohrman raised a no-till yield of 298.95 bushels in 2023, securing them a first-place win in the National Corn Growers Association’s Minnesota no-till non-irrigated category last year. In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons’ Over Pass Lineup, contributing writer Laura Barrera talks with Dan Fohrman about his contest-winning corn yield and his approach to raising high-yield no-till corn.

The problem with traditional tissue testing for crops is the lack of information about how much of a nutrient is needed to correct a problem, according to Hickory, N.C., no-tiller Russell Hedrick. In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons’ Over Pass Lineup, Hedrick and Sarah Martello, CEO and co-founder of Transparency Wise Technologies, talk about Foliar Scripts and the benefits it brings for farmers.

When Muncie, Ind., farmer Joe Hamilton decided to switch from conventional tillage to no-till, everyone told him he’d be crazy to make the transition on 1,000 acres during his first year. In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons’ Over Pass Lineup, Hamilton shares the lessons he learned in year 1 and beyond.

No-tillers stand to benefit from updates to the U.S. Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) tax credit. The U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS released a notice April 30 that details an updated version of the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model, which is used to determine CI scores of SAF feedstocks.

More than 91% of no-tillers who responded to the 2024 No-Till Operational Practices Survey use precision technologies on their farms, and many experts see no-tillers on the cutting edge of new agriculture technology like autonomy. In this episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, no-tiller Nick Guetterman of Bucyrus, Kan.; John Fulton, Ohio State University Extension ag engineer; no-tiller Joe Hamilton of Muncie, Ind.; and no-tiller Tim Norris of the “No-Till Capital of the World” Knox County, Ohio, discuss their outlook on autonomy in agriculture and the most valuable precision technologies in use on their farms.

No-Till Living Legend Ray McCormick has improved and restored thousands of acres of farmland, woodlands and wetlands in the Vincennes, Ind., area and beyond. In this episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, McCormick takes us on a tour of some of the farm and wetland projects he’s completed around Vincennes.

No-Till Living Legend Ray McCormick from Vincennes, Ind., is No-Till Farmer’s 2024 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow. The annual fellowship spotlights the real-time decision-making McCormick uses to make no-till — or never till as he calls it — work on his farm. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, McCormick talks about how he first got involved with restoring farmland into wetlands, seeding cover crops with the combine, his planting philosophies and more.

For this latest episode in this series of Influencers & Innovators podcasts, brought to you by Source by Sound Agriculture, Roy Pfaltzgraff of Haxtum, Colorado, talks about his 30-year assessment of the costs of tillage, no-tillage with fallow and no-till with a soil health focus. Cropping 2,200 dryland acres in an area that receives less than 14 inches of average rainfall yearly, Roy shares his insights from a presentation at the thirty-second annual National No-Tillage Conference on how he’s changed the operation’s focus over the past 8 years while raising 12 or more different crops each year in this extremely dry aera of northeastern Colorado.

At the 2024 Commodity Classic show in Houston, extreme weather conditions were on many no-tillers’ minds as they thought ahead to planting season. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, managing editor Michaela Paukner talks to 9 growers about their expectations and preparations for the 2024 planting season.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to No-Till Innovator and CEO at Rodale Institute, Jeff Moyer as he tells the story of how he helped to create and popularize the first roller crimper, which would completely change the game for no-tillers, cover croppers and regenerative ag growers around the world.

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, technology editor Noah Newman talks to Ron Digman, a no-tiller from Mount Hope, Wis. about the planter technology investments and management it took to raise 96-bushel per acre soybeans, a yield that earned him second place in the 2022 Wisconsin Soybean Association Yield Contest.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to the Dave Brandt Memorial lecture from this year’s 32nd Annual National No-Tillage Conference.

Bill Northey, the former Iowa agriculture secretary and USDA leader, passed away in early February, leaving behind a legacy of farm policy leadership and influence on conservation agriculture. In this episode, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we’re sharing Northey’s keynote presentation from the 2015 National Strip-Tillage Conference about applying science and technology to improve conservation tillage practices.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, President of Lessiter Media, Mike Lessiter, talks about the history of the National No-Tillage Conference, what it’s grown to today, and his thoughts on the future of no-till and the conference. We also hear from Hans Kok, an independent conservation consultant, as he talks about his time at 25 of the 32 conferences, which have been held in January since 1993.

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, contributing editor Dan Crummett talks to Bill Chism, chair of the Weed Science Society of America, about how evolving EPA regulations to protect endangered species will affect your herbicide use in the coming months.

In this episode, we count down the most popular episodes of 2023, starting with a rapid-fire panel discussion between Alan Berry, Ross Bishop and Stan Miller, three farmers who spoke on a No-Till Innovator panel at the National No-Tillage Conference.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, editor Frank Lessiter chats with Nebraska cropping systems specialist, Bob Klein. The conversation covers no-till history as well as the concept of Eco-Fallow —the process of controlling weeds after wheat harvest with herbicides, while minimizing soil disturbance as much as possible and conserving soil moisture.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to a compilation of audio clips from the 3 most popular episodes of the podcast released in 2023 featuring stories about no-till legal battles, small acreage no-till, cover crops and much more.

“The USDA’s Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities program represents an investment of over $3.1 billion into U.S. agriculture,” writes Todd Janzen, ag attorney at Janzen Schroeder Ag Law, “but what I am most interested in is USDA’s collection of production data from U.S. farms and fields through Climate-Smart Commodities grants.” In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Janzen explains what no-tillers need to know about the USDA’s data collection through these grants, potential legal liabilities for artificial intelligence in agriculture and more.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, University of Nebraska extension engineer Paul Jasa discusses the benefits and economics of no-till, how cover crops and grazing fit with no-till and what he has learned from his 45+ years of no-till research.

Potomac, Ill., no-tiller Bryan Severs likes to keep things as simple as possible — and that’s helped him break the 100-bushel barrier with non-GMO soybeans. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, technology editor Noah Newman talks to the third-generation farmer about the keys to his high-yielding no-till soybeans.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, editor Frank Lessiter has chosen to pick up a recent episode of the Soil Sense Podcast, created by Farmers for Soil Health. The episode features Nancy Kavazanjian, who along with her husband Charlie Hammer, farms in the south-central part of Wisconsin where they grow corn, soybeans and wheat in rotation. Over the years they have been innovators in no-till and strip till farming and were the first in their area to regularly use cover crops.

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Purdue weed science professor Bryan Young talks about strategies to fight herbicide-resistant weeds in no-till, including some of the most promising precision technologies to consider adding to your toolbox.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, editor Frank Lessiter sits down with Guy Swanson, a 50+ year no-till veteran. The two of them discuss deep band fertilizer applications, the creation of the no-till Yielder Drill known as “Old Yeller,” and the early no-till movement that Swanson and his father sparked in the Palouse.

Ahead of his capstone presentation at the 2024 National No-Tillage Conference, 2023 Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Loran Steinlage of West Union, Iowa, has been putting the focus on farmer-to-farmer learning through a series of free monthly webinars. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Steinlage shares a harvest update, takes your cover crop questions and much more.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Steve Hunt, president of Case IH dealership H&R Agri-Power (winner of the 2023 No-Till Innovator Award for business category), talks about his dealership’s involvement with Harry Young Jr. and the first-ever commercial no-till plots on U.S. soil.

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, we talk with Dylan Vaca, the brand and marketing manager for the DeLong Company’s Grown Climate Smart program. He talks about how you can be rewarded for no-till and sustainable farming practices — even if you’ve been doing them for decades.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Thomas Gent, a 4th-generation farmer, shares the details of the no-till system on his family farm in Tydd St. Giles, England. Gent’s father and grandfather made the decision to switch to no-till 16 years ago, and for him, it’s the only way he’s ever known how to farm.

In this rapid-fire panel discussion from the 2023 National No-Tillage Conference, 3 No-Till Innovators share their top profit-building no-till soybean ideas. In this episode of the No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, Alan Berry, Ross Bishop and Stan Miller discuss soybean row spacing, planting green, cover crops and more to help you implement money-making changes to your operation.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Joel Reddick, a young Kentucky no-tiller, talks about his family’s operation and how they’ve been successful with 100% no-till for 5+ years. The Reddicks also have cover crops on 100% of their acres and have been referred to by some as the “pioneers of planting green.”

Ryan Gibbs, an Iowa no-tiller and the owner of Gibbsfield Ag, makes and sells vermicompost extract to improve the health of his no-till soils. The liquid product is crucial to his goal of growing 250 bushel corn without commercial fertilizers on no-till ground. In part 2 of this interview with Gibbs, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, he talks about the logistics of making and spraying his compost extract, plus how he uses sap analysis and soil testing to make nutrient management decisions.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, Indiana organic no-tiller Rick Clark explains why he thinks that sometimes, it’s best to think outside of the box in the world of no-till.

Ryan Gibbs, an Iowa no-tiller and the owner of Gibbsfield Ag, makes and sells vermicompost extract to improve the health of his no-till soils. The liquid product is applied to his corn fields and has allowed him to cut back on nitrogen. In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, Gibbs introduces his method of making vermicompost extract, its benefits and how he applies the product at field scale.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, assistant editor Mackane Vogel sits down with Don Reicosky, retired USDA soil scientist, to talk about what truly defines conservation agriculture systems and what key pillars are necessary to be able to accurately describe a farm as one that is practicing conservation agriculture.

In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, we’re bringing you Calmer’s 2023 National No-Tillage Conference presentation about top tips for setting your combine for a stellar soybean harvest.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, Frank Lessiter sits down with Penn State University soil scientist and agronomist Sjoerd Duiker to talk about what no-tillers should be doing to make their cropping systems even better.

North Carolina no-tiller Russell Hedrick made history with his 2022 corn harvest, raising a dryland no-till corn crop that topped 459 bushels per acre. His willingness to challenge conventional wisdom, try on-farm experiments and use regenerative agriculture practices all contribute to his success.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, listen to No-Till Innovator Ray Archuleta’s presentation from the 2023 National No-Tillage Conference, a powerful talk that earned him a standing ovation from hundreds of no-tillers. In this session, Archuleta explores the true power of biologicals in the soil and discusseshow regenerative agriculture can become more widespread.

In today’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture, contributing editor Dan Crummett talks with Michael Kaiser and Britt Fossum from the University of Nebraska Lincoln about biochar and the university’s biochar, which currently make up one of the largest in-field biochar studies in the U.S.

For this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators Podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, Editor Frank Lessiter hosts a panel discussion with six individuals who have attended every National No-Tillage Conference since it began in 1993: Allen Berry, Allan Brooks, R.D. Wolheter, Bryan Van Holten, Randall Reeder and the late Scott Davidson. Davidson passed away in April of 2021 but attended all 29 National No-Tillage Conferences held during his lifetime.

Join No-Till Farmer on a road trip across southern Wisconsin in this week’s episode of the podcast, brought to you by SOURCE®️ by Sound Agriculture. Michaela Paukner, managing editor at No-Till Farmer, and Jim Stute, a no-tiller and independent research agronomist, traveled from Stute’s East Troy, Wis., farm to a meeting in the southwestern part of Wisconsin near the border with Illinois. Ride along as they talk about herbicide-resistant weeds, Stute’s Wisconsin operation and research trials, the history of phosphorus use in agriculture, and more.

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Martin-Till, editor Frank Lessiter sits down with Mitchell Hora, a 7th generation farmer from Washington County, Iowa, and current CEO and founder of Continuum Ag, a soil health data intelligence company.

In today’s episode of No-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, Greg Butler, the long-time research and development manager for the South Australian No-Till Farmers Association, and David McGavin, farmer and founder of the Precision Seeding Solutions dealership, talk about how the more than 85% of farmers in the region manage to successfully no-till in dryland conditions.

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Crop Vitality and Thio-Sul, editor Frank Lessiter sits down with Grant Troop, a no-tiller and a long-time soil health specialist and consultant in Oxford, Pa.

This episode of the podcast, brought to you by The Andersons, No-Till Farmer president Mike Lessiter talks with McCormick from the hospital just a few days after the accident about what happened, his memories of the late Dave Brandt, the deadly dust storm crash in Illinois in May and more.

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Crop Vitality and Thio-Sul, editor Frank Lessiter sits down with Monte Bottens, a northwest Illinois no-tiller and the current CEO of Ag Solutions Network. Bottens talks about all things soil health and regenerative agriculture, including cover crops, ideal row widths, biologicals and his cattle operation.