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Harvest 2018 Nears the Goal Line

For the week ending November 25, USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that Nebraska's harvest was nearly done. 
  • Corn harvested was 94%, near 96% last year and 97% for the five-year average.
  • Sorghum harvested was 95%, equal to last year, and near 98% average.
Winter wheat condition rated 2% very poor, 7% poor, 25% fair, 46% good, and 20% excellent. Pasture and range conditions rated 2% very poor, 3% poor,  22% fair, 66% good, and 7% excellent.
 
Topsoil moisture supplies rated 1% very short, 4% short, 88% adequate, and 7% surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 1% very short, 9% short, 85% adequate, and 5% surplus.
 

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No-Till vs Tillage: Why Neighboring Fields Are World Apart

Video: No-Till vs Tillage: Why Neighboring Fields Are World Apart

“No-till means no yield.”

“No-till soils get too hard.”

But here’s the real story — straight from two fields, same soil, same region, totally different outcomes.

Ray Archuleta of Kiss the Ground and Common Ground Film lays it out simply:

Tillage is intrusive.

No-till can compact — but only when it’s missing living roots.

Cover crops are the difference-maker.

In one field:

No-till + covers ? dark soil, aggregates, biology, higher organic matter, fewer weeds.

In the other:

Heavy tillage + no covers ? starving soil, low diversity, more weeds, fragile structure.

The truth about compaction?

Living plants fix it.

Living roots leak carbon, build aggregates, feed microbes, and rebuild structure — something steel never can.

Ready to go deeper into the research behind no-till yields, rotations, and profitability?