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MN Farmers Encouraged to Take Part in Annual Survey

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is encouraging farmers to take part in its annual pesticide and fertilizer survey. This year’s survey will focus on best management practices (BMPs) for soybean and farmers. The data being collected helpsMDA track the awareness, adoption, and use of nitrogen and pesticide BMPs and provides guidance to education and research programs.

The mailed survey is being sent to the 7,600 Minnesota farmers selected for this project. Farmers who have not returned their questionnaire by mail will be contacted by phone after March 15.

The pesticide and fertilizer survey is conducted for the MDA by the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service out of their regional offices.

Minnesota farmers may be getting calls from multiple agencies and companies conducting a variety of surveys this time of year, but the information gathered from this survey is critical for research and educational purposes.

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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?