Defending the Land Blog

Tanner J. Schuldt has joined the team at Environmental Tillage Systems (ETS) as the Service Manager. In this role, he is responsible for continuing to grow the company’s reputation for excellent customer service, while ensuring ETS technicians have the training and support they need to keep...

Farmer is just one of the many titles Minnesota farmer David Legvold has held throughout his lifetime. He’s also been a teacher, executive director of a non-profit watershed organization, a controller at his local John Deere dealer, and most recently the driver of the instrument semi for the...

For more than a decade, Scott Spare and his family have farmed with a precise eye on their productivity. Spare farms with his parents near Hiawatha, Kansas, raising corn and soybeans. Reduced tillage and a commitment to precision farming has proven vital to their operation. Every piece of equipment...

The more Iowa farmer Ben Pederson hears about the use of cover crops, the more convinced he is that it was the right addition to his current cropping practices. Already a strong advocate for strip-tillage, Pederson believes the use of cover crops in his cropping program was an obvious addition. In...

Commodity Classic is not only the national gathering for several of the nation’s largest agriculture organizations, it’s also one of the country’s biggest farm shows. The annual event brings thousands of farmers and hundreds of agri-businesses together to discuss issues, attend education sessions,...

Even though he didn’t grow up farming, Jesse Ranek’s passion for agriculture is unmistakable. He was raised in a farming community and had friends who farmed, which fueled his passion and love for agriculture. After college and a football career, Ranek was busy operating a sports training facility,...

As Dr. Steven Carlson walked a strip-tilled field near his home in Albert Lea, MN this past summer, he noticed something missing: soil compaction. Penetrometer readings from the neighbor’s conventionally tilled field had measured compacted soil at 15 inches, but this field was consistently showing...

Brian Ryberg may be a relative newcomer to strip-till, but you’d be hard pressed to find a farmer more committed to it. Ryberg Farms near Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, grows corn, soybeans, and sugarbeets. He began farming with his father more than 30 years ago and now runs the operation with his wife...

The world of agriculture changes so quickly that farmers need to stay diligent just to keep up. The challenges can multiply when farmers are adopting new or alternative farming practices like strip tillage. For many farmers considering new conservation tillage practices or looking for innovative...

Mike Verdonck isn’t shy about calling his SoilWarrior “the best machine on my farm.” But he did take a bit of a scenic route before making that discovery. Verdonck farms with his brother-in-law close to the St. Lawrence River south of Montreal, Quebec in Canada. He farms about 2,500 acres, growing...