Drought resilience isn’t something you buy in a jug or fix in one season. Long-term work from Dakota Lakes and other dryland regions shows that rotating warm- and cool-season row crops builds stronger roots and more reliable soils, helping corn handle dry years better than no-till alone ever could.

“We were told you can’t increase organic matter in the South… I couldn’t promote something I didn’t know anything about. I just needed questions answered.”

“Standing in Jesse Hall’s field, Joe and I exchanged that familiar look — the one we’ve shared with several South Dakota producers — because once again someone was demonstrating a truth that runs against the old playbook: you don’t fix water problems with tillage; you fix them with biology.”