When Does No-Till Work? Two Major Studies and What Farmers Told Us

By the Growing Resilience Team

When we posted a video of Dr. Dwayne Beck explaining how tillage destroys soil structure and reduces infiltration, we expected a little pushback—but not hundreds of comments. What followed was one of our most active conversations yet, with producers from across the region offering both challenges and praise. It confirmed something we already suspected:

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to tillage and yield.

So, we did what we always try to do—go to the science. We reviewed two of the largest and most respected global studies ever conducted on no-till and yield. Both are peer-reviewed meta-analyses, which means they don’t rely on just one or two experiments—instead, they combine data from hundreds of field trials, across dozens of crops, climates, and countries. Think of it as the “aggregated wisdom” of years of side-by-side comparisons.

Here’s what they found—and how it lines up with what farmers in South Dakota and beyond are already telling us.

Study 1: Nature 2015 — “Productivity Limits and Potentials of Conservation Agriculture”

This paper analyzed 5,463 yield observations from 610 field studies comparing no-till and conventional tillage across the globe. Published in Nature, one of the highest-impact journals in science, it set the tone for a decade of soil health debate.

• Headline result?

On average, no-till yields were 5.7% lower than tilled systems.

But here’s the catch:

• When no-till was combined with residue retention and crop rotation, the yield gap dropped to 2.5%, and in many cases, disappeared.

• In rainfed crops in dry areas (aridity index < 0.65, so that’s pretty much all of South Dakota), no-till with good rotation and cover often outperformed tillage, thanks to better water retention and soil structure.

• In humid, cool climates, or when no-till was used without rotation or residue retention, yields dropped more significantly.

Study 2: Field Crops Research 2015 — “When Does No-Till Yield More?”

This second meta-analysis from the same lead author analyzed an even bigger dataset: 6,005 yield comparisons from 678 studies. It focused more closely on which conditions tipped the scales for or against no-till.

It confirmed all of the above and added these important takeaways:

• In dry climates (so, most of South Dakota), no-till outperformed tillage in 55% of cases—especially when residue was retained and crop rotation was practiced.

• In wet soils, tillage often helps dry and warm the ground, explaining its popularity in places like Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri.

• Time matters: No-till yields were often lower in the first 1–2 years—but caught up after 5–10 years in most systems.

What This Means for Us on the Ground

• “Roughly speaking, there’s a ‘yield response line’ that follows the aridity index line of 0.65, running northeast to southwest through western Minnesota, northwestern Iowa, and into eastern Nebraska and Kansas.

• West of the line, conditions are drier. No-till often wins here—especially when paired with the full system: rotation, residue, and sometimes livestock.

• East of the line, wetter soils and colder springs mean that a tillage pass may help get crops in the ground quicker, especially if residue or rotation are lacking.

“We Can’t Do It With No-Till Alone”

That’s what Dr. Dwayne Beck says at Dakota Lakes Research Farm, where they’ve been pioneering resilient systems for decades. No-till is just one tool. The real power comes from stacking practices:

• Diverse rotations (especially small grains)

• Cover crops

• Soil armor

• Reduced disturbance

• Livestock integration

Farmers near the Missouri River—on both sides—are showing what this looks like in practice. It lines up with what both the science and the social media feedback we received tells us: no-till is a tool in our toolbox, best used with the other tools!

Final Thought: It’s Not Just About Yield

Many of you told us why you till. Some said it helped yields. Others said it helped get on the field in time. But still others told us that no-till gave them their time back—less time in the tractor, more time with family, fewer washouts, better infiltration.

If that’s part of what stewardship looks like to you—we’re listening.

Sources

If you have trouble finding these documents online, we will post these two papers on our Free Resources site at https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/free-resources 

• Pittelkow CM, Liang X, Linquist BA, et al. Productivity limits and potentials of the principles of conservation agriculture. Nature. 2015;517:365–368. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13809 

• Pittelkow CM, Linquist BA, Lundy ME, et al. When does no-till yield more? A global meta-analysis. Field Crops Research. 2015;183:156–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2015.07.020

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