Steve Berger farms in Southeast Iowa on a 2,000 acre corn, soybean and swine operation. The family has no-tilled for 37 years and has used cover crops continuously the last 15 years. The farm is presently 100% cover cropped with cereal rye every year to reduce soil erosion and building soil organic matter.

One of the first conservation measures Berger remembers experiencing as a child is building terraces. He helped build 15 miles around his fourth generation farm at Dennis Berger & Son Inc., to slow down the impact of the rainfall on soil erosion.

Berger farms with his mom, dad and wife. They’ve been heavily involved in soil conservation since the 1960s. Berger approaches the farm as a business, science and an art. He believes that farmers must be shown conservation practices can work effectively and economically, so more of them will embrace conservation voluntarily.

Switching to no-till early my career was one of the best farm management decisions we have made in our operation.