Long-Term Economic Returns to No-Till Adoption: Evidence from Field Trials in the US Midwest

Abstract No-till farming can improve soil health and reduce production costs, yet national adoption remains low, in part because producers face uncertainty about its long-term economic returns. Using more than 30 years of plot-level data from field experiments in Ohio and Michigan, we estimate site-specific effects of no-till on yields and input costs and calculate net profitability using partial budgeting. Results show that no-till consistently reduces operational costs across all sites. In Michigan, no-till also increases yields by 15.6 bu/ac for corn and 5.9 bu/ac for soybean. Estimated net return gains range from approximately $34 to $93 per acre for corn and $30 to $86 per acre for soybean. These results indicate that continuous no-till can generate positive long-run economic returns under the experimental conditions studied, although the magnitude varies across sites and crops.