Step into this field outside Herndon, Kentucky, and touch a bit of agricultural history. One year, it may be planted in soybeans, the next year in corn. One thing, though, is certain: It will always be no-tilled.

The Chappell brothers use a simple principle to guide their crop-management decisions: Healthy soil helps make a healthy farm. It starts by thinking small.

Brian Martin slides a spade into a patch of cereal rye planted in corn stubble. He pries out a chunk of dark soil topped by green leaves then crumbles a bit of the dirt between his fingers. New roots, old roots, mellow silt loam. He crumbles some more dirt and gives a...

Conserve soil, conserve water. Both go hand-in-hand on Steve Stevens' farm, near Tillar, Arkansas. A third-generation farmer on land that's 10 miles from the Mississippi River and 2 miles from the Arkansas River, Stevens has seen plenty of changes during his time here, and...

Robby Bevis didn't decide to chuck his farm-management plan and get closer to nature on a whim. It took some convincing by friends and finally a commitment to let plants and biology tell him how to manage the crop.