I know the thread is a little old, but just read it for the first time.
A lot of the farmers here are going the no till route, or very little of it. Some of the old timers with smaller acreage, my uncle included still does it the "old fashion" way. Plow, disc three ways then drag, seed and roll.
I do understand no till and a lot of chemical is the fastest way. But all the chemical does come at a cost. Since we stopped farming 10-12 years ago, and started renting to the "big" farmer down the road, there has been a bunch of changes.
Near and around our pond there used to be frogs, crickets, whippoorwills, lightning bugs and meadowlarks. Now with the farming practices being used here, they are no longer around.
Used to lay in bed at night and listen to the sounds of nature till we fell to sleep, now it's jake breaks slowing down for the round about here in the middle of the country, or those inconsiderate motorcycles that have to gas on their strait pipes coming out of the round about...
Where you used to leave the window open to listen to the outdoors, now you have to close them to keep the outdoors out.
Guess what I'm saying is everything must change, but not all is for the best.