TrentonKY - 3/10/2013 06:40 I have been pondering the use of a residue digester in our no-till system for some time myself because of an article I read in No-Till Farmer probably close to 2 years ago. 200-bushel corn crop,” he claims. “It takes approximately 6 pounds of actual nitrogen to produce a bushel of beans. “If you multiply 6 times 40 bushels, that tells you how much nitrogen you need released from the soil. If you want to raise 100-bushel beans, you need that soil to release 600 pounds of nitrogen." I believe one of the single biggest impact to residue decomposition is the size of pieces that are out there from the previous crop, currently we run a Case IH 3408 corn head and while its a mowing machine for taking trash you can go out right now and with no trobule start finding alot of 2-5 ft. long stalks on the ground with lacerations from the knife to knife rollers yet the pith inside is still really bright and sound.