Strip Tillage
Simultaneous strip till, fertilizer application and planting is the right springtime combination for Fayette County corn and soybean producer Collin Jensen. He saves fuel, reduces soil erosion, improves soil quality and lessens compaction by farming this way.
Strip tilling in heavy ground isn’t always a picnic. Dawn has added simple plastic ‘swirls’ to its line to attach to the rear units that pass over the row area.
The Iowa Learning Farms program works with many farmers across the state who are demonstrating conservation farming practices while remaining profitable. Our farmers help ILF by sharing their experiences with others in order to help build a Culture of Conservation.
Heavy chaff trails reduced strip-till sugarbeet yields by about 3 tons per acre in a southern Idaho study.
Keeping tight crop budgets in mind, this fourth Q&A series article tackles herbicide costs, Russell McLucas, a Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance board member, and Del Voight, Penn State Extension grain-crop specialist, address concerns and what works. McLucas, past chairman of the Pennsylvania Corn Growers Association and a 30-year veteran no-tiller, farms near McConnellsburg, Pa.
Two years ago when Jamie Foster was moving from Florida to become a Texas AgriLife Research forage agronomist in South Texas, her job almost hit her in the face — literally.
Mother Nature often dictates what crop producers can get done, particularly during planting season. Wet, cool soils and heavy residues often gum up the best-laid plans. It’s not only a northern and eastern Corn Belt scenario, but one that can happen in Nebraska, too.
Seth Spicer, who farms east of Imperial, is one of the many strip-till crop production adherents in southwest Nebraska.
The Iowa Learning Farm has recently created a series of information sheets addressing soil and water quality topics. There are four handouts titled “Iowa Watersheds,” “Transition to No-till,” “Water Quality and Conservation Practices” and “Economics of Residue.”