A product that serves as a foundation for innovative no-tillers looking to reduce compaction and enhance soil tilth has taken the top prize as the No-Till Product of the Year for 2014. No-Till Farmer readers selected Cover Crop Solutions’ Tillage Radish cover-crop seed as the best product of 2014. The product finished first overall among 13 products that No-Till Farmer readers had earlier deemed by their vote to be the best in their respective categories. 

The Tillage Radish won the overall Product of the Year prize for the third consecutive year and was also the top vote-getter in the cover-crop seed category. 

Manufacturers whose products were voted the best in 13 individual categories were recognized today in front of about 900 no-tillers attending a special luncheon awards ceremony at the 23rd annual National No-Tillage Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were also recognized in the Winter 2015 issue of No-Till Farmer’s Conservation Tillage Guide. 

Here is a list of 2014 award winners by individual category, along with honorable mentions: 

• Fertility/Soil Amendments: Agrotain, Koch Agronomic Services. Honorable Mention: MicroEssentials, Mosaic; Gypsoil FGD Gypsum, Beneficial Reuse Management. 

• Fungicides: Headline AMP, BASF. Honorable Mention: Quilt Xcel, Syngenta. 

• Insect Protection: Genuity SmartStax, Monsanto. Honorable Mention: Herculex XTRA, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Pioneer. 

• No-Till Planters/Drills: John Deere 1770NT Planter. Honorable Mention: Kinze 4900 Series Planter, Kinze Mfg. 

• Planter/Drill Attachments: Keeton Seed Firmer, Precision Planting. Honorable Mention: SharkTooth Row Cleaner, Yetter Mfg. Co. 

• Precision Tools: 20/20 SeedSense, Precision Planting. Honorable Mention: YieldSense, Precision Planting.

• Residue Management: 5000 Stalk Devastator, Yetter Mfg. Co. Honorable Mention: BT Chopper/Crusher Stalk Rolls, Calmer Corn Heads. 

• Seed Treatments: Poncho/Votivo, Bayer CropScience. Honorable Mention: CruiserMaxx Beans, Syngenta. 

• Spraying Equipment: 4940 Self-Propelled Sprayer, Deere & Co. Honorable Mention: Patriot 4430 Sprayer, Case IH. 

• Strip-Till Equipment: SoilWarrior, Environmental Tillage Systems. Honorable Mention: Pluribus Strip-Till Unit, Dawn Equipment Co.; Gladiator with ST-Pro, Kuhn Krause. 

• Weed Control: Sharpen herbicide, BASF. Honorable Mention: Liberty herbicide/LibertyLink, Bayer CropScience; Halex GT herbicide, Syngenta. 

• Fertilizer Application Equipment: Totally Tubular starter fertilizer tubes, Totally Tubular. Honorable Mention: Dry Fertilizer Cart, Montag Mfg.; 2968 Row-Unit, Mount-Between Fertilizer Opener, Yetter Mfg. Co. 

• Cover Crop Seed: Tillage Radish, Cover Crop Solutions. Honorable Mention: KB Royal/Supreme annual ryegrass, KB Seed Solutions. 

“The readers of No-Till Farmer are some of the most discerning, knowledgeable farmers in the industry, so these manufacturers should be proud that their products have been recognized for their strong performance,” says Darrell Bruggink, executive editor and publisher of No-Till Farmer. 

A call for nominations for the 2015 program, as well as voting, will be announced later this year. The 2015 Product of the Year award winners will be announced during the 24th annual National No-Tillage Conference from Jan. 6-9, 2016, in Indianapolis and in the Winter 2016 issue of No-Till Farmer’s Conservation Tillage Guide. 

To learn more about the No-Till Product of the Year program or the National No-Tillage Conference, call Bruggink at (262) 782-4480, ext. 420, or e-mail him at dbruggink@lesspub.com. You can also learn more at www.No-TillFarmer.com.