Strip-till is an international practice and a story from the The Land highlights the transition to strip-till by New South Wales farmer Shane Causley. 

Pulling an Illinois-built Nifty-Ag strip-tiller behind a 90 horsepower John Deere tractor Causley can prepare 4 hectares an hour while burning 12 liters of diesel, compared to the much slower rotary hoe which required 30 liters of fuel per hour.

“The worst thing about the rotary hoe was that it destroyed soil structure and if we then got 2 inches of rain the ground went rock hard and I’d have to start all over again,” he said. “Rain used to be my enemy. Now it’s my friend.”

Now, Causley gives the ground a 40 centimeter deep rip followed by strip-till and bed formation before cane planting. With soybeans in rotation after the fifth rattoon the only work required is to strip-till before planting beans

To read the full article at theland.com.