Strip-Till Farmer editors gathered intel on the latest strip-till products hitting the market, at the 2022 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. Here’s a look at some of the top strip-till related items that stood out. Check out everything our cameras captured at StripTillFarmer.com/media/videos.
New Toolbars
The “new kids on the block” made a splash at the nation’s largest outdoor farm event, with AGuru Machinery and Black Eagle Ag Solutions both debuting new strip-till products.
In their 2nd year in the market and 5th year in business, AGuru is following through on its trademark of helping plants thrive with the new Row Crop 500 Toolbar Chassis.
“We intend to be strip-till gurus and specialists in the market,” says AGuru president and founder Bill Preller. “This toolbar mounts in between the chassis with the fertilizer tank and the tractor for tighter turning. It’s a 16-row, 30-inch machine with 40-foot operating width. The chassis is rated up to 500 hp and carries up to a 9-ton fertilizer tank.
HELPING PLANTS THRIVE. AGuru Machinery launches the Row Crop 500 Toolbar Chassis, featuring fully convertible row units.
“Our row units are convertible. They can run a shank, coulter or knife. Up until now, the strip-till market has been segmented into coulter machines and shank machines. They did not mix — you had to buy one or the other. Now for the first time we truly have a convertible row unit that is equally comfortable at 6 mph with a shank placing fertilizer in a band 7-8 inches deep or running as a coulter unit at 10-11 mph covering 400 acres daily.”
Fellow up-and-comer Black Eagle Ag Solutions, an Australia/U.S. company, showed off its new Black Eagle Ag Strip-Till unit, which has been in development for several years.
READY TO LAUNCH. Black Eagle Ag Solutions debuts its versatile strip-till unit that will work in a variety of soil conditions.
“It’s a machine that’s built by people with years of strip-tilling experience,” says Black Eagle Australia sales rep Ben Poggioli. “Every farmer wants a machine that will work in varying conditions, and that’s what this has proven to accomplish while testing in Australia over the last couple years.”
Row Cleaner Revolution
Yetter introduced the SharkTooth Finger Wheel for the spring of 2023. It’s essentially a hybrid version of the SharkTooth Wheel that helped revolutionize the usage of row cleaners in the early 2000s.
“The SharkTooth Wheel was a great advancement that allowed us to get through heavy residues without plugging,” says Yetter territory/AOR manager Andy Thompson. “We used to think of row cleaners for only no-till. Then we started seeing that every planter, no matter the tillage method, can benefit from the use of row cleaners.
ROW CLEANER REVOLUTION. Yetter introduces the SharkTooth Finger Wheel, a new version of the revolutionary SharkTooth Wheel.
“We’ve narrowed the tooth so it’s like a finger, after receiving feedback from customers. This has the same benefits of the SharkTooth Wheel, but the design will be a little more forgiving if you go too deep.”
Phosphate Fertilizer for Banding
Ostara gave us the rundown on Crystal Green, a new high-efficiency granular phosphate fertilizer. Crystal Green only releases nutrients while root growth occurs; the organic acids break down the granule providing immediate phosphates for the plant.
CRYSTAL CLEAR EFFICIENCY. Ostara’s Crystal Green granular phosphate fertilizer delivers nutrients as root growth occurs and is ideal for banding near the root zone with strip-till.
“Crystal Green is perfect for the strip-till market because it incorporates fertilizer near the root zone,” says Ostara marketing and communications manager Michelle Fluty. “Banding, or any incorporation method is perfect for this fertilizer application. It’s very flexible and can be applied in the spring or fall.”
For first-time users, Fluty recommends blending Crystal Green with their current phosphate applications (25% Crystal Green, 75% MAP or DAP fertilizers, for example).
“The cost of Crystal Green is higher than MAP or DAP, but you’re getting a more efficient phosphate. With Crystal Green, you can reduce overall input costs across the board but still meet or exceed those desired yield results.”
Ostara is building a new facility in St. Louis that will produce 200,000 tons of Crystal Green per year starting in 2023.
