Nate Hood, technology supervisor for Centra Sota Cooperative in central Minnesota, says local regulations are boosting strip-till popularity in his neck of the woods.
“Strip-till wasn’t very popular at first, but with some of the government regulations in the area, it’s becoming more popular because people are probably going to have to change their tillage practices at some point to conform to the regulations,” Hood says. “Strip-till is a great way to meet the regulations that are coming down the pipeline.”
Hood views strip-till as a great fit for the climate and field conditions in central Minnesota, and he says the system has many economic and environmental benefits.
“Saving moisture is a huge plus with strip-till,” Hood says. “You’re also cutting down on tillage costs greatly by getting rid of some of your other tools like rippers and discs. Labor-wise, you’re going down from 2-3 passes to 1 pass. And 100% of our customers are putting down nutrients with their strip-till bars.
“We sell Zimmerman strip-till bars because they’re robust and heavy-duty. They can handle rocks and they’re great for sandy areas, too. The row units pivot back and forth, which works well in our hilly areas. We can switch back and forth from a shank to a freshener disc quickly, which is beneficial in the spring when farmers are making strips and they want to make that switch.”
Hood says many strip-tillers in his region buy their own strip-till bars, but a good chunk of them also do custom work to make up for the cost.
“They can afford it more if they have a smaller operation,” Hood says. “Maybe they’re strip-tilling their farm and their neighbor’s farm as well.”
While most of Hood’s customers are using strip-till for corn and soybeans, he’s starting to notice an uptick in the number of farmers making strips for other crops.
“We’re also now servicing some larger vegetable growers,” Hood says. “We’ve seen large pumpkin operations adopting strip-till. They’re strip-tilling to save moisture because a lot of their pumpkins are planted on dryland.”
Discussion Group Highlight: Managing Residue
Recognizing the enormous value of getting stalks, straw and chaff across the full width of the combine header, we asked readers in the Strip-Till Farmer email discussion group — how are you getting the job done with today’s extra-wide 40 to 60-foot combine headers?
“I run 40-foot and 45-foot drapers on John Deere combines with PowerCast Tailboard Spreaders,” says Brian Ryberg, Buffalo Lake, Minn., strip-tiller. “If we have excess straw or it’s not spread well, we run a Salford VT with wavy coulters to size and spread residue ahead of strip-tilling with a SoilWarrior triple-coulter rig.”
Join the discussion clicking here to sign up for the Strip-Till Farmer email discussion group.
