In theory, strip-till should boost yields, especially in corn, where the practice is most usually used. Clearing residue from a seed zone and berming the soil so it warms faster in preparation for spring planting sounds like an obvious benefit. More equipment manufacturers have adapted systems to enable “multitasking” such as combining strip-till with fertilizer application, which can reduce operating costs and the number of passes across a field.

Yet the adoption rate for strip-till remains relatively slow, although positive, says Jake Munroe, field crops soil specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). He and ministry corn specialist Ben Rosser have noticed strip-till’s uptake has been varied, but encouraging.

“It ranged from ‘Yes, there’s a lot of new interest in the last few years,’ to ‘No, it’s pretty much flatlined,’” says Munroe regarding the responses from agronomists across the province. “A lot of the adoption was back in 2015, ’16 and ’17. It’s very regional but I think a fair statement overall for southern Ontario is that there continues to be a modest adoption.”

Munroe and Rosser were part of a Farm and Food Care Ontario initiative including YouTube videos with five farmer advocates: Mike Cornelissen, Ken Nixon, Gary Deborger, and Warren and Christine Schneckenburger. Munroe says each video features the growers and their rationale for strip-till management, depending on region, soil types or individual goals.

“For example, does the grower have fertilizer on the planter or have they pulled fertilizer off and are using strip-till to replace that? Are they putting phosphorus and potash down in the spring as well as nitrogen? It’s dependent on the grower: some are fall only, some are spring only — especially on lighter soils.”

Changes & Considerations

Mike Cornelissen, a third-generation grower from Watford, Ont., farms with his father George and brother Kyle, who also have poultry. Mike has been using strip-till for several years, upgrading his equipment three times as manufacturers rolled out new designs. He’s tested fall and spring strip-till applications and found the soils where he can spring strip-till work just as well with no-till corn. By his estimate, he’s one of roughly 10 operations in his area that are strip-tilling in the fall.

With the poultry operation, they also have an ample supply of manure, and supplement it with nutrients from rented barns or manure they purchase.

“We use strip-till as the main source to add our P and K, which has worked very well for us to apply product in variable rates,” says Cornelissen. “In the fall, you have more time to apply fertilizer and can apply it properly to subsurface application. Strip-till also works well in cover crops because it can do the tillage in good weather conditions and terminate the cover crop as late as possible to get the most benefit out of it.”

He’s done many plots comparing conventional versus strip till versus no till, and has one such plot in 2022. As of mid-July, his results hadn’t shown any significant increase in yield. Cornelissen notes they’re getting a yield benefit from the fertilizer in the strip compared to broadcast, but looking at the tillage alone, there’s no real difference.

It’s a slow-and-steady approach for their farm. Cornelissen says they never make radical changes in their practices, always relying on data gleaned from years of plot data, and they test new tillage units before they make any alterations in their practices. It’s part of a “systems” approach to management. He found strip till was a natural progression because some aspects were already in place with no till. An example he uses is the switch to very large tires on their equipment, realizing they couldn’t use tillage to fix mis- takes from wet falls.

“Strip-till can work for most farms and having a strip-tiller that can do both fall and spring will give you options,” says Cornelissen. “But strip-till takes work: running a planter isn’t so easy anymore because we’re very focused on keeping on the strip, even with GPS. Everything in the system needs to be thought through.”

Better Understanding

Munroe says that may be the biggest change — the need to understand cause-and-effect. He agrees with Cornelissen’s “thinking through” various figures, including comparing cost of production numbers with previous practices. It’s the best approach with something like strip-till because he and other advocates not only want to encourage its adoption because it can improve profitability and enhance soil health and the environment, so they want growers to be successful with it.

Munroe cites residue management as a starting point for shifting to strip-till, something he’s been told by most strip-tillers. If a grower is considering moving to strip-tilling wheat in preparation for corn, some questions need to be answered. Is the wheat straw being windrowed and sold? Is it being spread? What about the chaff? Is it in a concentrated band? If so, that can cause problems with strip till performance, then the corn stand and, ultimately yield, in that area.

“Many growers understand that systems approach and the impact of changing one element of the system and having a cascade effect on others,” Munroe adds. “For those thinking about going to strip-till, a systems approach means thinking it through and planning before the changes are made.”