BRANDON – Strip till is more than just an American trend spilling over the border.
Canadian farmers are also interested in the practice because it makes more money on high-value crops.
“The high-value crops we grow to make some extra money all require black soil in the spring,” says Elmer Friesen of Elmer’s Welding in Altona, Man., which has been manufacturing specialty bean and row crop equipment since 1978.
“If you don’t have black soil for corn and beans, the plants lose too much time and you lose money.”
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Friesen launched a new strip till row unit three years ago, with the design based on his own bean growing experience and what he’s learned from American strip till manufacturers.
“The seed is placed two inches above the fertilizer with a nice mellow trench for the roots,” he said.
“You get very accurate seed placement in a black soil strip that warms quickly in the spring. Plus you still have the benefit of standing trash between the seed rows.”
Friesen said there are two schools of thought when designing strip till equipment: the simplest design is a shank unit with each stand-alone row unit moving up and down, while the more complicated is a parallel linkage system.
Friesen opted for the shank because he felt it allowed him to build larger frame sizes. The biggest Elmer’s strip till implement is 42 feet wide and has 24 independent row units.
“We started with a narrow 22 inch row spacing, and that works. But when we go to a 30 inch row spacing … I’d say that for trash clearance … we’re as good or better than any other unit on the market.”
The Altona-built implement appears less complex than other zero till units.
A front-to-back walk-through begins with the spring-loaded coulter at the front. The rippled coulter slices soil and trash at three to four inches. Friesen said this is deep enough to eliminate nearly all hairpin problems.
The second tool is a pair of trash cleaners to move residue to the sides, thus creating the black strip. The trash cleaners are easily changed or adjusted for different levels of aggressive action, depending on the type and amount of residue.
Third in line is the shank holding the mole knife, which delivers anhydrous ammonia or dry or liquid fertilizer. The mole knife has a fin on the bottom to shatter the soil and break up clods.
Above each shank is a red cylindrical canister containing an adjustable coil spring that delivers up to 1,200 pounds of down force on the knife. Friesen said the spring seldom needs to be touched again once a producer finds the right pressure for his farm.
The fourth tool is the pair of berming discs that bring soil back into the black strip. The discs are adjustable so the operator can create the shape and soil depth required in the tilled strip.
Finally, the spring loaded conditioner basket at the back breaks soil slabs into finer particles so they don’t interfere with seed placement. The shape of the paddles keeps the centre of the berm raised.
The baskets can be adjusted to accommodate changes in field conditions or raised out of the way when not needed. Friesen said not all producers run the packers in the fall, but they generally run them in spring operations.
Some American companies now offer strip till units that place seed immediately following the berming discs. Although he concedes this is possible, Friesen doesn’t think it’s the best strategy.
“The idea is that you create your ideal seedbed in advance of seeding, preferably in the fall. Then you try to plant at the optimum date.
“The one thing you must keep in mind is that you need a good guidance system so your seed row follows the tilled strip exactly. You need RTK GPS or the equivalent so you can come back and put the seed row down the middle of the strip.”
Friesen said nearly all strip till units are priced from $3,000 to $3,500 per row, and his prices fall into that range depending on options.
Nearly all of the 250 row units Elmer’s has built have been sold in the United States.
Manitoba Agriculture will conduct field demonstrations in 2010 with an Elmer’s strip tiller. Hargreaves Farms at Brandon recently bought one of the machines for its corn and sunflowers, and will begin using it next spring.
For more information, contact Elmer Friesen at 204-324-6263 or visit www.elmersmfg.mb.ca.
