FARGO, N.D. – Scrap the old notion that strip tillage is just for Iowa corn farmers.
Judging by the number of strip till implements and field demonstrations at the Big Iron Show in Fargo last month, strip till is headed our way.
Big Iron is the North Dakota version of Western Canada’s Farm Progress Show, where farmers check out what’s new and what’s coming over the horizon. For Manitoba and Saskatchewan farmers who drive to Fargo, it’s a chance to see what’s coming over the 49th parallel.
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Last year for example, there were few signs of strip tillage at Big Iron. This year, strip tillage was everywhere.
The strip till concept is easier than the execution. The idea is to cultivate narrow, parallel strips in the fall and then come back in the spring to seed into those strips.
Farmers in the corn-soybean belt who custom hire strip till work report a return of $6 to $16 per acre after costs. But that’s on corn. Returns on small grains would likely not be as good unless the cost could be reduced.
How cost effective is strip till on the northern Great Plains? That’s a question researchers are asking just south of the Manitoba border.
North Dakota State University (NDSU) at Fargo began its field research into strip till in 2005.
North of there, the University of Minnesota at Crookston is now into its fourth year of strip till field trials. Crookston is 100 kilometres south of the Manitoba border.
In a two-year corn trial, Crookston researchers found that strip till and chisel plow fields averaged 189 bushels per acre, one pass fields averaged 185 bu. and no till had a 182 bu. average.
NDSU conducted soybean trials at three sites in North Dakota over three years. Researchers also found that strip till fields led the way with an average yield of 30.9 bu. per acre. Next were conventional till fields with 28.5 bu., while the lowest yield was found at no till fields at 22.8 bu. per acre.
The two university research groups teamed up at Big Iron last month for field demonstrations and to present their data to farmers.
The researchers felt that strip till is moving north up the Red River Valley and they drew common conclusions about the benefits of strip tillage:
- Compared to conventional tillage, strip till conserves energy because only the immediate seedbed row is worked. All surface area between the seed rows remains undisturbed.
- Strip till reduces soil erosion and conserves moisture because it leaves most of the residue on the surface.
- It maintains higher levels of organic matter.
- Compared to zero till fields, strip till seedbeds warm up and dry out sooner in the spring.
- Yields are equal to or higher than other systems.
- Expenses are reduced by eliminating primary and secondary tillage operations.
- Strip till offers better and less expensive weed control compared to conventional tillage.
A big issue for zero till farmers is that cool, protected soil in the spring retards seed germination.
NDSU field research on spring seedbed temperatures gives a decided 3 C advantage to strip till fields over zero till fields. In the two-year study, soil temperatures for the traditionally cultivated field were in the middle of the two other systems.
Spring seedbed temperatures for zero till fields averaged 15.8 C.
Spring seedbed temperatures for fields worked with a chisel plow the previous fall averaged 17.4 C.
Spring seedbed temperatures for strip-tilled fields averaged 18.4 C.
Although strip tillage is often described as a compromise between full tillage and zero tillage, it ranks at the top in terms of spring soil temperatures.
As the practice of strip tillage migrates north, it’s apparent that it appeals to two groups of farmers at opposite ends of the tillage spectrum:
- It attracts veteran zero till farmers who say they need limited tillage to warm and dry their seedbed for spring seeding. These are the dedicated zero tillers who are backing off slightly from the strict dogma of never cultivating their soil.
- It is also catching the attention of conventional tillage farmers who typically use at least two cultivation operations before seeding.
They want to move to zero till, but they’re skeptical. They see strip till as a way to move gradually from cultivation into zero till. It can leave all surface residue between the rows, but the rows are cultivated.
In both situations, farmers control the degree of soil disturbance in the row. It can range from slight surface disturbance for clearing away crop residue to a fully tilled seedbed worked down to 20 inches.
The degree of soil disturbance depends on the equipment and how it’s adjusted and operated in the field.
Some strip till implements have only one or two working tools in the ground and are merely on-farm modifications of an existing cultivator.
A few of these are as simple as an old moldboard plow with a packer at the back.
New, high-end strip till implements may have seven or eight working tools in the ground, a high degree of adjustment and the capacity to inject fertilizer.
Regardless of what implement is selected, it’s critical that each seed opener follow the same path as the fall tillage tool.
The operator of the seeding tractor must be able to guide the implement down the six-inch wide path he created eight months earlier.
Researchers in North Dakota and Minnesota say GPS with RTK is recommended if producers expect get the most benefit out of strip till.
Depending on what crop will be seeded, the strip can be six to 12 inches wide.
For small grains on the Northern Great Plains and three prairie provinces, the narrow strip is felt to be most suitable.
Eighteen manufacturers in North America offer a variety of strip till implements.
In addition, there are hundreds of farm-shop strip tillage implements, many of which date back to the years before commercial implements were available.
Nine in-ground working tools form the basis of most strip till implements. Depending on the grower’s requirements, these tillage tools are assembled into different configurations.
- Coulter blades cut through the soil and residue ahead of the tillage shank. They are either straight or fluted discs, and some have depth control. Minimum diameter is 20 inches. Larger diameter discs are recommended in heavy residue.
All designs have a flexible mount so the disc can travel over stones, but parallel link systems work best on stony or rolling land.
- Residue cleaners are typically mounted behind the front coulter blade, where they clear trash out of the path for the tillage shank. They are intended to leave a clean, surface-tilled strip. Manufacturers offer numerous proprietary designs.
- Tillage shanks and point knives penetrate and loosen the soil. They are designed with a fertilizer injection tube for application of liquid, anhydrous or granular fertilizer during the fall strip till operation. They normally operate no deeper than eight inches.
- Sub-soil shanks serve the same purpose as normal tillage shanks, plus they can break up soil compaction to a depth of 20 inches.
- Some machines used paired coulters or a single large diameter coulter instead of the tillage shank. In these designs, they serve the same function as the tillage shank.
- Berm-building disks are mounted on each side of the tillage shank, usually six inches behind the shank. They can be mounted to mound the soil so moisture runs off to the side, helping dry the soil.
They can also be mounted to create a slight depression in the strip to help catch snow and rain for the next crop. The decision on how to use the berm-building discs depends on soil moisture conditions in fall. These are also known as hiller discs.
- Soil conditioning baskets are often mounted behind the shank and berm builders to break up soil clods and smooth the surface for better seed depth control in spring. Strip tillage is recommended as a fall operation, but if it must be done in the spring, baskets are recommended to create a better seedbed surface.
- Rubber packing wheels are installed on some strip till implements in place of the baskets. They serve the same purpose but leave a firm soil surface instead of a loose seedrow.
They can also be installed behind the baskets when the operator wants greater control of the seedbed surface.
- Moldboard plows formed the basis of some of the original farm-built strip tillage implements.
Although the single share moldboard doesn’t offer the degree of adjustment or sophistication provided by the latest commercial units, it does provide the disturbance depth needed in areas where excess fall moisture is the enemy.
When used ahead of the new generation soil massage tools, the moldboard might still be a good starter tool.
As well as the initial $3,000 per row investment in toolbars, producers who buy a full-bore strip tillage implement can expect to spend money on maintenance.
One manufacturer has a decal on the machine saying each row has 18 grease points that must be greased daily. Eventually, all those bushings will need to be rebuilt or replaced.
Other machines have six springs per row. Springs wear, lose their tension and eventually need to be replaced.
Another popular strip till implement has seven bearings per row. That’s a significant amount of time and money when it’s time for the overhaul.
Now multiply those cost factors by 12, 16, 24 or more for the number of rows you are tilling, and it’s easy to see that cost is a factor when considering strip tillage.
Amity Technologies, one of the air drill manufacturers at Big Iron, plans to build a strip till tool bar that will be interchangeable with its seeding tool bar. This will allow farmers to use the same basic machine for strip till in the fall and seeding in the spring.
Soil humidity is vapour; soil moisture is liquid.
When trapped in air pockets, that vapour benefits seed germination more than liquid soil moisture does.
Even if a producer’s seeding implement provides excellent seed-to-soil contact, about 85 percent of the water entering a wheat seed comes from vapour rather than liquid water.
With a good cover of crop residue in undisturbed soil, spring humidity is often 90 to 100 percent. These humidity levels are ideal for seed germination.
This may not seem important in some areas or in years when spring moisture levels are generally high, but in dry conditions soil humidity is vital for uniform germination and emergence.
These numbers also indicate that the controlled disturbance in the seed zone provided by strip tillage implements creates air spaces for humidity while preserving some of the residue cover between the rows.
For more information on strip tillage, visit www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/conservation_tillage.
