Shift to strip-till: residue management, benefits, challenges and tips
<p>Koosmann builds next year’s strips in between this year’s corn rows. By fall, last year’s residue has decomposed to the point that it crumbles to dust if disturbed.</p>
Think different
When a 2008 Extension strip-till demo opened Tim Koosmann’s mind to strip-till, he bought a Deere 1910 air cart and a 2510S strip-till air cart, “but auto-steer made it harder than it needed to be,” he says. “Stripping with RTK guidance showed off the advantages of straighter strips. It’s all about fewer passes and efficiency.”
The west-central Minnesota farmer transitioned from ridge-till and rotated corn/soybeans to strip-tilling continuous corn with variable-rate P and K banding. The system gives him the best possible seedbeds, he says. “Now, because it’s working and I’ve reduced my inputs, I feel positioned for lower corn prices.”
Susan Winsor | Sep 17, 2014
