Ever consider replacing your planter disc openers with high-pressured water jets? The concept is called aqua-till. The idea has been pioneered by the South Australian NoTill Farmers Association (SANTFA). Earlier this week, SANTFA research and development manager Greg Butler traveled north to Ontario to showcase the technology for farmers attending the annual FarmSmart Expo near… Read more »
Category: Tillage
Soybean School: Planting twin rows in strip till
Strip tillage in corn is growing in popularity in Ontario, but we don’t often see the tillage strategy employed in soybeans. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Soybean School, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan takes us to a strip-tilled field, which features twin row, 7.5-inch soybeans planted on 30-inch centres. In the field, Cowan’s bother, Larry… Read more »
Soybean School: Scout to evaluate your stand and when to go rolling
What’s your strategy when scouting a newly emerged soybean field? When Agromart Group agronomist Steph Kowalski walks into a soybean field this time of year, the first thing she looks to assess is final emergence and population. “It’s important to know how well we got that seed into the ground,” Kowalski tells RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin… Read more »
TechTour: Väderstad’s ultra-shallow disc cultivator in action
In recent years we’ve seen dramatic shifts into the areas of low-till and no-till. And now, Väderstad is offering another option with its Carrier lineup of disc cultivators — ultra-shallow tillage. “The idea behind this is when the farmer has done his combining, especially after oilseed…if he do a very shallow tillage then (and with that we… Read more »
Kinze tackles tillage with high-speed Mach Till disc
Kinze Manufacturing is adding tillage equipment to its planters and grain cart lineup. The company has teamed up with Saskatchewan-based Degelman Industries to market the new Mach Till high-speed disc. Susanne Veatch, Kinze’s president and chief marketing officer says the Mach Till is best described as “hybrid horizontal tillage” rather than vertical tillage. “The Mach Till… Read more »
Connections key to building soil organic matter
There’s consensus that healthy soils with higher organic matter deliver a range of benefits from supplying nutrients, to building soil structure, to increasing water-holding capacity, and reducing erosion. But are enough farmers taking the required steps to increase soil health and organic matter? United States Department of Agriculture research agronomist Shannon Osbourne believes a stronger working… Read more »
TechTour: Kuhn spices up the plow with sectional control
Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of plowing land is the bumpy ride around the headlands that follows. That’s where Kuhn’s Vari-Master Smart Plow comes in. The Smart plow offers sectional control through an electro-hydraulic system which automatically raises and lowers individual bodies based on GPS positioning data, creating a straight furrow edge where… Read more »
TechTour: Soil sensor enables real-time variable depth tillage
A soil sensor that can detect compaction from above the ground in real-time is enabling a concept described as “variable depth tillage” for targeting compacted layers. The Topsoil Mapper made by Austria-based Geoprospectors is an example of a real-time sensor allowing farmers to account for variability as their tractor passes through a field, rather than… Read more »
Choosing the right cultivator for your farm
What should farmers look for when planning to purchase a new cultivator? There’s been plenty of cultivator innovation in recent years that farmers need to consider, says agronomist Pat Lynch, who hosted the annual tillage demonstration at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in Woodstock, Ontario. This year manufacturers showed off secondary cultivation units set to finish… Read more »
Morris Industries gets new ownership and investment
Saskatoon-based Morris Industries has undergone a change in ownership, with private investors injecting new capital into the farm equipment manufacturer. Ben Voss, together with Calgary-based Avrio Capital and Lamont Brown Group, have acquired a majority stake in the business from outgoing CEO Casey Davis. Voss, who’s served as president since 2015, has also replaced Davis… Read more »
Tillage ‘Earthquakes’ and What Farmers Can Learn From a Forest
Mike Dorion calls himself ‘the compost kid’ and he believes farmers should think about their fields like he does his garden. The founder of Calgary-based Living Soil Solutions doesn’t suggest cash crop farmers use tea leaves to improve soil health, but he does preach the benefits of reducing tillage, banking organic matter to help increase… Read more »
Wheat Pete’s Word, March 22: Episode 100 Tackles Snirt, Early Fertility Applications, Sulphur Forms and More
Ladies and gentlemen, farmers and agronomists, we’ve hit triple digits! That’s right, this week’s episode of Wheat Pete’s Word is number 100, and from all of us here at RealAgriculture thank you for following along and making this podcast a huge success in a short time. Host Peter Johnson has made the most of this… Read more »
Coulter Option Delivers High Speed and Low Disturbance
Case IH is equipping its Nutri-Placer 930 fertilizer applicator with new high-speed, low disturbance coulters the company claims will help the unit provide a superior field finish at speeds up to 11 mph. At that speed, Case IH says operators can cover 510 acres in a 12-hour day for increased productivity, lower tractor hours and… Read more »
Wheat Pete’s Word, March 8: Winter Wheat Survival, Tillage and OM, and Phos Draw Down
Peter Johnson is back from his agriculture mission in Zambia, and ready to rock and roll with this week’s edition of Wheat Pete’s Word. From how different organic matter additions can speed up or slow down residue breakdown, to why rotation matters so very much, to a talk on phosphorus as-applied vs. actual, Johnson gets… Read more »
AccuTurn Makes Headland Turning Hands-Free
Case IH wants to help farmers take the guesswork out of turning on headlands. The company says tractor operators can now use its new AccuTurn automatic headland turning technology to navigate hands-free, automatic, repeatable turns for increased productivity and reduced operator fatigue. Case IH unveiled the Advanced Farming Systems (AFS) auto guidance technology last week… Read more »