Robert Boyle is a self-proclaimed strip-till outlier in Coolidge, Ariz., where his 1,200-acre corn, cotton, alfalfa and dairy operation only gets about 7 inches of rain — if he’s lucky — and it often comes over the course of 2-3 storms. 

“I used to be one of those guys who thought strip-till looks good on paper, but won’t work in my soil and environment,” Boyle says. “Orthman came out to my farm one day, ran its 1tRIPr on 100 acres, and I said, ‘Wow, it works.’ Now if a strip-till rig ends up in Arizona, I don’t let it leave. That’s how I also ended up with a SoilWarrior and a Zimmerman.” 

Today, Boyle uses all 3 of his toolbars — Orthman, Environmental Tillage Systems (SoilWarrior) and Zimmerman — to strip-till corn and cotton on his irrigated farm, as well as another 4,000 custom acres. 

Before switching to strip-till in 2013, Boyle struggled with diminishing corn silage yields and thought the only solution was more tillage and inputs. 

“I could apply 500 units of nitrogen, and it wouldn’t matter — my yields still didn’t increase. I was working the ground so much that I was beating it into flour, and the soil wouldn’t take any water,” Boyle recalls. “On top of that, fertilizer costs were rising. I was creating the perfect storm and causing all my own problems.” 

Boyle figured he could fix the problems with iron, but eventually realized the best answer was having “as many roots in the…