Always looking to try something new each year with his 1,000-acre no-till corn and soybean operation, Jim Leverich says it’s important to find fresh ideas to continue to become more efficient.

Over the past few years, this has meant making a shift in fertilizer placement, giving strip-till a try and dealing with safety concerns his children have with anhydrous ammonia.

Located at Sparta, Wis., the long-time no-tiller uses a 24-row Case IH 2140 planter to no-till corn and soybeans in 20-inch rows.  He uses Case IH row units with Yetter SharkTooth adjustable row cleaners. The narrow row cleaner is made specifically for 20-inch corn. 

“We made this change when we jumped into the 2140 planter and wanted a more aggressive row cleaner to make sure our no-till seeding strip was perfectly clean without residue in the row areas,” he says. 

The planter has a liquid fertilizer system used to apply 28% nitrogen (N) at 10 gallons per acre and 2½ gallons of ammonium thiosulfate per acre. With a 500-gallon planter-mounted tank, Leverich can plant 40 acres before needing to refill.

The planter has a hydraulically powered air compressor to provide air pressure control of closing discs at 10-12 pounds and a precision monitoring system. 

“Next year we might use the…