Farmers in parts of the Midwest are accustomed to cool, damp springs, but waiting for fields to dry out can influence planting dates and negatively impact emergence and stands.

So rather than wait for Mother Nature to get the job done, Low Point, Ill., strip-tiller Todd Mooberry invented an attachment to speed up the drying-out process and allow him to get in the field earlier.

Two years ago, Mooberry modified his 12-row John Deere cultivator with what he calls “strip-refresher” row units that smooth out previously created strips prior to planting.

Speed It Up. “We run it in the spring on the strips we made the previous fall. It lets our strips dry out and warm up a little bit quicker,” he says. “We’ve been able to get out and plant a few days earlier and had a little better stand and more even emergence.”

After seeing interest in his creation from other strip-tillers who endured planting struggles due to damp springs, Mooberry improved the design and built and patented a new individual strip-refresher row unit.

“We also hope some no-tillers who’ve had trouble in the spring with soils not drying out and warming will be able to use this, instead of a deep shank where you might get some erosion,” he says.

This fall, Mooberry will keep testing the invention, and he’s working with Yetter Manufacturing — for whom he is a dealer — to manufacture and market the product.

“We’ve had customers try to build their own and…