With fall harvest running several weeks ahead of normal through much of the Corn Belt, crowds declined at several major farm shows this year.

In addition, the economic farm crisis and lower crop prices meant many farmers weren’t attending or willing to spend time shopping for new equipment.

A number of suppliers at the Farm Progress Show in Windfall, Ind., indicated they expect to be discounting machinery to boost sales this fall and winter.

Strip Till Or Not?

Larry and Ron Lukow of Chebanse, Ill., were checking out strip-till units at the Indiana show.

“Many units carry a $40,000 price tag and that’s a lot of money to spend to see if the concept will work for us,” says Ron.

“Manu­facturers and local dealers say these units will boost returns from no-tilled corn, but there aren’t any demonstration units in our area to try on a few acres of our farm to see if the idea really works for us.”

The two brothers tried an AerWay renovator for increasing water infiltration on their no-tilled 1998 crop. After investing $28,000 in this unit, they actually harvested 2 bushels less corn per acre where the rig was used in their own on-farm trial.

While driving to the Indiana show, Larry Lukow was amazed at the sizable number of acres which had already been fall tilled by late September. “People who try no-till and find problems are too quick to conclude fall tillage is the answer,” he adds.

Need More Options

Terry Metzger…