NNTC Insights...

Keep a Skilled Driver on the Tractor Seat

A tractor driver’s talents can be critical to the success or failure of strip-tilling, maintains Bill Rohrs. The head of the Conservation Action Project in Findlay, Ohio, says an efficient driver must be able to build a mound that will still have an adequate height in the spring, leaving a strip that will be drier and preparing an air pocket-free seeding area to increase plant germination.

No-Till Trims Machinery Costs

By no-tilling, British grower Jim Bullock has trimmed machinery costs by 30%. The no-tiller from Worcestershire, England, relies on a pair of 150-horsepower tractors and rents another tractor in the same horsepower range at harvest time on his 850-acre no-till operation. Before switching to no-till, a pair of 200-horsepower tractors were necessary for tillage work.

With no-till, Bullock says parts needs have been reduced, fuel consumption was cut in half and he and his brother no longer need to hire extra labor at harvest time.

CTG February 2017 Contents