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Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study

Blending Fertilizer into the Berm, Variable-Rate Application Increase

Anhydrous and zinc applications decline, while more farmers applied monoammonium phosphate (MAP) and urea with strip-till rigs in 2015.
Strip-tillers often cite targeted fertilizer placement as a key benefit of the practice, to ensure that plant roots can access nutrients throughout the growing season. But the 3rd Annual Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study revealed some interesting changes in what type of fertilizer strip-tillers are applying and how.
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Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study

Cover Cropping, Twin-Row Strip-Till Continue to Rise

More than 50% of benchmark respondents utilize cover crops, while the percent of strip-tillers planting twin rows has more than doubled.
As strip-tillers search for efficient, economical ways to retain moisture and nutrients in their soils, an increasing number are turning to cover crops. Analysis of the 3rd Annual Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study revealed another uptick in their use.
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Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study

Strip-Tilled Corn Acres, Soybean Yields Increase

The overall average of strip-tilled acres per farm grew by nearly 200, while average corn yields topped 190 and soybean yields jumped 4 bushels.
For the second year in a row, farmers increased the average number of acres they strip-tilled, despite a minor dip in the percentage of farm acreage strip-tilled.
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Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study

Diversity of Methods Produce Strip-Till Stability and Flexibility

Increased adoption of cover crops and variable-rate fertilizing help strip-tillers maintain corn yields and increase soybean yields in 2015.
Building confidence in a strip-till system can come through a variety of avenues — utilizing cover crops to strengthen soils, refreshing fall-built strips with a spring pass to create an ideal seedbed, or variable-rate applying fertilizer with a strip-till rig for more efficient placement and usage of nutrients.
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Committing to Cover Crops Brings Added Benefits to No-Till

After seeing the changes cover crops made to one farm, the Eberhard family is going all in to take out weeds and secure and produce nutrients.
Fifteen years ago, Lynn Eberhard began farming a field that was in bad shape. The ground was hard and the yields were poor. So he decided to seed cover crops, which he had been using on and off since the early 1990s, on that farm every year.
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Precise Nutrient, Cover Crop Use Cleans Up Chesapeake

Trey Hill shares what he’s learned from trying to reduce nitrogen leaching, managing inputs and battling slugs on his 10,000 no-till acres.
Although Trey Hill has been farming around 10,000 acres in Rock Hall, Md., his whole life, he’s quick to mention that he’s more a student than a teacher. It’s this instinct that leads him to perpetually tweak his nitrogen (N) management and cover-crop program, forever in search of more conservative and efficient techniques for the fourth generation family-run Harborview Farms.
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Interseeding Tools Get Cover Crops Off to Faster Start

No-tillers can avoid the mad rush to get cover crops seeded after harvest by planting them into standing cash crops.
One of the most common challenges no-tillers encounter with cover crops is at the very start — getting them seeded. Interseeding — the practice of seeding covers with a drill, spinner spreader, toolbar or sprayer into an established and growing cash crop — may provide a solution.
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What I've Learned from No-Tilling

Rejuvenating Acres and Ramping Up Soil Productivity

No-till is just one component of the system Dan DeSutter is using to break up compaction, store water, increase organic matter and improve yields.
My dad gets the credit for taking the initial steps of reducing tillage on our farm, but I can probably take some credit for pushing us into a full no-till system. And I do mean system, because no-till is just the tiny tip of the very large iceberg that is our farm management strategy today.
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