Timing, width and depth are all considerations strip-tillers take into account when building berms on their farm for seeding, the 2nd annual Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study found.

For many strip-tillers, banding fertilizer is the primary benefit of the practice to apply critical nutrients where plant roots can readily access them when needed.

Strip-till remains a subset of more widely adopted conservation tillage practices, including no-till. According to the 7th Annual No-Till Operational Benchmark Study published by No-Till Farmer earlier this year, about 7.7% of cropland acres were strip-tilled in 2014, compared to 76.5% in a no-till system.

One of the battles being waged on farms across the country is the technical obsolescence of precision equipment vs. the mechanical life of heavy machinery.