Producers are busy with fall tillage as the harvest season wraps up, and we see vertical tillage being used more frequently. The True-Tandem™ 330 Turbo is put to good use in the fall behind the combine, as well as before planting in the spring.
The more fall field work you can get done now, the less you have to do in the spring, and many of you are taking advantage of the favorable conditions we’ve had in most parts of the country this fall to prepare the soil for the 2012 growing season.
Jon Fourez, a farmer in Rankin, Illinois, is a strong supporter of vertical tillage as a way to minimize soil disturbance and prepare a nice, level seed bed. He farms about 1,800 acres in a corn-soybean rotation and was featured in a special section of Prairie Farmer magazine this summer. He uses his True-Tandem™ 330 Turbo to help prevent erosion and manage residue.
“The patented Turbo blades have flutes that agitate the soil from front to back and from side to side to even-out the seed bed,” says Rob Zemenchik, Sales and Marketing Manager for Case IH Tillage Products in North America. “This industry-exclusive turbo-blade design uses shallow concavity and turbo vanes to move soil, up, over and out. The soil is lifted up to fill in low spots and level the seed bed for excellent planter performance.”
The nice thing about vertical tillage is that it only goes one to three inches deep, so it disturbs the soil enough to improve the seed bed and help minimize compaction without creating erosion issues. As Zemenchik explains, “It is a shallow-operating tool, so it helps prepare the seedbed in a way that allows for maximum root penetration and plant growth.” (.)
Emerson Nafziger, a University of Illinois professor of crop sciences and Extension agronomist, who also was quoted in the Prairie Farmer article says, vertical tillage can provide benefits in conservation without compromising profitability: “It’s fast, doesn’t consume much fuel, sizes residue and levels the ground. It also can usually be done in cornstalks, where an implement like a field cultivator won’t work.”
Case IH knows that with a growing world population, we have a responsibility to produce more with fewer resources, and our efforts to help producers Be Ready with the technology needed to reach that goal are never-ending. Tells us how you’re helping conserve our resources – do you practice no-till or minimum tillage on your operation? What have been your experiences with vertical tillage? We welcome your comments!
