There was plenty of buzz about strip-till at the 2023 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill.

“I’m interested in looking at some of the strip-till bars here this week,” says central Illinois no-tiller Dave Brown. “With the highly productive soils in this region, I think strip-till could be a win-win for many farmers.” 

“Strip-till is getting hot and there are a lot of folks looking at it this week who have never looked at it before,” says Jonathan Spence, sales manager for Schlagel Manufacturing. “We had guys from Belize come to our booth asking about our Rapid-Till machine that Alex Harrell used to break the soybean record earlier this month.”

Attendees hoping to see the latest and greatest strip-till equipment did not go home disappointed. Here’s a look at some of the top strip-till innovations we came across this week.   

Vulcan Equipment Launches 24-Row Toolbar

Vulcan Equipment showcased its new 24-row strip-till toolbar, which can be set up to apply liquid or dry fertilizer.

“In the past we only sold a lot of individual row units, and people had to build their own bar if they were looking for narrow transport. So, this is new for us and we’re very excited about it,” says Don Slagel, vice president of Vulcan Equipment.

Zimmerman Unveils 16-Row Toolbar

Zimmerman Manufacturing’s Dan Guenther says his customers had a similar concern over the dangers of transporting wide equipment on the road, which is why they created a narrower 16-row toolbar, showcased for the first time in the video below.

Yetter & Fast Ag Solutions Speed Up Strip-Till 

We got our first look at the new Fast DuraPlacer strip-till toolbar with Yetter Strip Freshener CCs, the result of a collaboration between Fast Ag Solutions and Yetter Farm Equipment. Andy Thompson, Yetter AOR Manager, explains in the video below how the new toolbar will increase the speed and efficiency of a strip-till pass.

Lynx High-Flow Air System Increases Capacity & Decreases Plugging  

Speaking of increased efficiency, that’s exactly what Lynx aims to achieve with its new high-flow air system. The 3-inch hosing system for 24-row strip-till feeds into a fully adjustable splitter that’s dividing into 2-2.5 inch lines, ensuring the product is equally applied to both rows. Lynx owner Lance Glendenning says the system increases product capacity from around 750 pounds per acre maximum to just over 1,000 pounds per acre at 5 mph. The system also reduces plugging because the nozzles are larger, Glendenning adds.

Harvest International Introduces LaserTill 1 

Dustin Friesen, Harvest International sales director, showcased the company’s new strip-till row unit — LaserTill 1. It's expected to hit the market in 2024.

“We’re going to be doing a lot of tests and demos throughout the country this fall and next spring,” Friesen says. “We’ll be getting a lot of good feedback in different markets. It works great in Iowa, but as we’ve learned on the planter side of things, what works in Iowa might not work so well in Pennsylvania or North Dakota. So we’re excited to get these in the dirt in a lot of different places.”

Precision Planting Offers “Clarity” for Strip-Tillers

“It’s not simply a flow or no flow blockage sensor. I can’t wait to get this (Clarity) on our strip-till rig this fall,” says Ontario strip-tiller Justin Hiebert. In the video below, Precision Planting’s Josh Stoller shows us why the new product is generating a lot of excitement, and can be a huge money saver for strip-tillers.

AGuru Machinery Displays New Row Units

AGuru launched its next generation of yield-till row units featuring new tubular strip-conditioner frames, which are 3 times stronger than before. 

"Gone are the days when a farmer had to pick only one configuration, or, worse yet, buy two machines, one shank and one coulter, to run fall and spring, or to run fields where a shank was desired for soil tilth, and a coulter was desired for less soil disturbance," says Bill Preller, agronomist and founder of AGuru Machinery. "And this is not an add-on kit, or a 'designed for one, shoe-horned in for the other's situation.' The same row unit is available in a full coulter unit or spring shank." 

Full video recaps of new strip-till innovations will be posted soon on StripTillFarmer.com. 

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