Shattering yield barriers is part of David Hula’s DNA. The Charles City, Va., farmer is known for his record-breaking corn yields, but the results are not based on repetition.

Rather, it’s Hula’s willingness to embrace change and accept the challenges of adopting a new farming philosophy. Starting in 2018, the long-time no-tiller began transitioning corn acres on his operation to strip-till, seeking more consistency in early emergence, targeted fertilizer placement and yield growth.

Switching to strip-till offered him the opportunity to increase yield potential without jeopardizing return on investment (ROI) or soil health. Hula’s evolving strip-till system contributed his capturing the 2019 National Corn Growers Assn. high corn yield title with a record of more than 606 bushels per acre.

“As we got to yield barriers, we were introduced to strip-till and we played with a few acres, banded some fertilizer and planting our corn crop into the strips,” Hula says. “The first year, in the very first field, we saw a 37 bushel per-acre yield increase, and overall, what we consistently saw is emergence quality with better seedbed preparation with strip-till.”

Hula will kick off the 2020 National Strip-Tillage Conference, Aug. 6-7 in Omaha, Neb., with a general session that will analyze the operational challenges, economic gains and growth potential of transitioning to strip-tilled corn.

The 7th annual National Strip-Tillage Conference will be held at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Omaha LaVista Hotel & Conference Center and feature 2 days of strip-till education through an array of thought-provoking general sessions, strategy-packed strip-till classrooms and highly collaborative strip-till roundtable discussions.

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