Published November 28, 2018 | By Mike Petersen
Image Above: Digging to give you the best information regarding soils as I know how.
Welcome to Precision Tillage, again! As the Orthman agronomist (me – Mike Petersen) it is good to be part of the Orthman team where we really do desire to help many, many growers become better at what they do with their two very important resources — soils and water to grow top producing crops. It is not only my desire but all of us who at Orthman work with people directly working in Agriculture to be proactive with your farming operation. At Orthman we not only want to assist growers, but join with implement dealers/salesmen, seedsmen, fertilizer dealers or suppliers, educators fathom the depth of the Strip Till story and what great benefits are to be had.
This season for starters, we are seeing East-Central Nebraska soybean harvest essentially complete where with positive placed by an Orthman 1tRIPr and dry nutrients prior to planting back in April yields are tipping the scales at the 88-105bu/acre mark compared to no added nutrients of 69 bu/acre. A 19-35 bushel increase truly has some impact to the bottomline even with the price down so much. We are hearing from our strip-till growers that corn is closing in on the final few rounds in many states, then some not with the recent wet via rain and snows.
This year from my travels with Orthman Manufacturing, strip-till as a system has caught the eye of politicians and leaders in the Great Lake States on a sound method to minimize soluble phosphorus getting into the rivers and streams that feed Lake Erie. Growers have been identified in certain watersheds that they are contributors and they are under some scrutiny. We at Orthman are working hand-in-hand with Ohio State University to study issues surrounding the phosphorus loading and how to be proactive and offer solutions that minimize soluble phosphorus runoff. Stay tuned and we will bring you more information. Believe me that applies in many other watersheds than just Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, New York and others.