Europe shows new interest in the inverted T drill

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

The Cross Slot direct seeding system is a slow developer so far in Europe. But grass weed worries could be the catalyst to kick-start sales for this innovative approach

by NORMAN DUNN

As far back as 2004, the first Cross Slot drills arrived in Europe from New Zealand, where the system was developed by Baker No-Tillage. "I remember there was a lot of interest at that time," recalls Berlin-based crop adviser and Cross Slot importer York Bayer. "The system remains a good solution, helping soil moisture retention, avoiding erosion risks and achieving very good crop emergence. But there haven't been a lot of sales."

In a way, this is surprising because this direct drill system has performed successfully for over 30 years in New Zealand. It features disc coulters with an L-shaped blade on each side, cutting an inverted T in the soil seeding horizon. The design allows placement of seed in one side of the horizontal T bar and fertilizer in the other, with a twin-wheeled follower to close the slit.

This concept works well where there's a lot of surface trash. It avoids "hair-pinning" that can occur with traditional tine or disc direct drilling, where straw can be pressed down the slit along with the seed. When this happens, it impairs moisture and oxygen flow at seed level and thus germination. Another advantage, according to trial results, is the system's accurate seed and fertilizer placement through nitrogen-damped hydraulic coulter depth control that has nearly half a metre of movement.

While the first machines were shipped from New Zealand more than 10 years ago, there are still only six working in Germany. By December 2015, there were 15 of the drills on British and Irish farms, although a few others are at work in France, Austria, Norway and Poland. There are also some Cross Slot seeder sales reported in Estonia and even a big 10-metre Cross Slot machine at work in the Ukraine.  

At last, however, there's a new surge of interest in Britain, according to importers Paul and James Alexander, owners of farm contracting and machinery outlet Primewest. They're handling orders for another five machines in readiness for spring delivery and also report more interest from Ireland and Denmark.

Helping demand, they feel, is a Cross Slot from their own workshops, built with a lighter frame to suit some British conditions. The New Zealand Cross Slot coulters are fitted to their version which includes an optional liquid nitrogen injection system and sells at C$260,000 (five metres working width) and C$175,000 (three metres).  

"I reckon two main reasons have hampered sales of the high quality New Zealand machines," says Paul Alexander. "One obstacle is price – the six-metre drill currently costs around £190,000 (C$390,000). And, although wheat establishment costs with this system are proven to be just half those of conventional minimum till systems, generally poor returns for wheat growers here have meant that there's considerable reservations about spending this kind of cash on new kit."

He adds that the drills need plenty of power, too. "This is another barrier. In most conditions, a tractor needs at least 360 h.p. to handle a six-metre Cross Slot which, after all, weighs a good 11 tons even with its fertilizer and seed hoppers empty."

Is the situation changing? "Yes," says Paul Alexander. Whipping up far more interest now in the system is the continued growth of grass weed herbicide resistance in northern Europe, he feels. "Direct drilling naturally reduces soil disturbance to a minimum and this keeps weed germination low. Farmers realize that no-till is one of the only effective weapons left against grass weeds in cereal growing at the moment."

Germany and neighbouring countries Poland and the Netherlands have always been more receptive for non-inversion cultivation methods. But, in Germany in particular, there's not been any financial pressure to seek even more efficient ways of crop establishment, according to crop and machinery advisor York Bayer. He stresses that the Cross Slot system has never failed to produce excellent results.

The problem is the extreme profitability in many areas of cropping for biogas production. The returns are so high there (and are guaranteed in many cases by government-backed contracts) that rents of from $600 up to even $1,200 per acre are being paid for biomass-growing land supplying on-farm biogas production plants. The result is that farmers are not so interested at the moment in improving already reasonably good crop establishment systems.

Having said that, York does stress that there's now increasing interest in the Cross Slot system further east in Europe  where plows are not generally used and where a new generation of hands-on managers seek continual improvements in direct drill efficiency. The end result is that the pause in expansion for the Cross Slot direct drill system appears to be over in Europe – with more sales expected soon for the inverted 'T' seed and fertilizer placement approach. BF