Strip till offers European farmers more for less

Friday, May 1, 2015

Pioneer farmers in eastern England have been exploiting this simple crop establishment system for years. But now increasing crop establishment costs are kick-starting new interest
all over Europe

by NORMAN DUNN

There's no doubt that North America leads the field with strip till development. But latest trial results in Europe showing over 300 kilograms per acre more wheat from direct strip till compared with plow-based production are just typical of the good news generating new interest. Also being noticed more now are the clear savings through precise positioning of seed and fertilizer.

In North America, the important advantages have always been soil moisture retention and erosion protection. But Europeans are more interested in getting more from every scarce square metre of soil. Naturally, input costs are rising everywhere. But because land is the limiting factor in western Europe, any cultivation system that offers more for less gets attention. This includes strip till with its seed placement and spot-on underfoot fertilizer advantages. Labour's not getting any cheaper either, so a system that cuts crop establishment time by a factor of five (another result from the above-mentioned trial) is bound to be a winner.

Farm machinery makers have been quick to sense the added interest. The players here include the British-based family firm, Claydon. Simplicity has always been the attraction of the Claydon system, which relies on straightforward tines. But this simplicity has come with fertilizer placement on two levels if required, as well as exact sowing depth.

Other leaders introducing strip till innovative engineering in Europe include Väderstad from Sweden, or Horsch in Germany. In the last few years, we've also seen American designs being adapted for European strip till, including the Stripcat from Sly. The latest version of this approach was presented at the huge SIMA farm show in Paris this spring.

Sly Europe is already well established as a seller of tracked farm machinery and rubber track systems for crawlers, combines and the like. The European Stripcat is now put together in France with an emphasis on easy adjustment and simple operation to meet the demands of establishing a wide range of crops in different conditions.

For instance, up to 24 strips at a time can be cultivated and sown, with row spacings from 27.5 to 80 centimetres. The Stripcat unit layout features an opening disc, sabre tooth trash wheels, a shank with coulter points and no-tool seven-to-30-centimetre depth adjustment, finally followed by a packer wheel. Each unit has a separate pneumatic 600-kilogram downward pressure system adjustable in the tractor cab. The Stripcat units also come with shear bolt protection or an automatic hydraulic trip and reset system. For European roads, the nine-metre maximum width frame can be folded hydraulically to just 2.8 metres across.

Väderstad's "Spirit C" strip till system was developed three years ago in Sweden and Britain. It offers tines just 25 millimetres wide, aimed at minimizing the power requirement during seeding but keeping speed capability up at a suggested 10 m.p.h.

Company chairman Crister Stark emphasized high yields as the main aim of the Spirit technology. He said the special tines are designed to loosen soils in a way that creates conditions for optimal development of crop root systems, better opportunities for plant development in dry conditions or for improved drainage at the other end of the weather scale. The Väderstad tines loosen down to 30 centimetres and the system permits fertilizer placement at two levels, e.g. five to 10 centimetres and 15 centimetres or deeper.

Back in England, the Claydon technique uses a leading tine for each strip to loosen soil and also to place rooting zone fertilizer. Next comes the seeding tine that can also place fertilizer where the seed germinates. This company has interesting calculations on time spent per acre for cereal/canola crop establishment just last fall. For instance, an average time for all operations starting with conventional plowing is put at 45 minutes per acre, for minimum cultivations 17 minutes per acre and with Claydon strip till (including a prior treatment with stubble harrow) just 11 minutes per acre.

Last harvest, a definite advantage for the Claydon strip till system against conventional plow/drill establishment of winter wheat was established in trials run by the German seed firm Saaten-Union. These were actually conducted on two different sites in the east coast English county of Suffolk. Soil in both cases was heavy clay and 50 different wheat varieties were involved. Average yield of wheat combined off the trial fields was 5,176 kilograms per acre for the strip tillage and 4,872 kilograms per acre from the conventional system. Seed establishment was five times faster with strip tillage straight into the stubble of the previous crop, and two-thirds cheaper than plow-based cropping – all reasons why strip till is a major talking point at farmer meetings around Europe this spring. BF