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University of Minnesota

 

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May 2020 1tRIPr strips being made in Clover cover crop

 

In 2020 Orthman has teamed up to cooperate with the Universities 4 row 1tRIPr to conduct research on how well strip till works into live clover cover crops.  On the left is an image from May 12th, 2020 field activities into the rapidly growing clover cover crop.

 

Studies will include growing corn to see how the cover crop can offer benefits to growth, soil health and potential yield.  Scientists are studying the planting efficacy or lack of with corn.  They are looking at how a clover cover can be a sustainable “partner” crop as the corn grows.  They will be checking soil microbial life, gases exchange and soil organic matter accumulation.  The studies include what addition of N will be provided to the growing corn crop within this strip till environment.

 

This study is at the U. of Minnesota Ag Experiment Station farm south of the Twin Cities, our contact is Jonathan Alexander, graduate student.   Doug Peterson is the Orthman Territory Manager of the Minnesota-Iowa-Western Wisconsin -Nebraska region.

 

Follow along for updates with the Corn-into-Cover Crop project…

 

 

Atlantic Coastal Region — North Carolina State University — Beaufort County

 

At the Northeastern Carolina Experimental Research Center in Beaufort County, NCSU Extension is diving into field efforts to study in corn and soybean production using strip tillage as a comparison of both fertility placement and compaction alleviation.  This station is very close to Pamlico Bay that drains into the Atlantic Ocean.  Their plots consists of:

 

Plot 1 – banding N under corn at various rates at planting, to determine if this is more efficient than broadcasting.

 

Plot 2 and 3 – banding N under corn and beans at various depths to determine the best precise banding depths and also looking at deep tillage with the 1tRIPr for compaction alleviation.

 

Rod Gurganus – NCSU Researcher is our contact

NCSU Research Farm – Northeastern Station

 

 

Colorado State University and USDA- Agricultural Research Service – AEC-ARDEC Farms near Fort Collins, CO

 

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Comparison tillage trials with moldboard system and Strip-Till at Stroh Farm (Courtesy: Colorado State Univ.)

 

At the multiple research farms north of Ft. Collins, Colorado are the Stroh and Bee Farms where on-going strip till research with a 6row 1tRIPr tool is being carried out by several research scientists and technicians.  Not only in the past but present day,  tillage system technology with Strip-Till compared to the plow-disk system, other research is looking at nutrient placement for yield enhancement on furrow irrigated fields as well as overhead sprinkler irrigation.  Activities to observe water efficiency, water savings (up to 2 fewer irrigation passes) with ditch water and row-to-row irrigation, using less fertilizer, nitrogen reduction, residue management for wind and water erosion protection, and nutrient product selections.  These studies are carried out in corn on corn, corn following small grain or sugar beets and or dry edible beans.

 

CSU teamed alongside ARS have designated field events for the public during specific times during the growing season at the Stroh Farm headquarters north of Ft. Collins just off I-25 and south of Wellington, CO.  Studies have been going on the farm since 2004-2006.  The unit is owned by USDA-ARS.

 

A contact is Erik Wardle, CSU scientist, email:  Erik.Wardle@colostate.edu

 

Stay Tuned for follow-ups with CSU and ARS field efforts and data right here:

 

 

 

Central Valley Cooperative (in 5 locations – Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa)

 

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Orthman 4row research designated 1tRIPr with new Montag smaller poly tank precision dry tank system. Plots being done this spring at Polk, NE.

 

In a cooperative atmosphere, Orthman and Pat McNaught and Mike Petersen with CVA Coop are going to carry out some field research at 5 sites; Cuba, KS, Polk, NE, Western Iowa, and Norfolk, NE plus an organic farm comparison of using pelletized chicken manure versus  broadcast at Marquette, NE. We will be co-studying placement of P&K&S nutrients (dry products using what is commonly called 40Rock).   Mick Goedeken, Lead Field Research Agronomist plans to compare this 12-40-0-18 dry fertilizer with broadcast operations of MAP or 11-52-0 + dry urea on No-Till.  The dry products will be placed at 6.5 inches below the soil surface.  This is the first year of carrying out research efforts with this Cooperative.  We look forward to seeing and reporting what data is captured and how the products compare which they offer at their facilities across the 3 states.

 

Montag is offering of a dry distribution dual poly tank system, hydraulic drive and metering which mounts and dismounts on the 4row 1tRIPr demo unit Pat has to showcase the Strip-Till system with their new smaller dry system.

 

CVA is planning on 1 field day in late summer per site which we are asked to be part of those events.

 

The week of May 4 – 8, 2020 the CVA crew finished planting crops at all 5 sites.

 

Stay Tuned for follow-ups with CVA field efforts and data right here…

 

 

Agro-Liquid Fertilizers – St. Johns, MI

 

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Spring Strip Tilling this year-2020 and placing nutrients at Agro-Liquid farm near St. Johns, MI

 

Dr. Jerrry Wilhm and Tim Duckert are the two scientists we work with at the 1000 acre facility NW of St. Johns. Agro-Liquid owns this machine since 2009 or 2010.  They are studying at splitting applications of starter products (their premier line) with the Orthman 6-row 1tRIPr and part of their Agro-Liquid pre-plant mix.  Both Orthman and Agro-Liquid will be looking to determine how much improvement in yield can be obtained along with efficiency of nutrients as well as crop health as they split products in the strip and following up with precision placing nutrients with their plot planter.  They will be using 1 corn variety in this back-to-back corn study.  These plots are right in the vicinity of the main flow of traffic of participants during the Agro-Expo that occurs during mid-August 2020.

 

The AgExpo is a two day educational event to expose a myriad of research efforts done by the staff and scientists on the near 1000 acre Agro-Liquid set of farms north and west of St. John, MI.  They are offering outdoor learning classroom and  field studies to Michigan V0-Ag departments and students.

 

Contact Burt Henry: office: 989.227.3887  He is the Industrial and Relations Leader with Agro-Liquid.

 

Stay Tuned to new on-going developments at the St. Johns, MI site..

 

 

Stiles Farm Foundation – Texas A&M  – Williamson County, Texas

 

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Location of the Stiles Farm and Orthman sponsored

 

 

Going into the 12th season [starting back in 2008] of working cooperatively with the staff and leadership at the 501.3(c) farm near Thrall, Texas; we are seeing under the direction of Ryan Collett farm manager work to accomplish efforts in demonstrating Strip Till in the Brazos River area where full width tillage is the primary method to raise row crops such as corn, cotton and grain sorghum.  The work that is in play for the 2020 season with the Orthman 6row 1tRIPr is incorporating fertilizer placement of N-P-K prior to planting, and also after a small grain crop (wheat) then planting sesame in 30 inch rows for crop alternatives.

 

Strip Till offers advantages to the Texas farmer in the way of fuel savings, water erosion protection with spring and summer high intensity rainfall events, placement of nutrients, fertilizer efficiency, reduction of water erosion and fertilizer losses, alleviating soil compaction in the high clay content soils and helping water intake.

 

Each early summer the Stiles Farm puts together a great informational day showing what is happening with on-going research from Texas A&M and other efforts like ours right on the farm.

 

Contact Ryan Collett at the Stiles Farm  512.898.2214  or Orthman’s Territory Tech and Sales Representative – Justin Cross 806.500.0847  they will be glad to visit and assist with your questions.

 

 

Ohio State University- Columbus, Ohio

 

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Ohio State Univ – Studying row-by-row compaction, fertilizer placement, Planter ride with Strip Till vs No-Till vs Conventional Till

 

Now into the fifth year of cooperative efforts with the OSU Ag and Bioengineering team under the leadership of Dr. John Fulton; Orthman Mfg. is working together to study and educate the Ohio growers recent advances in Strip Till technology for row crop farming.  Ohio State University – Molly Caren Research Farm, Nate Douridas farm manager

 

Dr. John Fulton is heading up the OSU Ag Bioengineering departments efforts to study density of soils, planter ride characteristics, downforce on planters with the strip till approach vs the No-Till approach for part of their efforts.  They are looking at the efficiency of phosphorus and potassium dry fertility placement programs with strip tillage compared to surface broadcast in response to the Lake Erie concerns and getting to the message of deep placement as a best management practice across the state.

 

The University has developed an outreach program through their eFields Reports (Digital Ag Program) that are printed every year in late December and January.  They are determined to bring the best science and technology to the Ohio State farm system that Cooperative Extension Service has around the state.  Orthman and Salford teamed up with OSU to provide state-of-the-art equipment, accuracy of dry nutrients, best conservation tillage management with a great outreach program.

 

In conjunction with the H2O Ohio State funded program to aid growers across the northern region of Ohio to lower the phosphate contributions to Lake Erie, OSU will be putting research efforts with how growers utilize Strip-Til and in-soil placement of fertility.  Stay Tuned!!

 

The scientists have used the 1tRIPr in the spring prior to planting and also early fall operations to demonstrate as well as figure out which approach works well in the Ohio environment.

 

People to contact at OSU: Dr. John Fulton or Nate Douridas-Farm Manager at Molly Caren site, near London, OH.

 

 

Stay Tuned to on-going developments with Ohio State University.

 

 

Week of June 22-25, 2020

 

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The soybean trials at the Orthman-McNaugjht Research site. 6/30/2020

 

This year we joined forces with two local high school Vo-Ag programs to offer them opportunities as well as learn some specifics of field testing, agronomics, concepts of advanced fertilization in irrigated corn.  This week they collected from each of the 18 plots – two times since we are dividing the plots at the 450 foot line of 900 foot length plots due to splitting sidedress fertility quantities.  The young people did great and got a good taste of what we do as scientists looking to unlock the nuances of growing corn.

 

I will report those data sets and graphs of what was observed here shortly as well as write on our Blog page – stay tuned folks.

 

Last Day of June – It rained and we jumped for joy with an Inch of heavens dew falling.

 

 

Late June 2020

 

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Cultivating and Adding Nutrient Mix (SureFire Sentinel System to Accurately deliver nutrient mix)

 

We at the Orthman-McNaught Farm have cultivated and added fertility both times to spoon feed this crop so we can reach our goal (fingers crossed).  We cultivated then since this farm is furrow irrigated by Ogallala Aquifer water it was ditched with an Orthman 8375 Cultivator and ridging wings on the sweeps to develop a nice furrow for water to flow.  Our additional nutrients during these operations were combinations of N-K-S-Zn-B and a Boost product (simple carbon product) to kick these plants into high gear.

 

 

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