For the second consecutive year, the readers of No-Till Farmer (www.No-TillFarmer.com) have voted the Keeton Seed Firmer the best product in their operations, making the no-till attachment the “2010 No-Till Product Of The Year.”

The Keeton Seed Firmer, manufactured by Precision Planting, was voted the top no-till product in the Planter/Drill Attachments category and was among 12 finalists entered in the overall Product of the Year voting.

Each of the manufacturers who were voted the top products in the 12 individual categories were recognized today before more than 800 no-tillers at a special luncheon awards ceremony during the 19th annual National No-Tillage Conference (www.notillconference.com) in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Following is a complete listing of the 2010 award winners by category, along with honorable mentions:

  • No-Till Product of the Year: Keeton Seed Firmer, Precision Planting.
  • Fertility: Agrotain, Agrotain International. Honorable Mention: Avail and NutriSphere-N, SFP; Gypsoil, Beneficial Reuse Management.
  • Fungicides: Headline, BASF. Honorable Mention: Quilt, Syngenta Crop Protection.
  • Insect Protection: Warrior insecticide, Syngenta. Honorable Mention: Herculex Xtra, Dow AgroSciences; Genuity VT Triple Pro, Monsanto.
  • No-Till Equipment: 1770NT Planter, John Deere & Co. Honorable Mention: 3600 Twin-Line with Air Seed Delivery, Kinze Mfg.
  • Planter/Drill Attachments: Keeton Seed Firmer, Precision Planting. Honorable Mention: CleanSweep row cleaner, Martin Industries; SharkTooth row cleaner, Yetter Mfg. Co.
  • Precision Tools: EZ-Guide 250 and 500 lightbar system, Trimble Navigation. Honorable Mention: 20/20 SeedSense, Precision Planting.
  • Residue Management: Bt Crusher, Calmer Corn Heads. Honorable Mention: The Chaff Spreader, Spreader Inc.
  • Seed Treatment: Poncho 500, Bayer CropScience. Honorable Mention: CruiserMaxx Beans, Syngenta.
  • Application Equipment: Apache AS715 sprayer, Equipment Technologies. Honorable Mention: 4730 sprayer, John Deere.
  • Strip-Till: Nutri-Tiller 5310, Case IH. Honorable Mention: Zone-Stripper, Unverferth; 2510S Strip-Till Residue Master, John Deere.
  • Weed Control: Kixor herbicide, BASF. Honorable Mention: Roundup PowerMax, Monsanto. Ignite herbicide, Bayer CropScience.
  • Vertical Tillage: Turbo-Till, Great Plains Mfg. Honorable Mention: True-Tandem 330 Turbo, Case IH.

“This is an impressive accomplishment for these companies’ products to be recognized as top performers by our readers,” says Darrell Bruggink, executive editor and publisher of No-Till Farmer. “No-tillers probably have the most critical eye when it comes to the performance of products, as they put them through challenging conditions. These manufacturers should be very proud to have received this recognition.”

A call for nominations for the 2011 program, as well as voting, will be announced later this year, Bruggink says. The 2011 Product of the Year award winners will be announced during the 20th annual National No-Tillage Conference from Jan. 11-14, 2012, in St. Louis, Mo., and in the Winter 2012 issue of No-Till Farmer’s Conservation Tillage Guide.

To learn more about the No-Till Product of the Year program or the National No-Tillage Conference, call Bruggink at (262) 782.4480, ext. 420, or e-mail him at dbruggink@lesspub.com. You can also learn more at www.No-TillFarmer.com.