From no-till attachments to spraying equipment to crop protection, no-tillers voted for the best-performing products.

A product that serves as a foundation for innovative no-tillers looking to reduce compaction and enhance soil tilth has taken the top prize as No-Till Product Of The Year for 2012.

No-Till Farmer readers selected Cover Crop Solutions’ Tillage Radish seed as the best product of 2012. The product finished first overall among 13 products that no-tillers had earlier deemed by their vote to be the best in their respective categories.

The product was also the top vote-getter in the inaugural category of cover-crop seed in No-Till Farmer’s annual program.

Manufacturers whose products were voted the best in 13 individual categories were recognized today in front of about 850 no-tillers attending a special luncheon awards ceremony at the 21st annual National No-Tillage Conference (www.notillconference.com) in Indianapolis, Ind. They were also recognized in the Winter 2013 issue of No-Till Farmer’s Conservation Tillage Guide.

Here is a list of 2012 award winners by individual category, along with honorable mentions:

• Fertility/Soil Amendments: Agrotain, Koch Agronomic Services. Honorable Mention: Avail, SFP; N-Serve, Dow.

• Fungicides: Headline AMP, BASF. Honorable Mention: Stratego YLD, Bayer CropScience; Quilt Xcel, Syngenta.

• Insect Protection: Genuity SmartStax, Monsanto. Honorable Mention: Warrior Insecticide, Syngenta.

• No-Till Planters/Drills: John Deere 1770 NT Planter. Honorable Mention: Yield-Pro Twin-Row Planter, Great Plains Mfg.

• Planter/Drill Attachments: Keeton Seed Firmer, Precision Planting. Honorable Mention: 1360 Floating Row Cleaner, Martin Industries; CleanSweep Row Cleaners, Precision Planting.

• Precision Tools: 20/20 SeedSense, Precision Planting. Honorable Mention: EZ-Guide 500, Trimble.

• Residue Management: Stalk Stompers, May Wes Mfg. Honorable Mention: BT Crusher/Chopper Stalk Rolls, Calmer Corn Heads; 5000 Stalk Devastator, Yetter Mfg.

• Seed Treatments: Poncho/Votivo, Bayer CropScience. Honorable Mention: CruiserMaxx Beans, Syngenta.

• Spraying Equipment: Apache 20 Series, Equipment Technologies. Honorable Mention: John Deere 4830; Miller Nitro.

• Strip-Till Equipment: Pluribus unit, Dawn Equipment Co. Honorable Mention: Soil Warrior, Environmental Tillage Systems; 1tRIPr, Orthman Mfg.

• Weed Control: Liberty herbicide, Bayer CropScience. Honorable Mention: Lexar, Syngenta; Sharpen and Status, BASF.

• Fertilizer Application Equipment: Totally Tubular starter fertilizer tubes, Totally Tubular. Honorable Mention: U-Trough Fertilizer System, FHR.

• Cover Crop Seed: Tillage Radish, Cover Crop Solutions. Honorable Mention: NitroRadish, Tilth Pro; AU Robin Crimson Clover, Cisco Seeds.

“The readers of No-Till Farmer are some of the most discerning, knowledgeable farmers in the industry, so these manufacturers should be proud that their products have been recognized for their strong performance,” says Darrell Bruggink, executive editor and publisher of No-Till Farmer.

A call for nominations for the 2013 program, as well as voting, will be announced later this year. The 2013 Product of the Year award winners will be announced during the 22nd annual National No-Tillage Conference from Jan. 15-18, 2014, in Springfield, Ill., and in the Winter 2014 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.