For the first time, the Douglas County, Ill., Soil and Water Conservation District used the cross-slot technology to no-till soybeans in 2002. They have successfully used this New Zealand technology for several years with no-tilled corn.

“The no-till corn that was no-tilled with the cross-slot planter produced some of the best yields in the county,” says resource conservation Butch Fisher in Tuscola, Ill. “We were very happy with cross-slot in 2002, as it really did great. I still think it is among the best no-till planting systems to be found anywhere in the world.”

The district provided no-till planters and drills to over 60 farmers in Douglas and surrounding counties last year who no-tilled nearly 10,000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat. The equipment included a pair of 20-foot John Deere no-till drills, three 15-foot John Deere drills, two Kinze no-till planters and two additional 15-foot wide no-till drills that were rented during the spring planting season to keep up with the strong no-till equipment demand from farmers.

Fisher says the district recently replaced a 6- and 11-spilt-row Kinze planter with a 30-foot-wide CaseIH 5500 soybean special planter to meet future no-tilling needs. For more on the drill rental program or the cross-slot program, you can contact Fisher at (217) 253-2022 or e-mail him at deswed@net66.com.

OTHER NO-TILL NEWS...

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