What’s your experience with strip-tilling soybeans? My strip-tilled soybeans yield as well as no-tilled soybeans. With equal yields and fewer trips requiring a big tractor, more farmers should consider strip-tilling.

—Pete Hill,

peter.r.hill@monsanto.com

When I no-till beans, I make two light-load trips spraying and one heavy-load trip drilling. I know how many bushels I need to produce to remain profitable. If I make more trips, my chances of gaining a profit go down. There’s not a large enough yield increase to justify the tillage.

—Joe

Instead of buying a specialized rig and a big horsepower tractor to pull it, take your no-till seeding equipment and plant cover crops during the off-season. When managed properly, cover crops improve the subsequent cash crop’s yields and profitability.

—Matt Hagny,

mhagny@midusa.net

Many farmers are looking for an excuse to keep a big horsepower tractor as a security blanket. You can work more acres in less time and with less horsepower under a properly managed no-till operation. It results in lower capital and fuel costs.

—Joe,

vermunt@hay.net

Several farmers use Paul Reed’s planter setup to no-till 30-inch beans. Convert your big horsepower tractor similar to Paul’s setup. The tractor pulls the largest no-till planter it can to keep the seeding speed down. It works as well in beans as it does in corn.

—Ed Winkle,

ffa@voyager.net

Soybeans aren’t as finicky in damp soils like corn. Strip-tilling corn results in better production.

Several growers use 12-row rigs with 185 horsepower tractors. The same rigs are used…