No-Till Farmer readers have weighed in on the products that performed the best in their no-till operations, citing the Keeton Seed Firmer as the “2009 No-Till Product Of The Year.”
The Keeton Seed Firmer was voted the top no-till product in the Planter/Drill Attachments category and was among 11 finalists entered in the overall Product of the Year voting. Precision Planting, the manufacturers of the Keeton Seed Firmer, also captured a second award when its 20/20 SeedSense planter monitor system captured the most votes in the Precision Tools category.
Each of the manufacturers who won product categories were recognized before approximately 700 no-tillers at an awards ceremony during the 18th annual National No-Tillage Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday.
Following is a complete listing of award winners by category:
o No-Till Product of the Year: Keeton Seed Firmer, Precision Planting.
o Fertility: Agrotain, Agrotain International. Honorable Mention: Avail and NutriSphere-N, SFP.
o Fungicides: Headline, BASF. Honorable Mention: Quilt, Syngenta; Stratego, Bayer CropScience.
o Insect Protection: YieldGard VT Triple, Monsanto. Honorable Mention: Herculex, Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer; Warrior, Syngenta.
o No-Till Equipment: 3600 Twin-Line Planters, Kinze Mfg. Honorable Mention: Early Riser planters, Case IH; YP2425 Yield Pro planter, Great Plains Mfg.
o Planter/Drill Attachments: Keeton Seed Firmer, Precision Planting. Honorable Mention: Martin-Till WA1360 floating row cleaner, Martin Industries; 20/20 Airforce System, Precision Planting.
o Precision Tools: 20/20 SeedSense, Precision Planting. Honorable Mention: EZ-Guide 250 Lightbar System, Trimble Navigation; SmartBoom automatic boom system control, Raven Industries.
o Residue Management: Bt Crusher, Calmer Corn Heads. Honorable Mention: The Chaff Spreader, Spreader Inc.; 600C corn head, Deere.
o Seed Treatment: Poncho, Bayer CropScience. Honorable Mention: CruiserMaxx, Syngenta.
o Application Equipment: Patriot 3330 Sprayer, Case IH. Honorable Mention: 47/4830 sprayer, John Deere; RoGator sprayer, AGCO; Apache AS715 sprayer, Equipment Technologies.
o Strip-Till: Blu-Jet Strip-Till unit, Thurston Manufacturing. Honorable Mention: 2510S Strip-Till Residue Master, John Deere; Pluribus Strip-Till unit, Dawn Equipment.
o Weed Control: Roundup PowerMAX, Monsanto. Honorable Mention: LibertyLink with Ignite herbicide, Bayer CropScience; Touchdown herbicide, Syngenta; Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield, Monsanto.
“No-tillers are the most innovative growers you will find, and they are astute at identifying products that perform under challenging conditions,” says Darrell Bruggink, executive editor and publisher of No-Till Farmer and the Conservation Tillage Guide, the organizers of the National No-Tillage Conference. “It’s very significant that these products have been recognized by our knowledgeable readers as the best no-till performers of the past year.”
A call for nominations for the 2010 program, as well as voting, will be announced later this year, Bruggink says. The 2010 Product of the Year award winners will be announced during the 19th annual National No-Tillage Conference from Jan. 12-15, 2011, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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 dbruggink@lesspub.com.
