North Dakota State University Extension Service specialists are collaborating with the Lake Agassiz Regional Council, Cass County Soil Conservation District, and Farm and Ranch Guide on strip-till equipment demonstrations and educational programs on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon during the Big Iron Farm Show in West Fargo on Sept. 15-17.

Strip-till demonstrations will be conducted on corn stubble on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 15, with the research reports focusing on corn and soybean production. Wheat stubble will be used for the Wednesday field demonstrations, with the research focusing on strip-till sugar beet production.

John Nowatzki, NDSU Extension agricultural machine systems specialist, will display information on strip-till equipment and research from the northern Plains at the NDSU Extension Service educational booth in the Big Iron Agriculture Building during the three days of the Big Iron show.

The educational presentations will begin each day at 2:30 p.m. and the demonstrations at 3 p.m. North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana Extension specialists and researchers will present information on current strip-till research and equipment development during the educational programs preceding the demonstrations.

Robert Evans, research leader and agricultural engineer at the Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney, Mont., will share results from a four-year strip-till study on sugar beets following small grains.

Jodi DeJong-Hughes, University of Minnesota Extension regional educator in crops, will present information on results of strip-till research with corn and soybeans in Minnesota during the past three years.

David Franzen, NDSU Extension soil science specialist, will report on NDSU strip-till research with sugar beets in the Red River Valley areas of North Dakota and Minnesota.

Greg Endres, NDSU area cropping systems specialist, will discuss NDSU strip-till research conducted at the Carrington Research Extension Center with corn and soybeans.

Hal Weiser, agronomist at the Jamestown area Natural Resources Conservation Service office, will discuss NRCS cost-sharing opportunities for farmers instituting strip-till practices in their farming operations.

The trend among northern Plains farmers is toward using less tillage to produce field crops so more residue is left on the soil surface. Strip tillage is a system that combines no till and full tillage to produce row crops.

Narrow strips 6 to 12 inches wide are tilled into the crop stubble. The area between the rows is left undisturbed. Fertilizer often is injected into the tilled area during the strip-tilling operation. The tilled strips correspond to planter row widths of the next crop and seeds are planted into the tilled strips. Normally, strip tilling is done in the fall after the harvest, but it also can be done before planting in the spring.

Ten equipment manufacturers will operate their strip-till machines each day at the demonstration field just south of the Big Iron show area. Show personnel will have people movers available to transport attendees from the Big Iron show exhibit areas to the demonstration area.

Video clips of strip-till equipment in operation are available on the NDSU Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department Web site at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/conservation_tillage/striptill.htm.

NDSU Agriculture Communication