Growers consider cost-saving options
By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News
Growers representing a quarter of the tilled farmland in Larimer County
turned out for a strip-tilling demonstration in Wellington on May 9 to
ponder whether the farming method could save them money and keep their
topsoil from blowing away.
With prices for fuel, fertilizer and labor continually rising, the invitation
to look over the strip-tilling operation at the Seaworth farm on County
Road 70 appealed to the families responsible for about 10,000 acres of
tilled farmland in the county. Todd Boldt, district conservationist for
the Natural Resources Conservation Service called them the "Who's Who of
Agriculture" after surveying the crowd.
"Ag is under a lot of pressure these days with costs going up," Boldt said.
Troy Seaworth explained that his family has used strip-tilling in Nebraska
for several years, but used the equipment for the first time in Larimer
County this spring. They were surprised, but pleased, that Colorado soils
responded well to strip-tilling.
Boldt called strip-tilling "a notch below no-till," with the benefit of
soils warming earlier in the growing season.
The efficiency of strip-tilling reduces the number of trips through a field
and allows a person to farm more acres with less equipment, Seaworth said.
He estimated strip-tilling will cut fuel consumption by 55 percent, save
35 percent on fertilizer costs, and save 55 percent on labor.
Mike Petersen, an agronomist with Orthman Manufacturing, cautioned that
the benefits of strip-tilling go hand in hand with precision agriculture.
That means soil testing, plant tissue testing, integrated pest management,
crop rotation and GPS technology to get the fertilizer in the right place
in the rows.
American farmers are putting millions of tons of fertilizer on the ground
with conventional tilling, but much of it blows away or washes away, he
said. With strip-tilling, however, farmers can recover nitrogen by leaving
plant residue on the ground, Petersen said, in addition to using less fertilizer
with precise placement.
Petersen went on to cite many examples of increased yield over the years
with strip-tilling.
"We've got folks who will pay for a strip-till machine in one year," he
said.
Richard Seaworth said the farm purchased a used strip-tiller at auction
for $13,000, but new equipment would cost about $30,000. That assumes a
farm already has a tractor with GPS.
Boldt and others put the demonstration together after a spring of windy
days and blowing soil. "When dust is up in the air, we're losing 15 tons
of soil per acre," he said.
"When the wind was blowing 80 miles an hour, we weren't moving," Troy Seaworth
said of the strip-tilled fields.
Boldt said if a farmer decides to invest in strip-tilling, he should then
look into the federal Environmental Quality Incentive Program, which offers
incentive payments to implement conservation practices. July 3 is the next
deadline for applications to be evaluated for fiscal 2009. Larimer County
currently has 85 EQIP contracts, Boldt said.
Soil conservation technician Andy Piszkin made a DVD of the strip-tilling
demonstration. Copies are available by calling him at 295-5659.
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