2013 - Volume #37, Issue #6, Page #10
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Planter-Mounted Tillage Unit Reduces Compaction, Improves Yields
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“TrackTill is a patent-pending attachment for the planter frame that mounts behind the main frame wheels. Typically there are 4 sets of wheel tracks that these address,” Hurd says. “It’s the only product designed to do this specifically – eliminate soil compaction caused by the weight of the planter and tractor during planting.”
The weight can be considerable – as much as 25,000 lbs. on a centerfold planter if liquid fertilizer is being applied at the same time.
Hurd has been testing his vertical tillage tine attachment for a couple of years on different soil types in different states. The 9-in. tines (3 tines per hub) on a shaft enter the ground and force the soil underground to shatter. It replaces compacted tire marks on the surface with tine slits in a checkered pattern.
“It creates spaces in the ground that are porous and allow water to soak in. On hilly ground the pattern slows runoff,” Hurd explains.
Those same spaces aerate and allow corn roots to go deeper on the rows next to wheel tracks. Based on preliminary studies with Iowa State University, yield on those rows increased up to 8 bushels when TrackTill was used.
Final test results will be available by early November on the Agricultural Concepts website, Hurd says. He should also know what the cost for the units will be, though he wants to work with a few “progressive” farmers in 2014 for further field research before rolling out TrackTill in 2015 through Deere dealerships.
“My mission is to provide highly valuable products for growers,” Hurd says. He hopes to keep the prices low enough for farmers to see a 50 percent return in just the first season.
“I am looking for diversity, working with farmers who do no-till, strip-till, and conventional on all types of soil,” he says. He encourages people to contact him if they are interested in trying TrackTill next spring.
Right now testing is focused on corn and soybeans with Deere planters, but he plans to work with other models and possibly seed drills in the future.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Colin Hurd, Agriculture Concepts, 3101 Diamond St., Ames, Iowa 50010 (ph 515 520-1665; colin@agricultureconcepts.com; www.agricultureconcepts.com).
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