"Crop Shields" Double Or Triple Cultivation Speeds
“It breaks up the flow of dirt coming off a cultivator shovel, sending it to either side. Dirt is stopped from covering up plants so you can travel 2 or 3 times as fast through the field without damaging crops,” says Curt Forde of Profit Organics about his patent-pending new Flow-Shield – a seemingly simple idea that he thinks might be key to helping more farmers grow weed-free crops without chemicals
It consists of a square 6 by 6-in., 1/8-in. thick steel plate that bolts to any existing cultivator shank with a 2-bolt bracket, which allows it to be easily adjusted up or down for tall or short corn.
“I got the idea while cultivating a wet corn field,” says Forde. “Slabs of dirt were knocking over plants and it hit me that if I had a plate above the shovel, it would prevent the problem by busting up chunks and directing dirt back down to the surface. I made and tested one plate and then added them to all the shovels. I could hardly believe how fast I could go even in small corn or beans, allowing me to complete about 3 days worth of cultivating in only 1 day.”
If you’re cultivating small crops, you set the shovel depth shallow and simply adjust the shields as low as possible on the shanks. If you’re cultivating taller corn or beans, you set the shields approximately 1/2 the height of the crop.
“Basically, the faster you drive the better Flow-Shields perform because of the impact of dirt and weeds hitting the plates. This impact separates soil from weed roots and results in quick wilting and drying, killing the weeds,” says Forde.
Profit Organics sells Flow-Shields for $10 apiece. Two are used per row for 30 and 38-in. rows. Just one is needed per row in 12, 15 or 20-in. rows. Shipping is extra.
Forde runs Profit Organics, which is a membership-based research group of farmers which has been pioneering various new methods of crop production. In addition to the Flow-Shield, he has built an equidistant diagonal spacing planter. It plants corn in 12 in. rows spaced 12 in. apart in the row with a plant population of 43,560 per acre. They’re testing other row widths and plant populations as well.
In addition to the planter, he’s come up with a method to build a “rowless” cornhead. Starting with a 12-row 20-in. cornhead, he removed the dividing snouts and cut off the steel plates for mounting the snouts, exposing the gathering chains and sprockets. A small 6-in. wide divider was added, allowing the gathering chains to move the stalks into the snapping rolls.
Last year he used the home-built header to harvest 12-in. rows running in any direction across the field. He says there’s no need to spend money on a factory-built ultra-narrow row header when you can make your own with his relatively inexpensive modification.
“Our goal is to develop lower-cost methods to raise weed-free highly productive crops on smaller, medium-sized and large farms – both for farmers who want to minimize chemical use and for organic farmers. Flow-Shields are a critical part of this approach. I wouldn’t be afraid to take on a 10,000-acre farm with a 12-row cultivator. I could keep it weed-free because of the speeds you can travel with Flow-Shields installed. When you’re going fast through a field, it looks like a couple little snowplows on either side of the cultivator shovel.
“Markets for non-gmo crops are growing. We’re showing both organic and conventional farmers new ways to take advantage of these more lucrative markets,” says Forde.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Curt Forde, Profit Organics, P.O. Box 141, Viroqua, Wis. 54665 (ph 608 606-0810; www.profitorganics.com).
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Crop Shields Double Or Triple Cultivation Speeds CULTIVATORS “It breaks up the flow of dirt coming off a cultivator shovel sending it to either side Dirt is stopped from covering up plants so you can travel 2 or 3 times as fast through the field without damaging crops ” says Curt Forde of Profit Organics about his patent-pending new Flow-Shield – a seemingly simple idea that he thinks might be key to helping more farmers grow weed-free crops without chemicals It consists of a square 6 by 6-in 1/8-in thick steel plate that bolts to any existing cultivator shank with a 2-bolt bracket which allows it to be easily adjusted up or down for tall or short corn “I got the idea while cultivating a wet corn field ” says Forde “Slabs of dirt were knocking over plants and it hit me that if I had a plate above the shovel it would prevent the problem by busting up chunks and directing dirt back down to the surface I made and tested one plate and then added them to all the shovels I could hardly believe how fast I could go even in small corn or beans allowing me to complete about 3 days worth of cultivating in only 1 day ” If you’re cultivating small crops you set the shovel depth shallow and simply adjust the shields as low as possible on the shanks If you’re cultivating taller corn or beans you set the shields approximately 1/2 the height of the crop “Basically the faster you drive the better Flow-Shields perform because of the impact of dirt and weeds hitting the plates This impact separates soil from weed roots and results in quick wilting and drying killing the weeds ” says Forde Profit Organics sells Flow-Shields for $10 apiece Two are used per row for 30 and 38-in rows Just one is needed per row in 12 15 or 20-in rows Shipping is extra Forde runs Profit Organics which is a membership-based research group of farmers which has been pioneering various new methods of crop production In addition to the Flow-Shield he has built an equidistant diagonal spacing planter It plants corn in 12 in rows spaced 12 in apart in the row with a plant population of 43 560 per acre They’re testing other row widths and plant populations as well In addition to the planter he’s come up with a method to build a “rowless” cornhead Starting with a 12-row 20-in cornhead he removed the dividing snouts and cut off the steel plates for mounting the snouts exposing the gathering chains and sprockets A small 6-in wide divider was added allowing the gathering chains to move the stalks into the snapping rolls Last year he used the home-built header to harvest 12-in rows running in any direction across the field He says there’s no need to spend money on a factory-built ultra-narrow row header when you can make your own with his relatively inexpensive modification “Our goal is to develop lower-cost methods to raise weed-free highly productive crops on smaller medium-sized and large farms – both for farmers who want to minimize chemical use and for organic farmers Flow-Shields are a critical part of this approach I wouldn’t be afraid to take on a 10 000-acre farm with a 12-row cultivator I could keep it weed-free because of the speeds you can travel with Flow-Shields installed When you’re going fast through a field it looks like a couple little snowplows on either side of the cultivator shovel “Markets for non-gmo crops are growing We’re showing both organic and conventional farmers new ways to take advantage of these more lucrative markets ” says Forde Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Curt Forde Profit Organics P O Box 141 Viroqua Wis 54665 ph 608 606-0810; www profitorganics com
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