Oswald No-Till Farm Cleghorn, IA | Copied from Living History Farms
International Harvester. At the end of the decade, IH developed a new planter that wouldn't have a major impact until 40 years or so later. One of their engineers, named Russell R. Poynor, was trying to find a better way to conserve soil and moisture. He reasoned that leaving the residue of last year's crop on top of the soil would keep moisture from evaporating, keep the soil from blowing and provide some natural fertilizer. The problem was how to soften up the ground for the seed and how to cut through the residue to get the new seed in the soil.
He came up with what he called the McCormick M-21 Till Planter. The machine had a pair of 18-inch "sweeps" or plows at the front to break through the residue and break up the soil leaving the residue still around it. That was followed by a rotary hoe and fertilizing unit, a rear-mounted, two-row drill planter, a disc unit to cover the seeds and a press wheel to firm up the soil.
The problem was that idea was ahead of its time. Four decades later, no-till cultivation became popular. Herbicide technology had finally caught up with the planting technique. Leaving the residue on the field requires a way to kill off last year's crop and to suppress a broad spectrum of weeds in the new field. It took a while for the chemical technology to catch up with the planter and conservation technologies. |
Who invented Strip Till?
