Stop Doing Recreational Tillage: Make Every Pass Count
Does tillage make money?
It sounds like a simple question, but the answer isn't necessarily yes or no. It depends on why you're making the pass in the first place.
The KUHN team joins Farm4Profit to talk about a shift happening across agriculture: moving away from what they call "recreational tillage" and toward calculated, specialized field passes designed to solve a specific agronomic problem.
Whether you're managing heavy residue, correcting compaction, preparing a seedbed or placing fertilizer, every trip across the field comes with a cost. Fuel, labor, equipment, depreciation and time all add up.
The question farmers should be asking is: What am I trying to accomplish, and will the result justify the cost?
Moving Beyond Recreational Tillage
For generations, tillage has been part of the normal rhythm of farming. But just because a field has always been worked a certain way doesn't necessarily mean that pass is still providing a return.
Modern tillage is becoming increasingly specialized.
Different tools can address different challenges, from residue management and compaction to seedbed preparation. Instead of simply working the ground because it's what you've always done, KUHN encourages farmers to identify the problem first and then choose the appropriate tool.
That means considering soil type, moisture, residue levels, compaction, fertility, equipment availability, labor and timing before deciding whether another pass makes sense.
The goal isn't more tillage or less tillage. It's purposeful tillage.
Precision Fertilizer Is More Than "Slinging It"
The conversation also challenges another common perception: that broadcast fertilizer application is simply "slinging fertilizer" across a field.
Today's precision spreaders are far more sophisticated.
Garrick explains how modern equipment can control drop points, spread patterns, application rates, section control and border spreading to help put fertilizer where it's intended to go.
KUHN's EMC system takes that precision another step.
The system measures torque on the spinner discs every second, allowing the machine to react to changing fertilizer flow, potential clogs and conditions that could otherwise cause over- or under-application.
Instead of assuming fertilizer is flowing correctly, the system continuously works to maintain the target application rate.
When fertilizer represents one of the largest expenses on the farm, improving placement and application accuracy can have a meaningful impact.
Can Strip-Till Make the Numbers Work?
Then the conversation turns to strip-till and KUHN's new 24-row 1210 Gladiator XL.
Strip-till offers farmers an opportunity to combine multiple objectives into a single system. Instead of performing full-width tillage across the field, farmers can prepare a targeted zone for the crop while potentially placing fertilizer directly where the developing root system can access it.
That can mean fewer passes, less soil disturbance and more concentrated nutrient placement.
But Farm4Profit always comes back to the same question:
Does it pay?
KUHN discusses trials where an approximately 8- to 10-bushel-per-acre yield increase, multiplied across enough acres, could potentially produce roughly a two-year equipment payback.
That's where evaluating equipment based only on its purchase price can miss part of the equation.
If a piece of equipment can eliminate another pass, improve fertilizer placement, increase yield or create other efficiencies, those benefits need to be included when calculating its potential return.
Could Better Placement Change Fertilizer Rates?
Targeted fertilizer placement also creates another interesting question.
If nutrients can be concentrated closer to the root zone, could farmers potentially achieve the same—or better—results while changing how much fertilizer they apply?
That doesn't mean immediately cutting fertilizer rates.
Instead, it means evaluating whether more precise placement could create opportunities to rethink a fertility program based on soil tests, crop needs, field conditions and actual results.
For farmers looking to improve margins, efficiency isn't always about spending less. Sometimes it's about getting more value from every dollar already being spent.
Know Why You're Making the Pass
There isn't one tillage system that's going to work for every farm.
Soil type matters.
Compaction matters.
Residue matters.
Fertility and pH matter.
Equipment, labor, weather and timeliness matter.
And management style matters.
The takeaway from this conversation isn't that farmers should till more, till less or immediately switch to strip-till.
It's much simpler:
Know why you're making the pass.
Every trip across the field should have a purpose. If you're burning fuel, putting hours on equipment and spending valuable time in the cab, understand what problem you're solving and whether solving that problem can generate enough value to justify the cost.
Because the best tillage system isn't necessarily the one your neighbor uses or the one you've always used.
It's the one that makes sense—and makes money—on your farm.
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