The growing practice of strip-till farming presents an opportunity for dealerships and their precision departments to establish authority and increase revenue. As the results of the 2022 Strip-Till Operational Practices Benchmark Study reveal, most strip-tillers are using and investing in precision.

Most of the respondents to the 2022 Strip-Till Benchmark Study farm in the U.S. About 63% farm in the Corn Belt, followed by about 21% in the Plains/West. About 44% of strip-tillers who took the 2022 survey are farming 1,000 acres or less.

Most surveyed strip-tillers are using RTK guidance for strip-till. About 76% of respondents indicated RTK is their primary type of GPS correction signal, a slight increase from the 74.6% reporting using RTK in 2021.

The most popular guidance brand among respondents is John Deere at 41.2%, followed by Trimble, Ag Leader and Case IH. More than 97% of this year’s survey respondents use at least one of these brands. DigiFarm rounds out the top 5 most popular guidance brands in 2022.

About 69% of strip-tillers do not use implement guidance, continuing an 8-year decline in usage. However, nearly 40% of this year’s survey respondents say they plan to buy implement guidance technology in the next year, a 4.5% increase compared to 2021 projections.

Variable-rate seeding (VRS) and variable-rate fertilizer application (VRA) technologies are higher on strip-tillers’ purchase wish lists. About 56% bought or planned to buy VRA products in 2022, and 50% bought or planned to buy VRS technology this year.

In 2021, 42.2% of strip-tillers used VRS for corn, while 52.2% did not. The remaining 5.6% didn’t use VRS for corn in 2021 but planned to in 2022. Approximately 34% of respondents said they used a variable rate when applying fertilizer with their strip-till rig in 2021, compared to about 28% in 2020. An additional 5% of strip-tillers plan to start using variable-rate application for fertilizer next year.

Other popular precision ag products planned for purchase in 2022 include ag data management service and support, drones, remote precision service and support, and irrigation/pivot control systems.

If you’d like deeper insights into the results of the Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study, join the editors of Ag Equipment Intelligence and Strip-Till Farmer July 28-29 in Iowa City at the 9th annual National Strip-Tillage Conference.

The National Strip-Tillage Conference offers a collaborative environment for farmers, ag equipment dealers and anybody else interested in learning about the growing strip-tillage market to come together to network, share successful strategies and solve common challenges. On the Record viewers can receive an exclusive $50 discount on their registration by entering code OTR at StripTillConference.com.

Additional insights are also available on the Strip-Till Farmer website.