The old, steady row-crop cultivator many farmers discarded years ago with the advent of Roundup Ready crops is experiencing 
something of a renaissance.
"There is a resurgence in row-crop cultivators," reports Rod Haarberg, of Orthman Manufacturing. "Over the last three to four years, we've seen new markets blossom back. And the ramp-up has been amplified in the past six months."
Short-line manufacturers like Orthman and Landoll stayed in the row-crop cultivator market, while most major manufacturers dropped out.
"Glyphosate allowed producers to park their cultivators," explains Kail Schoen, of Landoll. "We are getting calls from people with older units who want to update them or for parts. They are using cultivators to break the cycle of resistant weeds in corn and soybeans."
A trend to row-crop cultivation doesn't surprise Aaron Hager, University of Illinois weed scientist. "Ultimately, I think more people will move in that direction," he says. "I think for now, most growers are trying to use multiple chemical tactics and not rely on a single herbicide."
Hager expects the in-row cultivation trend to affect soybeans more than corn. "I think we will see more tillage in soybeans because we are running out of effective options [for weed control]," he adds.
The value of these resurrected row-crop cultivators is the ability to handle weed escapes between rows before resistant weeds produce seeds. Hager says getting those weeds early is important to keeping weeds like waterhemp and Palmer pigweed from becoming established and producing seed.
CULTIVATORS UPDATED
Similar to other farm equipment, new row-crop cultivators have evolved since they went out of vogue 15 years ago. The most obvious change is in size.
"Row-crop cultivators are much larger now," Orthman's Haarberg explains. "We have 12-, 16- and even 24-row models because farmers have higher horsepower tractors to pull them and larger farms to cover."
While cultivator row widths for corn and soybeans are 30 and 36 inches, manufacturers report some interest in narrower widths, although not yet enough to justify building them. However, Orthman does offer a 20-inch, high-speed cultivator marketed for specialty crops like sugar beets. Read Complete Article
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