b"TO TILLFROM COAST-TO-COAST, Canadian potato growers are trying to reduce tillage to help their soil and lower operating costs on their farms. Reducing tillage on a potato farm isnt the easiest thing to do as traditionally potato growing has been a tillage heavy operation with multiple rips of the fields re-OR NOTquired throughout the year. Four farmers though have found ways to minimize their tillage and discussed it during a panel at the virtual Canadian Spud Congress on Feb. 25. Heres an overview of their work.TO TILL MATT RAMSAY, OYSTER COVE FARMS LTD. IN KENSINGTON, P.E.I.At Oyster Cove Farms, Matt Ramsay and his family have been practicing residue tillage for around 15 years. They use a chisel plow with some finishing capacity. Their regular pro-cess is to kill off the previous years forage crop in the fall using glyphosate. A Canadian growers arecover mix will then be spread with the chisel plow going through the field after. If they have time, fall ridging will be done, meaning they can come straight experimenting with ways toin with the planter and hiller in the spring. If fall ridging isnt done, they do reduce tillage on their farms.another pass with the chisel plow in the spring before planting. Every year we've kind of been pushing everything a little farther and BY: ASHLEY ROBINSON a little farther. And it seems like really, by and large, we just don't need as much tillage in many situations. I think we're seeing a benefit from that in the moisture economy of that season, Ramsay says.Oyster Cove Farms has a multitude of field types with some longer crop rotations happening through field swaps with livestock farmers in the area. On fields where there are only annual crops planted, and not forages, they can sometimes do just one pass and then plant into it. HOMER VANDER ZAAG, H. J. VANDER ZAAG FARMS LTD. IN ALLISTON, ONT.H. J. Vander Zaag Farms Ltd. operates on a two-year rotation. After combining in August they will do a pass over the field with the disk riper. Everything is then fall ridged with a custom built 10-row unit, variable rate fumigation, banding of potash and broadcasting of a rye cover crop, and deep zone tillage, all happen in these passes. The field is then sprayed with glyphosate at the end of October. In the spring, the custom-built unit is used to reridge, variable rate urea is broad-cast, phosphate and micros are banded, and calcium and dual are sprayed, all one pass. Potatoes are then planted in the field with the planter hilling at the same time.Spring tillage CHAD BERRY, UNDER THE HILL FARMS IN work being done at CYPRESS RIVER, MAN.H. J. Vander ZaagOn Chad Berrys farm they rip the fields in fall with a 30-inch Farms Ltd. ineco till ripper, followed by phosphate and potash being Alliston, Ont. PHOTO: HOMER broadcast over the field. In the spring in lighter soils, they VANDER ZAAG use a cultivator on the field, in heavier soils theyll use a deep tiller with eight-inch spacing and a two-inch spike to loosen the ground and then sometimes go over the field with a power harrow. The planters then go out to the fields and band phosphate during the passes. 28 SPUDSMART.COM SPRING 2021"