b'A farmer in Manitoba, who experimented with direct seeding and minimal tillage in a potato field, harvested a crop statistically on-par with his conventionally planted fields. BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONAN EXPERIMENT TO TRY out using direct seeding with minimal tillage for potato planting is being deemed a success after the crop harvested was statistically on-par with the other half of the field in a side-by-side comparison. I was very happy with how the trial went, we had a good quality crop come off, Chad Berry says in a phone interview. It did have a little less yield than the other side, and I think we attributed that to the dryness in the spring when we didnt get moisture on the seed piece.Last summer Berry experimented with direct seeding using minimal tillage for the second time in one of his potato fields. The previous year he had upgraded his seeding equipment to a SPUDNIK 8080 planter with hill shapers mounted on the back, which allowed him to plant potatoes using minimal tillage. A wet, cold fall forced him to abandon the field before harvest though. In the fall of 2019, he ripped a canola fieldPotatoes being collected on a five-foot tarp, from six rows harvested by the windrower at Under the Hill Farms with an eco-till sub-soiler with 1inch shanksfrom the minimal tillage field. at a depth of 15 inches. Then in the spring of 2020, he seeded 70 acres of the field with direct seeding, the fertilizer was broadcast on top and then the planter ran directly into it. The rest of the field was planted traditionally in order to allow for a comparison.He worked with his processor J.R. Simplot Company and Vikram Bisht with Manitoba Agri-culture to monitor the field throughout the growing season. In June, Simplot hosted a field day at Berrys farm, Under the Hill Farms near Cypress River, Man., for its other growers to learn more about Berrys experiment.At the time of the field day, the potato field was looking promising. The only difference between the two sides of the field which had been noted so far was that the conventionally planted side emerged a few days before the minimal tillage side.Towards the end, we found that there was noPotato harvester followed by a windrower at Under the Hill Farms from the minimal tillage field.difference in the crop growth and the production,PHOTO: VIKRAM BISHTWINTER 2021 SPUDSMART.COM 41'