Soil Warrior, a unique pull-type and one-pass tillage machine that provides the proven economic, agronomic and environmental benefits of strip-tillage – with deep zone tilling (with fertilizer) in the fall and superior planting zones (with fertilizer) in early spring – is now available from Environmental Tillage Systems (ETS), Faribault MN.
With the new ETS Soil Warrior, growers are able to “construct a total tillage zone,” which allows them to sequester more carbon, build up the soil’s organic matter, improve fertilizer efficiency, cover more acres faster and add dollars to the bottom line.
The machine works for both fall and spring tillage. In the fall, a unique “cog wheel” setup deep tills a zone 10" wide (8" to 12" deep) and applies nutrients while forming an even, elevated berm on the exposed strips and without disturbing soil and residue outside the zone. (Undisturbed residue controls erosion, provides food for microbial activity, sequesters carbon and enhances organic matter.) In the spring, the shallow tillage setup (featuring dual wavy coulters) forms a clean seedbed zone that’s aerated, warm, dry and mellow for planting timeliness, quick seed germination and strong early plant growth. Another added benefit – owners are able to start their tillage operations sooner and produce superior seed zones without smearing or shearing the soil structure.
In addition, the Soil Warrior enables growers to combine fertilizer placement with both tillage operations – saving labor, time, fuel and money and eliminating other unnecessary implements. Serrated containment coulters help incorporate fertilizer and residue within the tilled zones; they’re also adjustable to match berm height to soil conditions and expectations.
“This is probably the most comprehensive ‘total zone management tillage system’ in the industry today,” says Keith LaCanne, Marketing Director for ETS. “It eliminates many of the problems inherent with shank style strip-till units because it doesn’t shear and smear soil. It also doesn’t cause compaction, slabbing, or form erodible strips within your fields. Plus, it eliminates shank damage and the hassle of shanks constantly tripping when operating in tough conditions,” he added.
Soil Warrior row units are designed to handle tough zone building conditions – 
wet/damp soils, hard/dry soils, heavy corn-on-corn residue, heavy green residue, pasture, alfalfa, grain stubble, even hard-pack manure conditions. Heavy-duty air springs maintain on-the-go adjustable air down pressure to match field conditions. Tractor and Soil Warrior™ cart wheels drive on existing stalks or stubble to limit compaction; seed is never planted in the wheel track.
Extra options include dual-rate (dual product) hydraulic drive, Weightronix scale system, Dickey-John Land Manager II and Ag Leader Insight-ready control.
Environmental Tillage Systems is a leader in developing a comprehensive “systems approach” to row crop tillage and fertilizer management, with products that focus specifically on new advancements in zone tillage, conservation tillage, fertility management and enhancing natural biological activity in the soil. For more information, log onto soilwarrior.com.
Soil Warrior is a registered trademark of Environmental Tillage Systems, based in Faribault, MN.
(Note to the editor: Individual photos and animations of Soil Warrior are available upon request and can be provided electronically. Please contact Keith LaCanne at (507.332.2231) or Keith@soilwarrior.com, for requests.)