The Belle Plaine Colony of Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan, is highly regarded as being a leader in cropping practices. Mr. Sam B. Tschetter is always searching for better farming techniques for his Colony. In the spring of 2005, Mr. Tschetter tested a dual knife, side-bander seeding system and compared it to a 5710 with Mid Row Banders®.
Mr. Tschetter stated that although the spring was very wet, only 5 inches (127 mm) of rain fell after the crop was seeded.
At the Regina Farm Progress Show, in June of 2005, Mr. Tschetter commented to Bourgault that it appeared that the dual knife system had got off to a faster start.
At harvest time, both fields were harvested with the grain yields being recorded on the combine monitors and double-checked by weighing the grain that came off each field.
In this side-by-side field comparison, the yield difference was 7 bushels more per acre in favor of the Bourgault Mid Row Bander® system over the side-banding system. This example supports that placement of nitrogen fertilizer mid row is optimum for uptake by the seed(ling).