SIDE BY SIDE COMPARISONS OF RIDGE-TILL WITH AND WITHOUT BANDED HERBICIDES SHOWED NO CORN YIELD DIFFERENCES IN ALL THREE LOCATIONS, CHART 7. THE PLOTS WITHOUT HERBICIDES SAVED AN AVERAGE OF $8.78 PER ACRE IN PRODUCTION COSTS. THE COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION ON THESE TRIALS WAS 2.90%.
THE THREE INDIVIDUAL LOCATION RESULTS ARE LISTED ON CHART 10. THE RIDGE-TILL WITH AND WITHOUT HERBICIDE SOYBEAN TRIALS WERE AT SIX LOCATIONS WITH FIVE TRIALS SHOWING NO YIELD DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WITH OR WITHOUT HERBICIDES.
THE AVERAGE YIELDS WERE 33.70 WITH HERBICIDES AND 32.44 BUSHELS PER ACRE WITHOUT HERBICIDES. THE HANKS TRIAL, CHART 11, HAD A SIGNIFICANT YIELD REDUCTION OF 5.23 BUSHELS PER ACRE WHERE NO HERBICIDES WERE USED. THESE BUSHELS AT $7.00 PER BUSHEL MORE THAN PAID FOR THE $24.03 PER ACRE HERBICIDE COST. AVERAGED OVER ALL SIX DEMONSTRATIONS, RIDGE-TILL WITHOUT HERBICIDES RESULTED IN A $3.06 PER ACRE MORE PROFIT. THE AVERAGE HERBICIDE SAVINGS ON THE CORN AND SOYBEAN PROJECTS TIMES IOWA’S ROW CROP ACRES COULD MEAN A 118.3 MILLION DOLLARS SAVINGS IN OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES, CHART 9. THE ENERGY USED TO PRODUCE THESE HERBICIDES FOR IOWA’S ACRES COULD BE REDUCED BY 18.6 GALLONS OF DIESEL FUEL. IT TAKES 1.08 GALLONS OF DIESEL FUEL TO PRODUCE EACH POUND OF ACTIVE INGREDIENT IN A HERBICIDE
WE CAN HAVE EQUAL YIELDS, SAVE MONEY, SAVE ENERGY AND KEEP THE GROUNDWATER FREE OF HERBICIDES.