Aug 13, 2020

Fourth annual Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day goes virtual

The Midwest Mechanical Weed Control (MMWC) Field Day is the nation’s largest event devoted to weeding tools. This year, due to Covidian circumstances, the field day is taking a quantum leap forward and will move into a digital state.

MMWC Field Day organizer, Sam Hitchcock Tilton, and farmer-friend, Hans Bishop, will host a series of virtual mechanical weed control field days from Hans’ farm, PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta, Illinois.

Join the pair to see and discuss new and old weed control equipment, set-up and use in both row crops and vegetables.

Each virtual field day will take place at 12:30 p.m. to 1:15 pm and be streamed live on The Land Connection’s and Practical Farmers of Iowa’s Facebook pages.

Sept. 11 – Episode 1: Drone Wars

Watch the set-up of a camera-guided cultivator with finger weeders in corn and beans. See which field conditions need to be entered into the computer for a camera-guided cultivator as well as how the tools are calibrated for field conditions and run in crops.  We will also look at conventional front-mount cultivation.

Tools and tractors: Camera-guided cultivator with shovels and finger weeders; 12-row front mounted cultivator; IH 806

→ Eligible for 1 CEU – Crop Management

Sept. 18 – Episode 2: The Awakening

Watch preliminary Tool Set-up in the shop – starting with a bare toolbar, see the measurements and progression of adding parallelogram units and tools to exactly match a crop spacing. Then watch all of the preliminary adjustments that can be made more accurately in the shop so that by the time you arrive at the field your machine only needs limited adjusting.

Tools and tractors: parallel units; side-knives; cut-away discs; torsion weeders; finger weeders; diamond-bar and belly-mount options; Modified Allis-G; Saukville; Super C; IH 274

→ Eligible for 1 CEU – Crop Management

Sept. 25 — Episode 3:  The First Encounter

Learn about precision cultivation of direct-seeded vegetables. Once the weeding tool has been mounted and adjusted in the shop (episode 2) watch the first run in the field and see how results are judged and adjustments are made to correct issues in order to quickly achieve accurate weeding in direct-seeded crops.

Tools and tractors: parallel units; side-knives; cut-away discs; torsion weeders; finger weeders; belly-mount options; Modified Allis-G; Saukville; Super C; IH 274

→ Eligible for 1 CEU – Crop Management

Register here.