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Hunco’s No-Till Setup: Real Talk on Planters, Upgrades & Strategy | Crop Chats

• Ian Virtue • Season 2 • Episode 1

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Join host Ian McDonald, Crop Innovation Specialist with OMAFRA, as he kicks off the Crop Chats: Seeding Equipment Series by visiting Hunco Farms in Ontario. In this episode, we sit down with Kevin, Jason, and Phil to talk through their planter and drill setup, how they approach no-till planting, and what they’ve learned through years of refining their system.

From hydraulic downforce and electric drive to residue management and planting green—this episode is packed with practical insights for any grower making equipment decisions.

🧑‍🌾 Guests: Kevin, Jason, and Phil from Hunco Farms
📍 Location: Ontario, Canada

 🛠️ Topics Covered:

  • Upgrading for no-till
  • Kinze planter features
  • Matching equipment across systems
  • Fertilizer strategies
  • Section control and electric drive
  • Lessons from planting green

🌱 Crop Chats is a podcast miniseries hosted on The Soil Network Podcast, where we dig into actionable tools and ideas to support innovation in Ontario agriculture.

🎥 Check out past video content from the Winning with No-Till Series here:
👉 ONFieldCrops YouTube

🌐 Learn more about our work and discover resources at:
 👉 OntarioSoil.net

Thanks for tuning in to the Soil Network Podcast!

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a fellow farmer or agri-curious friend. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a conversation about farming smarter, growing better, and building stronger communities.

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Let’s keep growing—together. See you next time!

1:

We were pulling these 210 vera plows and you just pull them four and a half mile an hour and it was so hard to pull. It was so compacted. I just think there's so many winds with no tail that simple way of farming.

2:

I just, I don't like beckoning rocks any more than anybody else does either. We're working out. That's just...

3:

It seems like such a needless thing.

2:

Hello and welcome to another session of Winning with No-Till. So we're here in Port Hope at Hunco Farms and we're going to get started and through a series of questions and have a conversation about how Hunco Farms has become quite a no-till enterprise. So I'm here with Jason and Kevin and one of you can talk about who's involved in the business and the other can talk about the history to the no-till business. Yeah, Jason, I've worked here for 25 years next year. Kevin, he's worked here for, I'm pushing 40 years. And then we have another guy, Phil, he's worked here for a year and a half. Kevin's brother helps us with the grain. and if we can find a guy to truck with us. My son helped this spring or sorry in the summertime with wheat running the boat So we do get a little bit of extra help, but most of the daily goings on is the three of us. How about where you started and where you are today in terms of your journey to...

1:

to know too. Well I guess we had a guy come to us in 1990 or '91 and he wanted to plant a So we planted 19 acres of a 60-acre field, and we could see something there. So the next spring, we rented a drill and planted 35 acres of oak. And that fall, we used that guy's drill again and planted it to wheat. That's never been touched, other than a little bit of fix-up stuff there. our first no-till drill in '93. 92 was so wet here as it was across a lot of the province. this part of the country. We had all the... and we had a whole bunch of sweet corn that never put cobs on it and we were growing vegetables at that time. We couldn't get any fall tillage done so we took a chance that we would try no-tilling in the spring, and it worked. Initially we were gonna just no-till our sand ground and always worked this heavier ground down here but it works so good. That's maybe the only good thing that came out in '92 was, we could work down. no-till. And who was this fellow that came with this idea? Was he another farmer or a business person? I think it was just us guys that worked here. There was other guys around the neighborhood that were doing a bit of no-till and. I thought this would really help us on this. we had an erosion problem everywhere here. We had the sand land, we worked it so much that we couldn't save any moisture, and stones, we had a lot of stone. those. We'd all pick stones if we were that was a job that was a...

2:

for somebody. So can one of you talk about the soil types and the slopes that you deal with here across the acreage?

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operate. I guess the majority of the soil down along the lake here is a Smithfield silt loam. and stuff to the north as a done. There is a bit of everything up there, there is gravel and largeâ

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white sand and so in this breakdown of soils across the acres that you farm what's important to manage those soils that no till has been a gift benefited you with well erosion problems on the on the problem areas. We do have a few spots where we grasp. waterway stuff to... you cannot farm because it will erode, even with no-till. Have you removed some grass waterways? We have. Because the no-till has prevented the water from running? Kate, can you talk about what crops are growing on the farm and the rotation that you use for those crops and how? to the no till system? Well we grow. and wheat in that rotation. that three rotation to the corn. wheat and then follow it after the wheat. Off we plant. crop in all the wheat fields. There is some fields that don't get that three-way rotation, but - Because of soil type? - Yeah, not really soil type. Like that field you have on there, for instance. the combine and the corn is just the way it slopes, it slopes to the, I guess you'd say to the north. And it will not grow wheat. So oftentimes people have a reason for being in no-till, and I guess just what is your reason for hunk of farms to be a no-till farm when you're still quite a minority

1:

Mindset that gives you guys that they courage to be no-tellers. Well, I think maybe we were poor conventional farmers This land especially this land down here if you worked it just a little bit Too wet you could see them marked Well, for years we were in that vegetable business growing peas and sweet corn and lima beans. They were always pushing. to get this stuff in so we we've seen the damage that can be. could do and... that they had this yield drag weave. We never had a yield drag. it just seemed to work for us. And Kevin, you said when you were starting into the no-till journey you were still in vegetables. growing some of the vegetables under no-tail? Combine, we harvested peas here. The best peas we ever combined the whole time I was with them was a no-tail-field peas. And what about the mindset, Jason? What's it take to have the...

2:

confidence to just do this. So it was all work ground. And when I first started here it was... I've thought they were crazy looking at like all the out once you got it. It's so easy to do. Okay. It just, you don't. Look at people that work ground and why. works so nice. Yep. Awesome. Let's talk about the cover crops a little bit.

3:

Bye to you, cover crop.

1:

moisture retention, weed control. [BLANK_AUDIO] He said, "You got everything good here. Other than this field... have been sprayed, it should be brown. For 20 years we made sure when we went into wheat stubble that it was brown and then 2015 we thought well let's try planting green and We got along fairly good at it. We've had to thin our cover crop out the first year we were but we... We just learn from other guys to think. But as long as there's something growing there, I think it's-- and it's holding the soil together, yeah. - And so that's really about the last 10 years, but you've been doing no-till for quite a bit longer than that. Have you seen a significant change in the status cover crops have become more a part of that no-deal system? On our sandier land, yes. It's... moved that like no-till stop. Most of the erosion up there, but we still had some erosion and the knowles and stuff never really got any better. But with cover crops it's evened them fields up a tremendous amount. The field right to the north where we're sitting here we left a strip in there in 2015. that we've never had cover crop on. And I wish we'd left that strip in a strip of our poorest ground to show the difference. ground and it's it hasn't hurt it's been a good learning experience like everybody said we would lose growing plant green and the last time we checked with corn we advantage on the green over the non cover crop. And what species are part of the mixer?

2:

evolved over the 10 years you've been using them? Yeah, I guess the first year we did, we have just brought... oats and peas right and then we've gone. multispecies mix now that we have changed, like added or subtracted some stuff, and rates have... on stuff to where we are now, which is oats, rye, peas. crimson clover, sunflowers, buckwheat.

1:

But there isn't very much any of that stuff. Understood. What's the total rate of the mixture seeded? It's about 50 to 60.

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15 pounds of oats, and then the rest as... about five pounds, so about 35 pounds at total to the bakery. - Does it change at all the recipe change as a function of whether you're in a really dry. or wet time when you're planting. No, no, okay. I guess we haven't really adjusted it. We it's something that we

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on one big batch. It just keeps it simple.

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get those individual ingredients in or do you buy-- mixture. We have been growing. own oats and rye. the other stuff and.

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and we put all that together.

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all in the grain buggy, from the grain buggy to a truck. grain buggy and then just in the wagons and that seems to mix it enough. Where in the system do cover... fit for hunk of arms. Like just after...

1:

You're trying to do anything after so he means most of that's going to wheat if we have enough rice seed we have spread it with our pot I fields of corn and we've had actually really good results with that. Never gets real high in the fall. Sometimes you never see it in the fall but it's there in the spring. The fields that we do that on are easier to keep clean when it's planted back to soybean. And when does termination happen or how does termination happen?

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wintering species there.

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we kill it after it's planted is ideal, right? - Yeah, that's ideal. We made a rule here a couple of years ago that if we put all our nitrogen on wheat and don't make a mark, we should soon start thinking about terminating it because it's robbing moisture. that's just gas, that's just gas work really. And have you had the some people talk about if they've sprayed it off too early and then they couldn't get planted and it got wet or something then it wasn't going to draw that moisture away. We've had it like last year we sprayed a little bit early and then we had a field right out in front of the elevator here we left and when Phil planted it he said that was the nicest field that he planted like anything that was green

3:

It just planted like planting in the cake. So It's interesting as I'm talking to the the no till team in the development of the crop chat series the number of people who Absolutely have no tillage on the farm and others that have some amount of tillage somewhere in the system So can you talk about in terms of hunko farms?

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Is there places on the farm where tillage has to happen? And if so, you know, why? that might wash or a spot that maybe got rutted up in the fall that you'd have to do something with in the spring. As a rule... all the tail-edge equipment gets. and parked in the yard and it doesn't move all spring. if possible. That's the goal. Yeah. Sure. There is always a few spots that need a touch up. Where are you guys in terms of the acres that you farm drained? Do you have tile drained pretty much everything? still doing child re. on some fields where that needs to be leveled. and stuff. Yeah, anywhere we... Most of this ground is tile.

1:

pretty well 100% tiled other than a couple little rented places that should be tiled. We've had them long enough we should have tiled them the first year we had them but I bet that

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been said a thousand times. But yes, we do, if you do tile, you obviously, you have to tidy it up, right? Now, one example was last summer in the field where we did the compaction event and you didn't get a very good take of the cover crops there. And after the event you did in,

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working that down a little bit. [JOHN]

2:

why the Kibber Krab is a great choice. there? I think it was just planted at too shallow. and we didn't have any moisture. So what in... do you use for tillage when you have to do that? I guess, a disc and an RTS, just to level it up. So let's go back to the no-till system and let's talk about what are the essential implements that Hunk of Farms has that make the no-till system work. And one thing I want you to address is like, how many tractors in that do you have? Because if you were tilling, you'd have to have significantly more tractors to be able to pull things and people to run everything. So let's talk about that a little bit.

1:

part of the farm and can you sort of see which ones are the most important? I guess we have two tractors at plant and a self-propelled sprayer which, them three things are very important and. Then we just have a... couple loader tractors for moving wagons around and pushing trees off. near the equipment here that there was when we worked all this ground. Yeah. Like what's the most important? Is the plan or the most important thing? Is this plan?

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important thing in making the.

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system work or they have equal value and they just have to be top-notch. I think all three things are equal value. You got to have each to make each work. corn and soybeans at the same time. time or do you get all the corn in and then switch? If conditions are perfect we will start one day on corn get it rolling and then yes the next day the soybeans are going Kevin's right behind with the sprayer and he's not long getting behind. Let's talk a little bit about the logistics. Is the logistics in no-till?

1:

can remember from the conventional days or things have changed so much. - Yeah, well the combine capacity has increased so much since our conventional tillage days. more trucks definitely to keep stuff away from the combines and yields have increased so much. That's not all due to no-till. It's genetics mainly. A lot of that stuff is, we used to get along with a tandem truck and we used our old tender trucks. plant to draw our crops and we could keep up to a combine with a little wee old grain buggy. And can you talk about the...

2:

reason why you have two combines, but you don't use two combines and both in all. Yeah, we use two for corn. two for soybeans and wheat and one in corn and then just alternate them to keep the hours kind of. relatively the same. Equip- er, um, trucks is another thing. Like to have- to run two combines in... You need so much infrastructure to keep everything moving. Where the way we run it now with a couple straight trucks and a set of hopper trailers. everything just keeps flowing. You're not. No... sitting very long if they are sitting. But yes, if you ran two in corn for sure, you'd need a lot more manpower and equipment. So two combines in wheat and soybeans versus one in corn. Acres per day.

1:

harvest it. Are you about equal or corn is slower but it's at a time of year you're not really worried about? Yeah, corn... slower, definitely slower. But like Jason says, if we just couldn't keep it away from them, we always, we had two combines for quite a while. We did a lot of custom work and then we quit doing custom work. So that's kind of, we got spoiled with having two combines.

2:

talk a little bit about because you bought a new planter this past year and the drill's got to be relatively new as well. In purchasing those units. Are they?

1:

different unit that you would have purchased if you were in conventional tilling.

2:

say so. You wouldn't need a no-till machine if you're not going to no-till. They're more robust planters. They have different stuff on them than you would have purchased for the...

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straight conventional. Yeah. And we talk about the key components of the system beyond the equipment. Like, one thing is is that residue management is a very important.

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got to be really important to talk about. Resuming. the back of the combine in wheat, soybeans and corn. that makes the system work when you go to plant. - Spreading is ideal. to do the best job you can spreading that. especially in a no-till. every couple years change the knives on the combines and... make on those choppers and make sure that they are sharp especially for planting wheat. like with soybeans you get those long stalks and they are cut and they are hard to cut through to plant and they don't really drive really well because of the cool damp evenings and stuff like that. and keeping the blades on the seed. in top-notch condition is is ideal.

1:

for cutting through that residue to get a good seed placement. Got to tap ourselves on the shoulder and remind ourselves that we could do another or at night when we're combing. We see it the next year in the wheat if you do that. So like these big combines now like you can grind a lot of stuff through them and but it shows in the straw. The residue is like Jason says it's so tough to plant through and we've we've we still do that once in a while you get a wet fall where you finally get a day you can combine and then you're out there pushing and the dew falls and you the herbicide on the wheat the next spring you can see exactly. But it saved us one more truckload of wheat to harvest. Can you talk about the off-season and what the equipment goes through?

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in terms of setup and maintenance in the shop. How important is that to making the whole no-till system work? Well it's very important. We bring each piece in. go over it and put on what pieces need to be put on to get that back to that top notch. And so compared to others do you think you're changing stuff you know more often to to keep it almost a new planter all the time? Maybe so I I don't know we just we have our our way we do it and other people have their way of doing stuff. Can we talk about the timing are you finding yourselves planting delays out tilling the same time that you're.

1:

and such like what other pieces of the puzzle. for you. I don't think we're any later than anybody else now. We have enough variation in soil types here that we can start on the lighter ground. We don't go up there as early as we used to, when we used to work it. We were up there mid April. and you thought it was dry, but it never really was. So...

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you just go when it's right. - And guys that work ground, they'll be out there working ground today so they can plant tomorrow, where we might be. Not doing that. later or something. But they've also spent a lot more money on tillage equipment, fuel, labor, wear and tear on the

1:

fertility management in your no-till system? Is that a different system than what you'd be doing in conventional? Well we do all our nitrogen is all goes through the sprayer mainly now and we do put some nitrogen with the corn planter through the starter fertilizer just to to carry it through that We still spread a lot of our potash. And Kevin, when does that happen? In the fall, we spread our potash. On what crop? Pretty well every acre. We do soil testing. not every acre, but we grid sample a lot of it. Then we cover all that ground and then we just put removal on the clays. What about in the soybeans? Like you are you putting both fertilizer and seed?

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soybeans and wheat when you're planting.

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fertilizer, any liquid fertilizer down with the soy. potash and a bit of sulphur bang and a little bit of map pre-plant. So not through the planter. Behind the combine, before I plant the wheat, is the best because anywhere they go, if I get ahead and plant and they come and spread the fertilizer after, anywhere them wheels drive, you can see that in the wheat. When you think about your no-till system and how other people would be sort of

1:

slow emergence, uneven crops, and then the whole aspect of soil compaction. So do you guys identify hurdles that you've had to overcome or has it just grown into itself? I think there's a hurdle every spring we plant and the guys at work grow. And you drive around in June and you think, man that looks good where they worked it. But you gotta just remember that nobody combines corn and up over them fields that are no-till, and they're nice and even. And some of the ones that are worked have waves on them. essentially is that people identify no-till fields early on as being tough looking, but they just have to look beyond. What about Jason's aspect of delayed planning, slow emergence?

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crops. Do you guys suffer with that? I don't think so. Maybe the fires as abandoned when they were years, I guess, if it's them guys that go out and think they're drying ground, right? I don't think there's too much. I don't know, an uneven is... could be a planner issue or a trash issue. with unevenness. So that comes back to Combine Setup and so on? Yeah, or just trying just getting that stuff cleaned out of the roll. One thing that surprised me in talking to no tillers is When you don't work ground you have good solid ground that Doesn't seem to be as susceptible to compaction seems to carry

1:

a lot more and yet... of you involved in notes. are quite conscious of making sure your equipment is...

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action friendly as possible. And so talk. about.

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your equipment is set up to.

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in terms of tire size, tire number. We run as big a tire as we can run. And as you can on stuff. There's always room for improvement of course. The grain buggy is probably the biggest compactor we have. We tried just to... to a small area of the field. So you know that that is your spot that's going to be compact. and you just, you know, that's where it's going to be. But the green boogie is definitely, is, you can see spots with it for sure. And when you say that...

3:

But Jason, are you saying you can see rots?

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or you can see spots in the field. next year when it's plan. even if you didn't see it.

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- Yeah, not so much ruts. you can just... the compaction will show in... up, especially on a path, right?

1:

If you're near the truck and you got a buggy full of herb. dump a corn or anything in the combine, dump it, don't take it to the other end of the field to get a bin. And it maybe takes a little more time to do that. And we don't always get that, you see the her out and you think oh let's go and come in the whole... and it's just for no need.

2:

and some of your fields are quite--

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taking a full load all the way back. That's a lot of it.

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geography being covered. And that's where like the grain buggy, like some of these fields are over a mile long. So on one side. you go all the way around that field to get it all opened up to get a path back to the truck. You've made two or three or four trips with the Grain Buggy in around. that outside to get there. So have you ever thought about...

3:

have field entrances at both ends of the field? We do have that a little bit and we do split fields to help with that. So when you consider all the aspects of your no-till system and recognize you've been in long enough it's hard to compare to the no-till system.

1:

you haven't been doing that, but are there places where you think no-till is costing you, that you're losing something that others might be gaining? I don't think so myself. You've got to be... as you are anybody else's, and I think most of... Honestly, that question's always in your mind. Are we losing something? to go. All them

2:

No, I agree. With the manpower we have, and... equipment we have to go back to full tillage and the terrain too. I just, I don't like pecking rocks anymore and anybody else does either. Or working ground. It just, it seems like such a needless thing to me. Because I did ask you the question when I was were planting the cover crops, Jason, as to whether you ever got bored in these big fields with the auto steer and stuff like that. Yeah, you need a good data plan. But again, like here's your twin row soybeans that evolved into just a beautiful stand of soybeans. Now granted, it's a beautiful year this year for crops and that.

1:

good weed control, excellent uniform crops. You got to be happy.

2:

Yeah. And we did that this year. run an RTK here for a few years and... We've always struggled planting soybeans between the corn rows. Whether the corn plant are just off a touch the year before, everything's got to be... - Perfect, and, sort of- inch you'd had very little room on each side of the cornrow. So if the corn planter was off or the bean planter was off, you'd have to go through a lot of this to get the right size. So if the corn right on the cornrow and you could see that. - Did you ever sort of do it at a 5% angle or something like that? angle to. But so we went to, that's why we went to Twin Seven and A Houghs this year, just to put those beans inside and it worked really nice. So you haven't had a combine through this system yet, but you're looking like you're pleased with what you're seeing. Yes. And this is the first field of corn that I was out with you when they planted with and what it looks like after that crop comes up. of people would be horrified by that much standing residue from the cover crop in that, but it doesn't seem to bother you guys at all. No, I like it. Okay, that's what you're looking for when you drive around, I'm gonna say. And there's a- The weed control is tremendous on that, with that cover on there. And that's always, again, as a guy that used to be a herbicide-lover.

1:

person. I'm always shocked at how good the weed control can be when you're putting all that spray on that residue that then has to wash off to get into the

3:

And it seems to work. And your wheat works really well, but you make mention of the fact that,

2:

you want to make sure that when you're in there with that drill, the residue is dry. Very little in the way of losing and it doesn't seem to be causing an accident.

3:

You know, who, what can we say? people about what are the wins? Why do you guys keep in no-till?

1:

and what could other people benefit from by?

2:

going into no-till. A lot of the points you have listed there. less time, less labor, soil health, erosion. - What do you see that makes you think that that's working better for you than the conventional people around? or like the tilth of the soil. fixed tile. It just, you just dig, it's just like butter. Okay. I'll shovel in the ground. easy, where like I imagine this ground, if you worked it. I was never here when they worked ground. It's always been a no-till, full tillage. But I would imagine some of this stuff could bake really tight and hard and... Yeah, you know, it's just, like he says.

1:

The ground, it's held together better, but it, it. then. Like it used to be when we plowed, I remember plowing and you could see the sparks at night. And it would roll over in the furrow. And that's tight to make that happen. Yeah. And it was hard. Like we were pulling these 210 for applause and. going four and a half mile an hour. And it was so hard to pull. It was so compacted. I don't know. I just think it, there's so many winds with no tail, that simple way of firemen.

3:

It's funny because I'll ask the question in the next thing about changing back. I had one of my young farmers say to me when I asked the question, "Tillage sounds complicated." And I just laughed. I thought, "Right on."

1:

talked about and the successful system that you've built here, is there anything that would take you back to conventional tillage? I don't think so, unless we lose means of weed control. That fears me that someday maybe we won't be able to spray. That would really hurt no till. And then considering everything that you've got working here on the farm. Are there any next steps or you've got it working and you're able to just carry on? Is there anything new on the horizon that you've seen that maybe that's something that you want to explore? We looked at a trash whipping unit this summer. Farmer East of here has. And that looks really interesting. That would, I think, would help in both situations. move some of that stuff. So is that Bill and Wes Hunnies? - Yes. - Tool, yeah. Lawrence Hogan and Steve Howard. in their bio strip till system as well and see it's very effective and really set you up for your twin row.

2:

between the corn.

1:

Mm hmm, talked.

2:

away from the beanrow. And it's not a tillage unit, it's two sets of row cleaners that just pushing

3:

the cornrows right okay

2:

that you might explore a little bit. - And it would give it a bit of air to help dry a little bit underneath that.

3:

Yes, there's a lot of math.

2:

Now we did buy a new corn header last year with the John Deere. version of the calmer rolls and that did help keep some of that trash a little bit tighter than the old the other header was was just the old snap like just the opposing knives. You'd rather have that chopped and on the ground than those corn stalks?

1:

in terms of the no-till system.

2:

different people. what they'd like to see after corn harvest. It doesn't really chow. It more... crimps it really tight, but it'll lay down on the ground and rot. A chopping head I don't... I guess we've talked about or discussed chopping heads and stuff, but we always felt that there was so much stuff.

1:

laying on the ground that it would make such a matter of stuff to try and dry out. And yeah, with these slopes and heavy rain to get now that a lot of that chop stuff might be all at one end of the field. Right. Understood. Okay. So again, part of this, the of the series is to give people that are looking to explore something a little bit more confidence in taking those first steps. So, any advice to others thinking about starting into exploring no-till? One thing is good drainage, yes. That's essential. And having your ground good and level and get some good advice from people. When we built our first no-till corn planter, we had but I'm glad we made that mistake. because it worked good. helped us. So I guess what I'm saying is do a really good job and... setting up your corn planter. a planter with no down pressure or a very poor emergence or seed on top of the ground. It just doesn't work. It'll sour you to carrying on.

2:

Like are there no tillers that can finish up enough that they could go and do something for somebody as opposed to try to do Start no tilling with your not really set up corn planter type of thing. Mm-hmm Very good, so that brings us to the end of this session and I just want to say thank you to you the three of you For here at uncle farms for letting me be with you the last couple of summers taking pictures and understanding how the operation works