Kuhn's $850,000 Gladiator XL anchors strip-till wave at Farm Progress Show

Kuhn's Gladiator XL 1210, priced between $750,000 and $850,000 and rated at 16 tons of fertilizer capacity, heads a strip-till-heavy slate of tillage equipment launches at the 2026 Farm Progress Show. Manufacturers built the new lineup for farmers who want to balance soil conservation with strong yields, and the segment's biggest machine now sets the ceiling on what a commercial toolbar can do.

The Gladiator XL 1210 carries 24-row capability and stands as the largest commercial strip-till toolbar available. It demands serious horsepower — 650 hp minimum — which places it firmly in the large-operation category rather than the typical family farm.

What launched for mainstream strip-till acres?

Case IH entered the strip-till market directly with its Nutri-Tiller 1000 series. The line ships in mounted configurations ranging from 6 to 16 rows, a span that covers mid-sized and larger row-crop operations without the tractor requirements of Kuhn's flagship.

Kinze took a different route, partnering with tillage specialist Yetter to build the Falcon SF700 strip freshener. The unit targets pre-plant seedbed preparation specifically, a narrower job description than a full strip-till toolbar.

The takeaway: strip-till buyers now have entry points at multiple scales, from 6-row mounted units to 24-row, 650-hp flagships.

How far has autonomous tillage moved?

PTx Trimble expanded its OutRun autonomy system beyond grain carts into tillage operations. The system runs with John Deere 8R tractors and select Fendt models, handling spring and fall tillage plus land rolling. Operators monitor the work through a phone app, which marks a shift from dedicated cab time to remote supervision.

The move signals that autonomy is spreading from harvest-season tasks — where grain carts proved the concept — into pre-plant fieldwork where labor windows tighten each spring.

What changed in conventional tillage?

John Deere widened its High Speed Disk range with smaller models in 15- to 25-foot widths and extended autonomy-ready capability across more of the lineup. The smaller disks open the high-speed category to operations that found earlier sizes too large.

Great Plains released the VT1200 chisel plow, built with a floating hitch and aggressive finishing options for vertical tillage work. Norwood's Kwik-Koulter high-speed disc harrow runs 10 to 15 mph in sizes up to 60 feet wide, putting speed and width at the top of the segment.

Where does versatility fit?

Two launches targeted flexibility and logistics rather than raw capacity. Landoll's 2700 Vertistrip works as a shank, coulter or mole knife unit on the same toolbar, letting one machine serve multiple tillage strategies without a trade.

Great Plains addressed road transport with the BD7510 drill, which folds from 20 feet wide in the field to 8 or 9 feet for travel. The design answers a safety concern that has grown as urban sprawl pushes farm-to-field routes through heavier traffic.

The 2026 introductions show equipment makers competing on configuration breadth as much as size. Expect strip-till and autonomy options to widen further as manufacturers chase growers trying to cut passes, protect soil and hold input costs in check.