When organic corn and soybean farmer Jacob Leopold saw Old School Manufacturing’s new interrow row crop weed zapper on Facebook, he knew he wanted to try it out on his family’s organic farm in northwest Ohio. One phone call later, Leopold Family Farms, where Jacob farms with his father Jim and brother Jeremy, became one of the first farms to test the new weed electrocution unit.
Almost no weed left behind
1 of 6
Leopold operates the Digital Cultivator before planting to kill weeds. The Cultivator’s electrified applicators, bottom right, brush the ground and zap anything they touch.
Dense clusters of tall weeds can cause shielding, which results in uneven weed control, shown in this patch of lambsquarters.
The center soybean rows were treated with the Digital Cultivator.
The center soybean rows were not treated with the Digital Cultivator.
A shock-discharge weed electrocution unit zaps weeds above a soybean canopy.
Farmers look at Old School’s Digital Cultivator at the 2026 Ohio State Farm Science Review.
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