Posted on February, 22, 2018 at 09:48 am
Jeannine Otto AgriNews Publication
TREMONT, Ill. — The pictures of the wheat field might have had some of the farmers at the Precision Planting Winter Conference in Tremont, the heart of corn and soybean territory, wondering.
Is this the future of Precision Planting?
“We are really excited about SeederForce. It’s our entry into small grains,” said Bryce Baker, marketing lead for Precision Planting.
Baker and Cory Muhlbauer, a research and development agronomist for Precision Planting, unveiled SeederForce — an automated downforce system that is compatible with two lines of John Deere air seeders, the 60 series and the 90 series.
Precision dealers and customers connected remotely to the Winter Conference from locations including Dumont, Texas; Fargo, North Dakota; Lincoln, Nebraska; and London, Ontario, Canada.
Baker said he was excited about the prospects for improving on the air seeder.
“We believe there’s a lot more we can do to the air seeder. It’s a tool that really hasn’t been updated in technology in 30 years,” he said.
Muhlbauer presented the evidence for improving upon the seeder used by farmers of small grains.
“Our data shows an OEM air seeder can produce about 75 to 80 percent good downforce. This metric, which is also used on row crop planters, indicates when you have just the right amount of weight on your gauge wheels. Too little force and you plant shallow or on top of the ground. Too much force and you cause compaction and restrict root development,” he said.
The Right Spot
The research pointed out another unwelcome fact for farmers.
“In our research, most of the remaining 25 percent of the seeds end up as shallow seeds, often laying on top of the ground. This is obviously not where you want to place a seed, but you can’t fix what you can’t measure,” Muhlbauer said.
The SeederForce measures — and more.
“Just like on your row crop planter for the last decade, the same load sensor technology installed on your John Deere 60 series or 90 series drill takes downforce readings 200 times a second,” Muhlbauer said.
That information is communicated to single row models located across the drill, then the SRM compares the amount of weight on the gauge wheel to the downforce setting in the tractor cab.
Muhlbauer said the new system will help farmers deal with constantly-changing soil conditions.
“Soils, speed, moisture, residue and even tillage practices change all day, every day. Are you going to be too heavy, too light or just right? With SeederForce, the system adjusts on the fly so that, as those conditions change, you don’t have to guess,” he said.
Even better for growers, the system can be used with the John Deere 60 series or 90 series air seeders they may already own.
“You can monitor the seeding distribution to find problems and fix them the moment they happen,” Muhlbauer said.
Source: AgriNews