Exclusive unveiling of Deere’s new planter

[buckfarmer]

I'm in the three range on notill and under five on conventional. Clay soil makes it to hard to keep a planter in the ground consistently. As I pass through Longcreek's area I see a lot of rocks also. Not the type rocks a picker would help either.

[Longcreekfarms]

Buck has it right. I have more cows than I would like on account of some of this dirt is just too rough to farm. About 300 acres of my outfit is permanent pasture because of this.
Also, my old planter is a 900 8 row. It's heavy and goes in the ground when the green ones have to sit still. Being an air planter though, it's blowing the seed down the tubes rather than vacuum. I get better spacing and consistent depth with it if I don't bounce her too much.

[Shaggy98]

I see, I use a 8 row 1200, no rocks on my ground. I've had that back in pasture or CRP for several years. FWIW, we have about as much farm ground as we do grassland in this area. We couldn't farm some of it even if we wanted to.

[tree fmr]

We also run 5.5 mph , no-till operation.

[jling01]

I'm right around that 5 mph range too. Even with limited time most days I don't rush planting, Grandpa always taught me if you hurry in the spring you'll be able to tell in the fall.

As for the new JD planters, one of the BTO's around here talked like he is going to get to demo one this spring. Sounds like there will be an electric motor on each row and more gps technologies available.  And of course the SPEED, 8-10 mph planting speeds. He is calling it the "Talladega" planter LOL

[dmowitz]

Whoa . . .8 to 10 mph! I have little doubt that those Deere engineers could come up with a seed meter that can accurately dole out seed at that rate (consider that at that speed its shooting out seed like a machine gun). But what about field surface conditions. For example, in a fully tilled field row unit bounce wouldn't be so bad. But what about a mulch till field? What about no-till? Lots of bouncing around going on in those fields . . .and that could affect depth placement.

At the last major Deere planter introduction approximately 10 years ago (when they bought out the central commodity system, cable drive, air bags) a Deere engineer told me their meter was accurate at above 6 to 8 mph. Of course, he said that off the record. 

Knowing Deere the way I do (covering them for over 30 years) when they say their new row unit is accurate at 8 to 10 mph, well, you can make book on that. Look what they have done to the row heads on their combines engineering them to run at higher speeds and not lose heads or butt shell ears. 

The one thing I'm sure they will introduce will be advanced individual row control. Imagine being able to adjust seeding rate by the row. 

This is going to be game changer, I suspect.

Dave Mowitz

Successful Farming Magazine

[lbedord]

The Machinery Team has been researching the planter topic lately. Here are a couple of insights from the interviews we've conducted.

“Planter technology changed because companies focused on maximum utilization of seed genetics and gentle seed handling,” says Gary Hamilton, Agco Corporation. “What that means is accurate seed metering and accurate placement in the seed trench so a farmer can utilize those genetics to maximize the return on investment.”

What farmers expected from the planter also changed.

“Row shutoffs for overlap protection, down force for maintaining consistent seed depth, and singulation and seed space monitoring characterize today’s planter,” says Ag Leader’s Roger Zielke. “Planting expectations have changed from ‘just get the seed in the ground’ to ‘plant every seed correctly.’ Better stands and higher yields result.”

How have your expectations of the planter changed over the years?

[lbedord]

That's one of the predictions for the future. . . individual row control. . . there will be a computer on each row and it will optimize the seeding rate based on the application map for that area. 

It's also been suggested that a manufacturer will create individual modules so that if there are any defects in any given row, a farmer can just unplug it and plug in a new one and go. 

Laurie Bedord

Advanced Technology Editor

[Shaggy98]

Any idea of sizing availability? 8R all the way to 32R+ perhaps?

[Jessie_Scott_SF]

Unfortunately we won't know any of the specific details until February 12. So stay tuned!