The Avatar 66-10 TD drill integrates a 66-foot, single-disc toolbar and an 870-bushel air cart into one combination unit.

“This product has been in evolution from our Avatar single-shoot line of single-disc air seeders,” says Jeremy Hughes, product manager for seeding and tillage equipment.

“We’re launching the Avatar TD, which is our double-shoot version.

“We’re using an 870 bu. carrying capacity of four different products on individual scale systems, combining that with a 66-foot toolbar on 10-inch row spacings, and using a 20-inch banding system for fertilizer application on double-shoot work.”

The toolbar uses a single row of disc openers that can deliver seed and a starter course of fertilizer into the furrow. The main fertilizer course is delivered ahead of them through mid-row banders.

Using a single row of disc openers rather than the more common shank style gives the Avatar 66-10 TD the advantage of being able to handle seeding speeds up to nine m.p.h., Hughes said.

“With shank openers, we find there is often a speed limit to it, and the only way you get more efficient is to go wider. The advantage of the single disc with our design is we have seeding speeds from the traditional four to five m.p.h. up to nine plus.

“So we can take a 66-foot machine and have the seeding power of a 70-, 80- or even a 90-foot (shank) machine.”

Another feature that sets the Avatar 66-10 TD apart from most other drills is that the toolbar is mounted directly to the back of the air cart.

“It makes the machine very compact,” Hughes says.

“It’s easy to get around, store and easy to manoeuvre in the field. The other thing we do is use the weight of the cart on the toolbar weight transfer system to stabilize the toolbar to get the openers in, in very tough conditions.”

The drill can supply up to 550 pounds of downforce on the openers. Hughes says that helps contribute to the drill’s ability to avoid stepping (placing seed at varying depths when travelling at higher speeds).

During field trials this year in North Dakota, the drill performed well at those higher speeds, he said.

The Avatar 66-10 TD is also equipped with section control.

“We have an eight-section, section control system,” he says.

“We were the industry first to use electric motors on meters, so we’re using that same technology combined with some different metering styles to get section control.”

The Avatar is only available in 66-foot working widths, although other widths may be produced in future. The drill will be in limited production in time for spring 2026.

The post Horsch introduces its Avatar 66-10 TD drill appeared first on Grainews.

Fair enough, because the Nexat is like no other conventional field machine. It’s an implement carrier designed to handle every field operation from seeding to harvesting and work in a controlled traffic plan to minimize soil compaction.

Grainews spent a day in the field near Elie, Man., with the first Nexat to come to Canada. Elie will be the location for the company’s first Canadian sales and service hub, where the company expects to begin selling the Nexat in time for the 2026 season.

The Nexat was planting soybeans as the machine begins its first full season of proving itself in a Canadian field, although a total of 18 prototypes are now already working in fields in Europe and South America. In all, field trials have been ongoing for about seven years.

“It’s the first spring for us in Canada,” Nexat’s founder and CEO Klemens Kalverkamp says. “We were seeding in the U.S. last year and since 2019 in Ukraine. So it’s the sixth year for planting and seeding.”

The Germany-based company builds the basic machine and has looked to specialist manufacturers to design and supply all the implements it uses to do field work, picking those companies whose implements Kalverkamp feels best suit agriculture on the continent where they’ll be used.

The exception to that is the combine attachment, which Nexat designed and built in-house.

“For the combine unit, there are no mid-size partners in ag tech,” Kalverkamp says. “In all the other products we are working together with mid-size innovative companies.”

Using those attachments designed by partner companies, the Nexat is able to completely replace a conventional tractor and combine. “The basic principle is you just need one machine to do all the jobs, seeding, planting, spraying, tillage and harvesting.”

Advantages

But Kalverkamp believes the Nexat does more than provide an alternative to traditional tractor and implement designs by offering advantages those machines can’t match.

By carrying the implement — and, in the case of the seed drill, the product tanks — draught and wheel slippage are reduced, improving fuel efficiency.

“We have less fuel consumption, less complexity,” Kalverkamp says. “At the end of the day it’s a simple machine, very service-friendly. Every service technician can change any part with a digital animation.”

The company provides that digital service information.

The simplicity comes from a dual-engine drive system, each powering an electrical generator that drives four electric motors on the track modules.

“All the (electric) motors are the same,” he says. “With modern tractors if you have a problem in the gearbox, it takes two days to fix it. To take out and replace an electrical motor is done in four hours. And it can be done by any average service technician.”

Each diesel engine is rated at 550 horsepower, but some operations, such as seeding or spraying, will only require running one of them. The combine attachment would need power from both, due to its higher demand for horsepower.

The current Nexat model uses two Leibherr diesels, which are popular in trucks and construction equipment in Europe. But the company expects to be able to offer North American buyers the option of replacing them with Cummins engines.

“We’re not just thinking about how we can make the tractor or combine better,” Kalverkamp says. “We’re thinking about how we can improve the whole process.”

Related: Check out the NEXAT All-in-One Crop Production System System Specifications

As he sees it, one of the biggest advantages the Nexat offers is its ability to allow farmers to improve soil conditions. Using a controlled traffic pattern with its tracks — or optional wheels — always following in the same path, roughly 95 per cent of the field surface remains untouched. That significantly reduces compaction problems.

“After 40 years of travelling around to farms all around the world, I recognized that there is one problem everywhere, and that is compaction. In the last five years I’ve thought a lot about the soil (and how to rejuvenate it).”

As the Nexat runs through the field, steering itself and guided by GPS, the cab can be pivoted to the rear. That allows the operator to observe the back of the machine and monitor implement operation from a perspective not available from a regular tractor cab.

Inside the cab, the sound level is remarkably low, because the engines are several feet away on the main body of the machine. The operator can move the cab through an arc of more than 180 degrees.

For roading, the tracks or wheels pivot 90 degrees, creating an overall travel width of just 12 feet — and it can hit a top speed of 40 km/h. To help back it into tight spaces, the Nexat can be controlled with a wireless remote control.

“It’s the first holistic, planned production system, we call it,” Kalverkamp says. “It’s not just a machine. It’s much more. With our technology we want to enable farmers to make more profit, have better soil condition with less erosion and putting C0₂ back into the ground. And we’ve proven we can do this.”

The K-Hart drill

Anyone whose been to a western Canadian farm show recently may have noticed the K-Hart Spyder seed drill on display. While arguably not yet a household name in the seeding sector compared to other brands, K-Hart is the partner chosen to supply the seed drill attachment for the Nexat in this country.

“In Canada we’re working together with K-Hart,” Kalverkamp says, “because K-Hart has openers with minimum soil disturbance at the surface. In a dry spring like this, it’s very important.”

The K-Hart drill design impressed Kalverkamp, who says he only wants to partner with shortlines that are innovative to develop attachments for the Nexat.

“We worked with Nexat to help bridge the gap between our current design and a design that fits on the Nexat unit,” says the director of engineering at K-Hart Industries, Erron Leafloor. “This is the second prototype. The first one ran in Europe last fall.”

The drill attaches to the Nexat with standard category 4 three-point hitch connections, for a straightforward attachment process.

“Probably most of the time is just hooking up air hoses,” Leafloor says. “At one single bank you have all the electrical and hydraulics connected.”

The K-Hart attachment uses the same double-disc opener found on the brand’s own Spyder drill.

“The core (opener) technology we use at K-Hart is through another partnership we have with Tony Gent out of the U.K.,” Leafloor says. “It’s a very unique concept of the double disc but at an angle so you don’t get sidewall compaction. That helps with root growth. The root can actually grow in both directions.”

Although the Nexat’s rigid frame spans the entire 45-foot working width of the drill, the openers get a total of nearly two feet of vertical travel to contour across irregular field surfaces.

“We have the openers on a traditional parallel link,” Leafloor says. “But on top of that, the entire frame is on a parallel link. With the smaller (frame) sections you can travel in and out of ditches. Each of these sections will travel an additional approximately 13 inches.

A front row of coulters delivers fertilizer in a mid-row banding style. It’s also possible to deliver a starter course into the trench with the seed.

Rather than pull an air cart, the product tanks ride above the drill, and the company expects to offer total comparable capacity to a conventional prairie drill setup to maintain seeding efficiency.

The product and seed storage bins and delivery system are provided by Vaderstad. The distribution system, meanwhile, is a K-Hart design.

Hitting the market

Kalverkamp says the company expects its initial sales will be to early adopters. A few of those have already contacted the company.

“We were looking for the best reference farmers,” he says. “A ‘reference farmer,’ in our way of thinking, is progressive, a first-mover. They’re using the latest technology to keep on the (cutting) edge of their business.

“Our business philosophy is long-term. We want to make customers happy. If they’re not, we’ll take back the machine.”

While the Nexat basically runs on its own at the moment, with little for the operator to do, the company expects to make the operator’s cab redundant within the next three years. It’s planning to introduce a fully autonomous version by 2028.

The Nexat was designed with full autonomy in mind right from the start, Kalverkamp says.

This November, at Agritechnica in Germany, the company will debut a 90-foot model, which may be available to Canadian buyers for next season.

The post Multi-tasking Nexat brings new machinery concept to field appeared first on Grainews.

“That’s where I come into the scene, with 16 years of accumulated knowledge at Aricks,” says John Deere drill specialist and technician Logan Wemyss. “I’m here to teach guys about their drills, what to look out for, and how to ideally operate the drill.”

Wemyss has come to Canada from Australia for the summer to work with Thunderstruck Ag Equipment at Winkler, Man. That business is the North American distributor for Aricks Australia, which is an engineering firm based in that country specializing in designing and building aftermarket parts for 60, 90 and Pro Series John Deere drills.

The company also has expertise in maintaining those drills for farmers in Australia, where growing conditions are often similar to those here on the Prairies.

VIDEO: Learn how to maintain your John Deere drill

“I’m here all summer, based out of Winkler, Manitoba. And I’m offering free drill inspections to anyone in the Winkler, Manitoba, area. What I’m doing is giving an honest evaluation of the condition of your drill. I’m teaching you what to look out for, and everything you need to know about that drill so you’re set up for success in the future.

“So far, we’ve had high engagement and people are loving it.

‘There’s a lot of drills out there, and when they run right, they’re the best planter out there. The problem is once they leave the showroom, that’s it. People don’t know how to look after them. People don’t know how the moving parts wear down. And people are really struggling with calibration.”

Wemyss was on hand at the Thunderstruck Ag Equipment booth at the Ag in Motion farm show at Langham, Sask. in July. He spoke with Grainews about the upgraded aftermarket components Aricks Australia offers in Canada through Thunderstruck in Winkler.

“All of our parts are designed for the harsh, dry Australian conditions. Guys need parts to last. So we’ve essentially looked at every component on the opener and said ‘How can we make this better? How can we make this heavy-duty? We need it to last longer.’ And that’s what we’ve done.”

One of the parts offered by Aricks is not just an upgrade, but an add-on feature that further improves opener performance: a leading residue clearing wheel.

“The first big ticket item that improves performance significantly is a residue manager,” he says. “The job of a residue manager is to eliminate hairpinning, one of the most common problems (disc) drills face in adverse conditions.

“You’re increasing seed-to-soil contact, which increases emergence rates and increases yield. It’s a win-win on all fronts. We’ve got guys back home that won’t run drills without them. The difference is they come out stock, with no residue manager.

“The residue manager deflects the residue in between the rows. It gives you a nice bit of soil for the drill to create the furrow and completely eliminates hairpinning. You need to drive at the ideal speed of six to eight miles an hour. Drive too fast and you’re going to throw the trash straight into the next row.”

For those openers following in the tractor tire tracks, Aricks offers a spacer ring to add compression to the spring, increasing downforce to better penetrate compacted soil.

A heavy-duty seed boot made of hardened steel makes it more resistant to wear. An available thicker cover plate and T handle also provide for a longer service life.

“It’s significantly thicker than OEM,” he says. “There’s nothing else like this out on the market. This is the thickest, heaviest cover plate. We’re seeing guys get 100,000 acres out of this, easily.”

Aricks also offers a a hardened main pin and bushing kit with a larger washer to eliminate side-to-side play in the opener arm. There is also a complete non-greasing pin and bushing kit, using hardened material that eliminates the need for any greasing on the openers.

“If you install these three components, you don’t have to crawl under your machine and grease it, ever,” he explains.

Wemyss also recommends upgrading to some other components offered by other manufacturers, such as the Copperhead Ag closing wheel, which uses a toothed design to more aggressively move soil to close the seed trench. The OEM version is a smooth wheel, which he says is much less efficient.

“It is essential to have a cruiser wheel with these teeth. Standard 90 Series come with a circular, smooth closer wheel and it just doesn’t do the job. In hard conditions it won’t close the furrow. They bounce. They’re not ideal. By having a heavy tooth wheel it allows us to purchase the soil and close that furrow effectively.”

Wemyss can be contacted by growers in the Winkler area to arrange for a free on-farm drill inspection through Thunderstruckag.com. That website also has a detailed listing of the upgraded components offered by Aricks Australia.

The post Is your John Deere drill working to peak efficiency? appeared first on Grainews.

John Deere drill specialist and technician Logan Wemyss of the engineering firm Aricks Australia is in Canada this summer working with Thunderstruck Ag Equipment of Winkler, Man. His mission? Helping owners of late model John Deere drills better understand how to maintain the openers on them.

His company also offers a range of specialty parts to upgrade disc openers on Deere drills through Thunderstruck Ag in Canada. Take a look!

The post VIDEO: Learn how to maintain your John Deere drill appeared first on Grainews.

First, the 3725QDA coulter drill makes its debut.

“The 3725 was kind of an extension of the 5 Series model, the 3335, when Bourgault went with the quick-adjust frame,” said Colin Rush, North American sales and marketing leader at Bourgault. “It allowed producers to change the seeding depth by moving shims on the frame, without going one-by-one on the openers.

“We took that exact same concept and decided it was time we had a quick-depth adjustable coulter drill.”

READ MORE: Bourgault becomes third shortliner acquired by Linamar since 2017

The result of that design change is the 3725QDA. It uses a hydraulic cylinder and shim assembly on each rear carrier wheel to set the seed depth. Adding or removing shims changes the angle of the frame, which results in seed depth change because of the unique geometry of the PLW (Paralink Walking) opener. The total range of seed depth change with the Quick Depth Adjust (QDA) is three-quarters of an inch.

“By adjusting shims across the back of the drill in a couple of minutes it allows you to switch crops. It’s a great innovative feature,” Rush said. “Each shim is an eighth of an inch. You raise the cylinders up and put shims in or take them out. Where the closing wheel is situated, it allows the opener to go deeper. One of the reasons producers up until now haven’t liked buying coulter drills is they haven’t been as easily adjustable as precision hoe drills.”

Rush said about 10 of the 3725QDA drills will be working in fields this season ahead of full production, and the company has had this adjustment system in field trials for a while.

“We’ve been in tests on it for the last couple of years to make sure it worked as well as our precision shank hoe openers do,” he said. “Model year 2025 will be the first full production year. They’ll be available for the spring of 2025.”

The first production year models of the 3725QDA drills will require manual depth adjustment, but eventually the brand’s AccuSet 2 adjustment system will be available on this model as well, which allows for remote depth setting.

XP Duo meter

Bourgault’s “air planter” 3820 coulter drill with PLR row units is a blending of seeder and planter technology into one single implement. It uses a meter to supply singulated seed to each row unit just like a planter. But the new XP Duo meter is now able to supply singulated seed to two row units at the same time.

That cuts the number of required meters in half and reduces the complexity of the air planter system.

“Several years ago we announced the whole air planter concept,” said Rush. “The XP meter with one meter per opening row was very much in tune with what the industry was providing on planters.

“Singulation in anything is a significant cost, adding the cost of a positive displacement or vacuum meter plus the bulk-fill system, and then the electrical and hydraulics required to run all those systems could be very significant.

“We just found we weren’t bringing enough value for the customers. We were able to look at the value and say what if each meter could do a single or double row of singulation. So it’s essentially half the meters but all the singulation; having two ejectors essentially cut our costs and complexity, as well as hydraulic and electrical requirements, in half. So this was the birth of the XP Duo meter.”

The new meters use positive pressure to deliver seed to the trench. The company says that system allows for accurate seed placement even with uneven soil surfaces or hilly terrain.

With XP Duo meters, the 3820 drills can be set to provide 7.5-, 15- and 30-inch row spacings to accommodate a wide range of crop types with just one machine.

The XP Duo meter will be available on the 3820 Paralink drill as well as the CD848, CD9120 and CD872 frame mounted seeders.

“For guys looking for singulation on things like soybeans but also want a drill to do winter wheat, cereals, cover crops on a narrow spacing, we can essentially lock up that rear rank on the coulter drill and have that 15-inch spacing for soybeans,” Rush says.

“If they want to do corn with that, each of those dual meters we can block off. There’s a plug that goes into one of those ejectors and now it’s on 30 inches. It’s really designed to be a very quick change. We think it’ll be a great concept.

“Essentially we’ve created a new machine class now with this XP Duo meter, the air planter and volumetric seeder on the same platform. As crops shift, we’re trying to be more futuristic to match what we think producers’ needs will be.”

The post Bourgault updates two product lines appeared first on Grainews.

“We’re trying to mix and trying to get the best of both worlds, which is a seed drill and a corn planter,” says Laurent Letzler, who manages Horsch Canada and attended Agritechnica in Germany.

The Solus 1047 SX was on display at the Horsch booth and many people looked closely at its unique design.

The goal is to provide the quality of singulation to small-seeded crops that is currently possible with corn and soybeans, and to plant them with the same precision, while maintaining the centre fill tank and the high-speed, high-volume planting possible with a drill.

“We are at a point where we have good placement with our seed drills, but we can go further,” Letzler says.

That includes dropping seed into the trench created by the double discs and double gauge wheels common with planters.

A challenge of getting planter equipment into a drill is having enough space to maintain narrow row widths required for canola or wheat. The Solus solves that by staggering the longer row units to get to either a nine- or 10-inch spacing.

“Because with a 10-inch spacing, imagine the potential. You do your cereals on 10, do your beans on 20 and your corn on 30. So it could be a one-machine-fits-all,” Letzler says.

A bank of tires runs across the front of the planter row units. The tires help carry the weight of the heavier row units, but also provide some smoothing of the seed bed in front of the row units.

“We also realize that the uniformity of the seeding depends a lot of the uniformity of the seed bed.”

Horsch officials point out that the unit is currently a concept, but it seeded 1,000 hectares of winter wheat this fall.

Self-propelled sprayer updates

Horsch has updated its Leeb sprayer, which is the company’s most popular product in Canada.

The sprayer with the front cab has more horsepower in its VL model and is now available in an 8.7-litre engine with either 460 or 400 horsepower.

The company is also selling a new Leeb VT model with adjustable track widths and 5,000- or 6,000-litre capacity.

The post Concept blurs line between planter, seed drill appeared first on Grainews.

First, there are a few new features and configurations for its Precision Air 5 series air carts and Flex Hoe 900 air drills. Included among those updates is a liquid fertilizer configuration.

The new liquid-ready tank includes a product lid and overflow line, three-foot bottom suction port, tank rinse nozzle and sight gauge.

The available list of seed roller options has also been expanded. Case IH claims the newly expanded range of rollers will now let growers “plant almost any seed at any rate.”

Added to the group will be the new sunflower roller that can meter oil-type sunflower seed. In addition, the fill system on the auxiliary tank has been redesigned, which Case IH says creates “faster, more intuitive and more uniform filling.”

“These updates help producers get the most of every plant’s potential through highly accurate fertilizer and seed placement,” said Trent Nowosad, Case IH seeding marketing manager. “Additional configurations and options add more versatility for a variety of crops and fertilizers.”

For those looking to cover more acres in a day, the new, larger 80-foot working width of the Flex Hoe 900 drill should handle that. It and all of the other drills in the series are now available with an expanded list of configurations and features, too. Among them are redesigned air packs that provide an improved path for seed and fertilizer.

For coping with those occasional wet springs, a high-floatation tire package with 340/60R15 radial implement tires improves floatation and reduces the risk of soil compaction.

On its air disc drills, Case IH is now offering the new AFS Furrow Command feature, which is available to order for the 2023 season.

AFS Furrow Command automates downforce settings of the air drill parallel link row units to provide consistent seed placement depth in changing field conditions by varying the hydraulic pressure, maintaining contact between the gauge wheel and the ground.

Operators receive instant feedback from AFS Furrow Command, which controls down pressure independently for each frame section. That feedback also allows operators to minimize the force required to maintain gauge wheel contact with the ground so component wear is reduced.

Planters

Case IH’s 2150 Early Riser planter line gets some updates as well, most notably a new liquid tank with more capacity and split bulk-fill tank scale option.

Liquid fertilizer capacity jumps from 400 to 540 gallons (1,703 to 1,892 litres) on all 12-, 16- and 24-row 2150 Early Riser models, so there is less need to add any tractor-mounted tanks to extend working time between fills. Some planter components get new mounting designs and there is improved hose routing.

The new split bulk-fill tank improves ease of access, according to the brand. It uses a larger fill hole and a lower tank height to improve rearward visibility for easier filling. Operators can easily see and monitor tanks using an in-cab display or via the Cab Control app.

The brand is also adding the 2110 Early Riser models to its planter lineup, which are designed for smaller operations and lower horsepower tractors. The 2110s are available in six- or eight-row configurations with 30-, 36-, 38- and 40-inch spacings.

The 2110 and 2150 planters are available for order now for delivery in the spring of 2024.

The post Updated seeding technology from Case IH appeared first on Grainews.

Swedish machinery manufacturer Väderstad believes singulation provided by its PowerShoot technology could be the solution that significantly improves canola establishment in Western Canada.

Canola Council of Canada (CCC) recommends a plant stand of five to eight plants per square foot. How those plants are spaced, though, makes all the difference. When seed is planted too close together the emerging plants compete for resources. Broadcasting seed onto the soil’s surface is unreliable as it can impact seed to soil contact and often leaves seed without adequate moisture. If incorporated, seeding depth is, more often than not, inconsistent.

Canola seed is also sensitive to seed-placed fertilizer, particularly nitrogen and sulphur. According to CCC, safe rates of seed-placed nitrogen may be as low as 10 pounds per acre. This, however, depends on row spacing, seed and fertilizer separation in the row, soil moisture conditions and soil type. In a nutshell, precision pays and singulation helps achieve this more accurately.

Väderstad believes its Tempo L-series planter could be a good solution.

There’s huge potential for improving canola establishment, says Clas Asknert, Väderstad area sales manager for Western Canada. “Instead of having a controlled spill of canola seeds in the row, we can actually singulate them,” he said.

Tempo L is a trailed high-speed, high-capacity planter, available with 8, 10, 12, 16, 18 or 24 row units. Its PowerShoot technology further ensures precision.

On traditional planters, where seed falls freely through the seed tube from the seed meter to the soil, vibration causes seed to bounce, which reduces accuracy as planter speed increases. Additionally, air drill metering systems release multiple seeds at a time, which creates further variability in the plant stand. And while air drill metering accuracy has improved, it is still not as accurate as planter singulation.

Tempo’s seed metering discs use pressurized air in the chamber to release one seed at a time, explains Kris Cherewyk, a Saskatchewan-based Väderstad agronomist. This same air pressure shoots the seed straight down the seed tube.

“Using pressurized air eliminates the gravity component where the seed can bounce off the sides of the tube and create placement variability,” he says. “A rubber stop wheel brings the seed to a halt firmly in the soil instead of bouncing off the sides of the seed trench, providing accurate placement in the row.”

Tempo’s seeding rate is calibrated in seeds per acre as opposed to air drills, which are calibrated in pounds per acre.

“The seeding rate conversation needs to be shifted away from what growers have traditionally referred to as their seeding rate, pounds per acre, to seeds and plants per square foot,” says Cherewyk.

“Determining seeding rate at pounds per acre depends greatly on a seed lot’s thousand kernel weight (TKW),” he adds. “When growers base their rate on a set pounds per acre, they open themselves to discrepancy in the actual amount of seeds being metered out as TKW can vary from one seed lot to another.”

In 2019 alone, Cherewyk saw TKW numbers vary anywhere from 4.0 grams to 6.9 grams. This is quite substantial, he says.

“For comparison, if a grower’s target seeding rate is six seeds per square foot, a seed lot of 4.5 grams TKW is 2.59 pounds per acre, while a seed lot of 6.5 grams TKW is 4.05 pounds per acre,” says Cherewyk. “Therefore, the idea of basing a seeding rate on a set pounds per acre is no longer relevant when discussing accurate plant stand.”

This shift in conversation should come as no surprise. BASF recently started selling canola seed by number of seeds per bag instead of pounds. Growers can now select between four different weights.

Another important factor to consider when determining a seeding rate, says Cherewyk, is seedling mortality. Typically, mortality rates when planting canola with a Tempo range from 15 to 25 per cent, he says.

“Growers do need to be mindful of the conditions they are seeding into. A lower canola plant stand further emphasizes the need for effective weed control, insect control, residue management and good fertility and soil health, which should be a priority on every farm as part of a sustainable agronomy plan,” says Cherewyk.

“Canola is a resilient plant, and given the space it requires, it will produce a bountiful crop to maximize the most return on investment possible.”

The post Väderstad makes canola seed singulation possible appeared first on Grainews.

Our farm uses a John Deere 1895 disk drill and 1910 commodity cart. A common machine on the Prairies. Most air seeder manufacturers make a disk drill. While all air seeders are different, they have similar principles of operation. No matter what brand of seeder you have, this article should help you make sure your implement is in tip-top shape come spring.

“Little things can cause big problems. Then you can have two or more things contribute to one problem and those problems are very difficult to troubleshoot,” said Werner Dueck, a solutions support specialist with Enns Brothers in Steinbach, Man., adding that when checking over an air seeder, it’s a good idea to follow the flow of product through the machine.

Start with the tank seals

At the very top of the commodity cart are the tank seals. Not only is the condition of the seals important, but proper tension on the tank lids is crucial to not under pressurize the tanks. Climbing down into the tanks, check the bin-level sensors making sure that the paddles operate freely and are free from debris and corrosion.

Farther down the ladder, it is important to check the agitation system. All the cotter pins need to be in place for the agitator to operate efficiently. On the way out of the tank, follow any wiring or air lines to the top and check for broken wire and pinched lines.

Check all the seals around the meter housings and tank transitions looking for dust paths where air may be escaping. Meter cut-off handles need to operate freely through their full range of motion. This is a commonly overlooked item and it is very important if you ever need to pull the meters from the housings with a tank full of product.

Take the meters out and inspect inside its housing, checking the foam seals and plastic isolator pieces that sit between the meter and the air manifold system. Both items are removable and often will have a build-up of dust around them.

“The scraper end of a snow brush is a great way to remove any residue that may have built up in this area,” said Dueck.

Before putting the meter back in place, make sure it is not all caked with residue from last season’s operation. Water and a little scrubbing take care of most fertilizer and seed-treatment deposits. Seed meters need to rotate freely. If not, it may be necessary to rebuild the meter. Check to make sure the meter brushes and wear strips are in good condition.

The meter can now slide back into the meter housing. Ensure that it locks into place easily. Now check the gap between the meter sensor and the sensor wheel. A gap of less than the thickness of a nickel and more than a dime should be right. On the other side of the meter housing, make sure the agitator drive arm is attached properly and set to the proper agitation speed. Meter clutches should also be checked to make sure they lock and unlock properly.

Wheel-speed sensors and tires

Wheel-speed sensors need to be checked and tires need to be properly inflated to ensure proper metering. Cart speed calibration can be done by matching wheel speed sensors on the air cart to known speeds on the tractor display. All chains and sprockets from the drive wheel and to the transmission shaft should be in good condition. Meter transmissions need to be full of oil. Make sure the wheel bearings on the cart operate silently and are properly adjusted.

With the case drain line connected, check the fan speed. Make sure that there are no hydraulic leaks and that it spools down properly after being turned off. The air stream plenum must be well sealed, and the plenum adjustment crank should operate freely.

Air tubes and hoses should be checked for signs of wear. All wiring and electrical connections should be clean and should make good contact. Check for any broken wiring. The belt on the loading conveyor should be properly tensioned and move easily.

On to the disk drill

Moving along to the disk drill, check all hose, hydraulic, electrical and mechanical connections between it and the air cart. Air hoses can become brittle in the sun over the years and will wear internally from product flow. All air hoses should be rotated one quarter turn every year to ensure even wear. Open the primary towers and inspect for any blockages or dirt build-up. Secondary airlines, if possible, should always be descending away from the distribution tower to the seed tube.

The seed tube should be securely fastened to the seed boot, which in turn should be snug against the disk. The disk should rotate freely and not have side-to-side play. Adjustments can be made to the seed boot for wear on the disk.

The gauge wheel should rotate freely and operate in very close relationship with the disk. Seed deflectors should be present and not worn. Seed firming and closing wheels should track properly with the disk, spin freely and be able to move up and down with little effort. Bushings on the opener should be checked to assure no side-to-side play. Dueck urges to pay close attention to openers running in the tractor tracks. They tend to wear out quicker than openers that run in the uncompacted soil.

Maintaining firm contact with the soil is important. Look for broken down-pressure springs and replace if necessary. Make sure the down pressure adjustment knob can turn freely. Look for any hydraulic leaks around all valves, hoses and cylinders.

The entire frame should be looked over to see if there are any cracks or broken bolts. Check tire pressure and wheel bearings. Make sure all the connection points between the tractor and drill are secure. Tie-up any hoses or wire around the connection points to keep them from getting pinched. Finally, make sure all hazard lights are present and working properly.

“It’s not a bad idea to have a qualified technician look things over,” said Dueck.

I would have to agree, having a second set of eyes checking things out is always helpful. At least every few years. Many shops have a slower period after seeding time and will sometimes offer specials on service inspections for air seeders and planters.

A second set of eyes is also useful when backing up to the air seeder for the first time in spring, often saving a few trips up and down the ladder of the tractor.

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That’s how Ken Coles and Lewis Baarda with the Lethbridge-based Farming Smarter applied research organization sum up results of several years of field trials comparing crops seeded with a Monosem precision planter versus a conventional air seeding system.

In 2019, early in the growing season, durum wheat, several pulses and canola crops seeded with a precision planter showed excellent or better stand establishment than those seeded with an air seeder. Some of the irrigated sites pulled through the year with minimal hail damage. But the dryland research plots and field scale acres were hard hit with both drought and hail.

“I am really excited about the potential of precision planters for seeding a wide range of crops,” says Coles, Farming Smarter general manager. “And a three-year project with canola under irrigation has shown a definite yield advantage from the precision planter.”

Even with a low seeding rate of 1.5 to 1.7 pounds per acre, Coles says canola yielded between 15 and 20 per cent more on precision planter plots, compared to air seeder plots. And while different row spacings were tried, the 12-inch spacing produced the best results.

“We have seen excellent stand establishments, but the weather hasn’t co-operated so we can get meaningful yield results,” says Coles. “Actually we’ve had three years of drought which makes it difficult to properly evaluate using the planter under dryland conditions.”

Farming Smarter has been looking at the potential of precision planters for grain, pulse and oilseed crops for several years. The interest began a decade ago as farmers faced with increasing canola seed costs wondered if they could obtain optimal yields at reduced seeding rates.

Farming Smarter’s three-year research project involved seeding canola at different rates with the two seeding systems in both irrigated and dryland research scale plots. With promising results from the small-plot work, Lewis Baarda, Farming Smarter research manager in 2019 took it to field-scale research to evaluate irrigated and dryland canola seeded with a 45-foot side Monosem precision planter compared to a conventional John Deere air seeding system.

“We really wanted to see how the precision planter system worked under field scale zero till farming conditions,” says Baarda. Fertilizer for crop seeded with the precision planter was applied in a separate operation prior to seeding.

The weather didn’t co-operate for the field-scale trials. The dryland acres sustained about 70 per cent loss from both hail and drought conditions; the irrigated sites sustained about 40 per cent yield loss.

“Canola seeded with the precision planter was looking very good at the lower seeding rates,” says Baarda.

In 2019, Farming Smarter also looked at using a precision planter for durum, peas, chickpeas, faba beans, lentils and soybeans. Those crops were seeded with the two seeding systems at different row spacings and both low and normal seeding rates.

Having more optimum growing-season conditions would have been better, say Coles and Baarda, but they were still encouraged. With virtually all crops seeded at conventional and low seeding rates, those seeded with the precision planter produced a more uniform stand establishment. Results from the 12-inch precision planter row spacing produced better results than 20-inch row spacing.

Coles wonders if the seed row spacing with a precision planter can be narrowed even more for improved seed bed utilization and more efficient use of inputs. He also wonders if seed drill manufacturers could develop hybrid air seeding/precision planter technology that could work through crop residue in a zero-till cropping system. With John Deere now owning the Monosem line, there may very well be some version in the development pipeline.

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