Glacier FarmMedia — Back in late February, John Deere introduced its new line of C Series air carts at the Commodity Classic farm show in the U.S. In July, farmers here on the Prairies got one of their first looks at a new C Series cart at the Ag in Motion farm show near Langham, Sask.

The new lineup includes five leading and five trailing models, with capacities from 350 bushels to 650 with two, three or four tanks depending on the cart size.

At the top end, the line also includes the flagship model C850T, with 850-bushel capacity. It’s only available in a trailed configuration.

ON VIDEO: John Deere rolling out new air carts for 2025

“For 2025 we introduced the new C Series,” Deere’s go-to-market manager Anthony Styczinski says. “There’s lots of new technology throughout the lineup. The ordering program is open now. We had a limited production run for this year. We’ve had really good feedback from customers on those units.”

Carts get the new AccuRate metering system that uses stainless steel components to reduce corrosion and can handle up to eight meters per cart. Each metering section now has its own electric motor. That allows for improved sectional control.

“We’ve always had section control,” says Styczinski. “But that was the gate slamming shut. The meter would continue to roll. You could get some seed damage in there. Now, having electronically controlled meters, we’re able to stop them to avoid seed damage. There’s no grinding there.

“We have high-fidelity prescription. (With an 80-foot drill) in the past we’d have to run a prescription that was 80 feet wide. Now we can control that on a primary level. In this case you could run a 10-foot section instead of an 80-foot section. You could run a different prescription every 10 feet across that tool, which really allows you to manage your land better.”

To ensure the cart is feeding the exact rate of product to the openers, the C Series carts get some added features that make that task easier for the operator.

“We now have tank scales on all carts,” he adds. “In the past we could only get tank scales on the 650 and 850. Now all carts can have tank scales. That gives the customers the ability to have ActiveCal, the ability to calibrate from the cab throughout the day as conditions change. It allows them to adjust to ensure that rate is perfect throughout the day.”

And making the initial calibration is easier on the C Series as well, with Deere’s EZCal system.

“I think we all remember the days when you had to climb under the cart with a bag and a fish scale to weigh it,” says Styczinski. “This new system really does all that for you.

“It takes the material, runs it through and weighs it for you, gives you the NDV value, all from the cart side display. Then all you do is hit a check box and it send that number to the cab.”

Working through Deere’s Operations Center, prescriptions can be prepared well in advance and ready to transfer to the cart when it hits the field, saving time when seeding is in progress.

“You can do that all in the off-season with Work Planner,” he adds. “Send it to the tractor and when you show up to the field it’s as easy as hitting the Go button. The operator, tractor and cart know what rates should be put where and it all just works seamlessly.”

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“More capacity” was the big news from Vaderstad’s staff at their Seed Hawk seeding equipment display during Ag in Motion this past July. The centrepiece of the company’s exhibit was the introduction of a brand new PD 1350 air cart, with bushel capacity to match the model number.

“The PD 1350 is an extension of our already proven cart line,” Vaderstad’s business development manager Chris Bettschen says. “We already have a PD 400, PD 680, PD 820, PD 1000 and now the big brother to all of them, the PD 1350. It’s exactly what it sounds like, 1,350-bushel capacity, four bins, with our proven Fenix III meters underneath.”

VIDEO: Seed Hawk PD 1350 air cart a big deal

Included in those four bins is a larger canola tank mounted at the front, accessible from the forward catwalk.

“The canola bin on this one is actually quite large,” he adds. “It’s a 93-bushel bin, still at the front of the cart. But this way customers can use it for any product.”

The PD 1350 is the first Seed Hawk cart to include brakes on the rear axle, which isn’t surprising given its weight and the energy required to bring it to a stop when full. To carry that weight, the cart rides on dual wheels on both the front and rear axles.

“This cart, on the front, actually has lower ground pressure than the PD 1000, because of the duals,” Bettschen says. “There’s no track option and no other tire option. You get 900s on the back and 710s on the front.”

To get the extra capacity, the bins on the PD 1350 are wider than on the brand’s smaller tanks, but they don’t add anything to the overall road width of the cart at the outside of the tires.

“We’ve changed the orientation,” Bettschen says. “You’ll notice the bins are quite a bit wider than our originals. So we didn’t add height, we added width. But it’s contained within the tires, so road transport doesn’t change, but capacity got a lot larger.”

The Fenix III metering system can route the contents of any of the tanks into either the seed or fertilizer air streams, allowing growers to place starter fertilizer with the seed. And the electric meters provide individual control for each 10-foot drill section.

“It’s a double shoot system,” Bettschen says. “The carts are configurable. You can put everything down the seed knife, everything down the fertilizer knife or any combination in between.”

To get seed and fertilizer into the cart, an AGI conveyor is an option, which should be able to completely fill the cart within 30 minutes.

“The AGI conveyor is an option, which we developed along with them and made some tweaks to,” he says. “And their performance in 2024 has been excellent. On this cart, under the right conditions, you should be able to fill in under half an hour, start to stop.”

Seed Hawk continues to use the side-banding, dual-knife opener that has been a hallmark of the brand for decades.

“The Seed Hawk dual-knife opener was one of the original two-knife systems on the market,” Bettschen says. “Fertilizer in the front, seed in behind, nice and close to the packer tire for good depth control.

“We do have a few packer tire options, but our original leaves the cupped furrow you’re looking for to give excellent seed and fertilizer placement while maintaining separation. Dual beams on the opener give it structural strength as you’re moving across the field; whether you have rocks, curves or anything else you can throw at it, these openers will stand up.”

PD 1350 carts will be available in limited quantities for the 2025 season, with full production available for 2026.

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With more than a few Ultra SRs already out working in Prairie fields for the past several years, CEO Don Henry says growers have found no yield difference in cereal crop yields with that limited seedbed utilization.

“Narrow spacing (in cereals) has traditionally been better, and research has shown it to be better,” Henry says. “But that’s old data. Whether it’s because varieties have changed or gotten better, I don’t know.

“We’ve had number of these (Ultra SRs) out since 2020 and the guys that have them have said, ‘You know what, we’re not seeing any disadvantage in the cereals.’ We’re seeing it’s working very well. Not only in canola and pulses, but in wheat.”

The unique Ultra SR toolbar uses a single rank of openers separated by residue managing wheels to keep the drill from plugging up in heavy trash conditions. It debuted at the same time SeedMaster pulled the wraps off its autonomous DOT prototype, which was fitted with that type of toolbar. However, the Ultra SR has also been also offered as a toolbar option on its own. To accommodate the single row of openers it needs that 15-inch row spacing.

“The 15-inch SR is kind of a revolutionary product, being the only single rank out there with a system for helping pull the residue through it,” says Henry. “It has only been offered on 15-inch spacing.

“Guys will say, ‘Yeah, that would be great for canola and pulses, because it would help with disease, spraying and fungicide. But in cereals, I don’t know.'”

That general attitude has been a barrier to increasing sales of the Ultra SR.

So to help convince potential buyers that the Ultra SR with its wider row spacing can plant a wheat crop that will yield as good as any other, the company is offering a unique incentive. SeedMaster is calling it the Ultra wheat yield guarantee for western Canadian growers seeding wheat using a 2025 Ultra SR.

Growers can participate in the guarantee program by setting aside a quarter section of land (160 acres), seeding half with the new Ultra SR drill and the other half with another drill of their choice. If the wheat yield per acre on the Ultra SR-seeded side is less than the other half at harvest time, SeedMaster will pay the grower for the yield shortfall difference.

“How do we prove to people that it works,” says Henry. “We came up with this idea. It’s pretty gutsy, but I think it gives a representative sample to someone who wants to experiment and try it. We think side-to-side it will do fine.”

The offer applies to the first year of drill ownership. The Ultra SR can be pitted against a drill of any brand applying the same nutrients, seeding a crop treated the same way through the season. SeedMaster will send out a representative to monitor the seeding and harvesting operations to ensure it’s a fair comparison.

As one other added incentive, because of the more compact design of the single-row Ultra SR, it has a lower sticker price than a conventional multi-row toolbar.

“It is a bit less expensive, so that’s been a positive as well,” says Henry. “There’s 750-bushel tank capacity. We’re using the UltraPro meter, so it’s really accurate from a metering perspective.

“They (owners) love the compact nature and maneuverability of it, and the ability to go a little bit faster, because you’re not worried about (soil) thrown on the front two rows. The guys that have them love them.”

The offer is in place until the end of February for the 2025 growing season.

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The company has embarked on a $10 million expansion project by acquiring a five-acre lot and 6,000-square foot building adjacent to its existing plant. It plans to erect a second 6,000-square foot building on the new property as well.

“It adds five more acres to our lot in Emerald Park, so we’re up to 22 acres of ground with more buildings and room for expansion,” says SeedMaster CEO Don Henry. “We’ll have about 12,000 square feet of additional (floor) space.”

Those facilities will house a new laser cutting system and an automated paint line along with more welding space.

The added buildings and yard area will also allow the company to eventually increase manufacturing output when needed to meet expected future sales growth.

To help spur that future farmer demand, Henry says the company is preparing to pull the wraps off some new products at the Ag in Motion farm show near Langham, Sask. in mid-July.

Those will include the new Ultra Pro 3 (UP3) on-frame tank system, the new E Series Air Cart, and a new single-knife air drill.

“We’ve got a number of new products we’re going to be bringing to the market, both from a drill, an opener standpoint, and a cart standpoint that we’ll have on display at AiM,” Henry says.

Watch this site for more information on exhibits and features at Ag in Motion.

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Last month at the National Farm Machinery Show, Bourgault Industries introduced its latest offering to the seeding and planting market: the XP Duo Meter. The latest development from the Saskatchewan-based ag equipment brand uses one meter housing to control seed to two individual rows (though operators can deliver to just one row if they choose).

Bourgault says the new design reduces complexity and cost by essentially cutting the number of meters and all their related attachments needed to operate them in half. 

“What makes this really neat is that this wasn’t just done for one crop,” says Colin Rush, North American Sales and Marketing Leader for Bourgault. “We did a lot of work with soybeans, canola, sunflowers … this is actually a quad plate where we can do essentially four rows of soybeans where two go down one row and two go down the other row.”

The XP Duo Meter units are available for Bourgault’s 3820 coulter drill platforms and 30 to 40-foot frame-mounted seeding systems and can be ordered now for the spring 2025 planting season.

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Andrew Kippen, manager of North Valley Precision Planting at Homewood in south-central Manitoba east of Carman, has been busy these days testing planter metering systems for accuracy.

“You can only put the seed in the ground once, so let’s do it right and give that seed the best possible chance to grow,” says Kippen. “Mistakes can happen all year but let’s not start with putting the seeds in the ground wrong.”

Kippen also encourages producers if they are not using seed firmers to consider having them installed on their planters, and if the firmers are in use then check them for wear and tear.

Kippen, who has worked as a Red Seal agricultural equipment technician for Manitoba dealers for the past 18 years including eight and a half years as a service manager, joined North Valley last fall. “It was an opportunity just to focus on precision planters,” says Kippen, who lives in Elm Creek, just west of Winnipeg. He was born and raised on a family farm, later attending Assiniboine Community College in Brandon to become an ag technician.

While farmers are familiar with the importance of having seed metering systems tested for accuracy, Kippen ramped things up by introducing a mobile meter testing service to farmers across Manitoba and into Saskatchewan.

With a meter testing stand and all necessary tools contained in a trailer, he can bring the testing and inspection services to your farm.

“I bring the meter test stand to the farm shop,” he says. “We run the meters and watch for singulation percentages. It may be 98 per cent or higher, or lower. For example, we can go through the meter, try to fine-tune why it is lower than it is supposed to be and try to increase percentages.”

Kippen can test and calibrate all types of seed metering systems whether it be OEM factory installed, or aftermarket brands, including mechanical (finger pickup) or pneumatic (vacuum or pressure) systems. He is most familiar with John Deere planters but is happy to work on any make and model.

“I put the seed meter on the test stand and it simulates the way seed is metered, just as if it was on the planter out in the field,” he says. “It is nice to confirm that, yes, the meter is working at 99.8 per cent or better accuracy, but also good to know, too, that it’s operating at 98 per cent or less accuracy and needs some adjustments.”

Depending on how many acres the metering system has been used to plant, parts can get warn reducing its accuracy. If the metering test is less than perfect, Kippen can take the meter apart and look for any wear, “or maybe it just needs a small adjustment to the vacuum or brushes,” he says.

It is also important to ensure the meter system is delivering the proper distribution or singulation of seed. With corn, for example, the metering system might show the planter is seeding 32,000 seeds per acre, but what was the spacing? He says sometimes seeds can double up. “You do get 32,000 seeds per acre but how many of those are doubles or skips?”

If it appears that distribution is off, it may mean that brushes or seals need to be maintained. The process provides peace of mind that seeds are being placed the way they were intended.

Improving seed-to-soil contact

Kippen also encourages producers to outfit planters with seed firmer attachments, or if they are using them, to check them for wear and replace as necessary.

The seed firmers can be an original factory installed feature, or there are several different makes of seed firmers that can be added aftermarket to each seed run on a planter. It is a moulded plastic or polymer-type strip of material that attaches behind the seed tube, which applies a few ounces of pressure to the soil and is intended to make sure as seeds drop they reach the bottom of the seed furrow and stay there.

“As farmers are seeding crops, seeds are dropping about 18 inches from the seed tube to the seed furrow,” says Kippen. “Sometimes the seeds bounce, and if you’re aiming for seeds to be one and a half inches deep, some might be sitting on the edge of the furrow only one-half inch deep. The seed firmer follows along and is intended to push those seeds down into the bottom of the furrow.” Then the packer and closer wheels come along and finish the job.

There are two basic types of seed firmers — the standard type that can be used in most soils or perhaps drier (sandier) seeding conditions and the low-stick type, which are made of a different non-stick, polymer-type material used in wet or tacky (clay) soils that would typically stick to the side of a seed firmer. The seed firmers can also be used with liquid fertilizer tubes for the same purpose — as fertilizer is applied, the firmer makes sure the wetted soil is pushed down into the seed furrow.

“The seed firmers help ensure proper placement of seed,” says Kippen. “If you’re attempting to put seed into moist soil, if it is sitting too high it may be away from moisture and be slower to germinate. Or, on the opposite end, those seeds could germinate sooner than the deeper seeds. It helps to ensure proper seed placement and more even germination and emergence.”

On the maintenance side, Kippen says the seed firmers do wear and need to be replaced. “It depends on how many acres a farmer is seeding,” he says. “They are making contact with the soil so the bottom of the seed firmer is wearing off, but it makes a difference on the type of soil and whether a farmer is seeding 1,000 acres or 4,000 acres per year.”

He says the firmers need to be checked to ensure they still have the firmness or rigidity to apply the pressure that is needed. Most makes of the low-stick seed firmers actually have a wear indicator line. If the bottom of the seed firmer wears to that point, it needs to be replaced.

Kippen says prices vary depending on the make of the seed firmer. The standard type retail for about $25 to $30 each, while the non-stick type can be in the range of $75 per unit. When they are replaced because of wear, it is recommended all seed firmers be replaced at the same time.

Kippen has some excellent short videos on meter testing and seed firmer maintenance on his Twitter accounts @KippenAndrew and @NValleyP2, and you can also learn more on the North Valley Precision Planting website at nvp2.ca.

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