Precision Planting Makes a Move Into the Sprayer Market

As the name implies, you likely know of the Precision Planting brand because of the company’s lineup of planting technology. Today, at their annual Winter Conference, Precision Planting revealed several projects to improve the operation and data collection of sprayers.

ReClaim Boom Priming and Recirculation

Traditional sprayers require farmers or operators to spray product on the ground to prime the width of the boom. It’s not uncommon for more than 50 gal. of product to be sprayed, causing a hot spot of chemicals. With ReClaim, chemicals mixed in the tank can be circulated through the booms and back to the tank without spraying any chemical on the ground.

“ReClaim uses a single rocker switch in the cab to engage recirculation, and once recirculation is completed, farmers are ready to spray with the correctly mixed chemical across the entire boom,” says Justin McMenamy, director of product, Precision Planting. “ReClaim is designed to be retrofit onto a farmer’s existing sprayer with electric or standard nozzles.”

Symphony Nozzle Control System

Many sprayer nozzles experience a change in pressure when the sprayer’s operating speed or rate changes. This adjustment in pressure changes droplet sizes, increasing the risk of drift or reducing leaf coverage. The Symphony Nozzle Control System allows the sprayer to maintain constant pressure even when changing rates or speed.

“When spraying to kill weeds or diseases, it is important to get consistent spray patterns across the field, even when changing speeds or rates,” says Luke Stuber, Symphony product manager, Precision Planting. “Symphony maintains consistent pressure across the boom, along with swath control and turn compensation for consistent spray coverage across every acre of the field.”

Controlled by the Precision Planting Gen3 20|20 system, Symphony will be field tested again in spring 2022.

Four New Vision-Based Technologies

Introducing multiple camera functions on a sprayer, the following technologies will pair with the 20|20 Gen 3 system and be further field-tested in spring 2022:

1. Vision-Based Guidance. Post spraying crops often requires the operator to navigate the sprayer to avoid running over crops. Vision guidance steers the sprayer among the crop rows, allowing the operator to focus on sprayer operations and not on steering, which reduces operator fatigue.
2. Vision Scouting. One of the best times to check for even crop emergence and stand counts is during a post-emergence spray pass. Vision-based scouting will provide farmers with a snapshot of their stand count and information about crop emergence, letting them know if there are areas that merit additional attention.
3. Vision-Based Weed ID. Vision-based weed ID uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to see and categorize each plant in the field as a crop, broadleaf weed or grass weed. With this information, a map of weed pressure can be created that allows farmers to understand the type of weeds and variability in pressure across the field.
4. Targeted Spraying Technology. Precision Planting’s Symphony Nozzle Control System is being designed to pair with the Precision Planting vision module for targeted spraying.

“The combination of vision and Symphony will allow spray rates to be varied within the label rate to be effective against the weed pressure in a specific area,” says Jason Stoller, Vision product manager, Precision Planting. “We know that a high percentage of sprayer passes use a residual herbicide, so targeting only growing weeds does not allow for the value of the residual herbicide to be present in the field. We are actively researching the best way to spot spray growing weeds while at the same time laying down a blanket residual herbicide in order to control emerging weeds, all using the 20|20, Symphony and Vision technologies.”