Planting Equipment

Build A High-Yield Powerhouse From The Bottom Up

Tue, 05 May 2026 17:40:53 GMT

The planter monitor in your tractor cab insists the seed corn is tucked away at a 2.5-inch planting depth, but Randy Dowdy says to question that placement. The high-yield row-crop grower explains there is often a difference between what the planter monitor says and what the soil shows — and the gap between the two can rob farmers of yield potential before the crop ever breaks the soil surface.

“You have to distinguish between the planting depth and what we call the germination depth. It’s a potential problem we talk about all the time with our farmers in Total Acre ,” says Dowdy of his agronomic business he co-owns with David Hula, world champion corn grower.

Iowa State Extension defines planting depth as the placement of the seed corn in the soil, while germination depth (emergence) is where the corn nodal roots will form, regardless of the planting depth.

The discrepancy that can occur between the planting depth and germination depth often happens at the moment the seed trench is closed or shortly thereafter. The planter might place the seed at 2.5 inches, but the closing system can shift seed upward — especially in dry, loose soils. As the dirt settles the seed can end up germinating at a significantly shallower depth than the grower intended.

“When we check seed placement in an open furrow, there’s no doubt about it, we were planting at 2.5 inches,” Dowdy notes in a recent video. But as he moves behind the machine to inspect the closed row, the reality changes. In Dowdy’s field demonstration, the shift is dramatic, showing the seed is now sitting much closer to the soil surface.

“When we dig into that closed trench, we find that the seed is now sitting in the ground at about 1.5 inches to 1.75 inches, and that’s not what you want,” Dowdy says. Watch the video on Farm Journal TV .

The result of that shallow germination depth is a fundamental threat to corn, Iowa State Extension reports. Shallow germination can impact early root development and contribute to rootless corn syndrome, susceptibility to herbicide injury, poor drought tolerance and other issues that can impact growth and development throughout the season and, ultimately, reduce yield.

(Farm Journal TV)

To combat this, Dowdy’s philosophy is simple: trust what you learn using a shovel to dig behind the planter to locate the seed; don’t depend only on what the planter monitor in the tractor cab shows.

Dowdy and Hula advocate for establishing a consistent germination depth for seed corn across the field, ensuring that plants have the strong foundation they need to thrive.

“For proper root development, we like to maintain a consistent two-inch germination depth,” advises Dowdy, who’s based near Valdosta, Ga.

Dan Quinn, Purdue University Extension corn specialist, says the “most common seeding depths recommended for corn range between 1.5 and 2 inches deep, and these planting depths can work very well within most conditions, however, certain soil moisture conditions at planting may warrant further examination/change in seeding depth.”

This year, with dry soil conditions in the Southeast, farmers have had difficulty achieving a 2-inch planting depth consistently for good emergence. Dowdy’s directive to growers in dry ground is to account for the “settle” in soils at planting by adjusting planter settings to go a bit deeper with planting.

Iowa State Extension agrees, noting that a 3-inch depth is usually OK in drier soils. While deeper planting can take slightly longer to emerge, it can lead to more uniform stands compared to shallow planting.

“My advice in these (dry) conditions is to plant a bit deeper, knowing the ground will settle, and you’ll get better root development,” Dowdy says.

By prioritizing the physical reality of the seedbed over the digital feedback in the cab, Dowdy believes farmers can unlock better performance without any additional overhead. By doing so, growers “will do a better job, and you’ll have proper root development and help you on your yields for free,” he says.

You can hear more about how this season is shaping up for Dowdy and Hula on their latest edition of Breaking Barriers With R&D podcast with Chip Flory on AgriTalk. Listen at the link below:

John Deere Unveils New High-HP 8-Series Tractors Alongside Key Planter and Combine Updates

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 01:04:15 GMT

John Deere is pushing its flagship 8 Series tractor into new territory, launching a ground‑up redesign that aims to give farmers 9 Series power in an 8 Series body — without sacrificing the maneuverability growers rely on for planting and row-crop work.

“We’re really excited to introduce this new line of 8R and 8RX tractors,” said Michael Porter, marketing manager during a media event at the company’s Austin, Texas, facility. “Our customers have been asking for a tractor that really fits this gap where we need the power of our 9 Series but still delivering the maneuverability and comfort of a row crop tractor.”

Bridging the Gap Between 8R and 9R
Until now, Deere’s 8R lineup topped out at 410 hp, with the 9 Series picking up from there. The new high‑horsepower 8R and 8RX models (444, 490 and 540, wheels and four‑track machines) slide in squarely between those platforms.

The goal: pull ever‑larger planters, high‑speed tillage tools and big manure tankers while still feeling like a row‑crop tractor.

“This needs to feel like an 8 Series,” Porter said. “It needs to turn super tight, feel nimble and not feel like a bigger tractor.”

JD14 Engine and ‘Punching Above Its Weight’
At the heart of the new tractors is the JD14 engine, borrowed from the 9 Series and dropped into an all-new 8-Series frame. Deere pairs that with an updated power strategy Porter says fundamentally changes how these tractors perform under load.

“We’re introducing what we call peak power IPM (Intelligent Power Management),” he said. “We’re taking our max engine horsepower and adding IPM to it to get an additional 40 horsepower on top of that which allows the 8R and 8RX 540 to max out at 634 hp under some conditions.”

Porter says the result is a machine that “punches outside of its weight class when it comes to power and performance, able to pull massive implements like DB90 planters, high-speed tillage tools
and large grain carts.

“This tractor has no problem pulling a 90‑foot high speed planter at 10‑plus mile an hour speeds,” Porter said, adding it can cover 1,200 acres a day under favorable conditions.

Off‑Board Electric Power at 56 Volts
Beyond raw horsepower, Deere is baking in electrical capability that ties tractor and planter more tightly together.

“This is also going to unlock our new [56V power] offboarding option,” Porter said of the Electronic Variable Transmission (EVT). “You’ll have one plug… that’ll power our electric row units straight from the tractor, really showcasing that ultimate planting solution.”

Instead of separate PTO or hydraulic power generators for modern electric planters, Deere’s vision is simple: plug the Deere planter into the Deere tractor and go.

Although the new 8R machines are visibly larger, Deere redesigned the frame, steering and ballast system around one non‑negotiable: “One thing we were not willing to sacrifice is the nimbleness and the feel of our row crop tractors,” Porter said. “We wanted it to turn like an 8 with the power of a 9.”

New John Deere Operator Experience
The new tractors are the first to receive Deere’s completely redesigned cab, CommandARMand drive controls, which will roll out across the 8 Series.

Highlights include:
· Push‑button start and a standardized left‑hand reverser
· A new seat with expanded adjustments, optional heating and massage, and ventilation
· Integrated wireless phone charger
· A new convenience display
· Simplified, highly configurable paddle switches and buttons on the CommandARM

Deere is also unifying drive controls into three new drive strategies (CommandX, CommandX Plus, and CommandX Pro). This suite allows operators to tailor their driving experience. Each level builds on the previous one unlocking additional features and customization to help meet each farmer’s needs.

To determine which new 8-Series tractor model will best fit your farming operation, contact your local John Deere dealer or visit deere.com.

New Planter Enhancements

John Deere is introducing several new planter enhancements – all designed to help farmers meet key agronomic success factors, including uniform emergence, uniform spacing, correct seed population and nutrient availability. Advancements in planter technology have been made in furrow application, furrow depth and residue management, uptime and logistics.

“Farmers look for agronomic success at planting as their entire season depends on it,” said Anthony Styczinski, marketing manager, planters and air seeders. “Increased input and seed costs demand we do everything we can to give the seed the best chance.”

Correct fertilizer application at the time the seed hits the ground is a part of the equation to give the seed the best possible start. Model year 2027 John Deere planters will have an option for a dual-product fertilizer system that allows operators to carry and apply product in-furrow and/or off to the side.

(John Deere)

Fertilizer Application Enhancements
Correct fertilizer application at the time the seed hits the ground is a part of the equation to give the seed the best possible start. Model year 2027 John Deere planters will have an option for a dual-product fertilizer system that allows operators to carry and apply product in-furrow and/or off to the side to give the corn plant the right nutrients at the right time of the growth stage, leading to higher corn yields.

The dual-product system includes both ExactShot and ExactRate. ExactShot is John Deere’s in-furrow application that delivers nutrients directly to the seed where they are used most efficiently. ExactShot saves up to 66% of in-furrow nutrient input. The second part of the dual system is ExactRate, which applies high-value fertilizer off to the side.

The combined system includes dual liquid tanks, and a dual set of stainless-steel fertilizer lines with pumps relocated under the tanks. Both liquid tanks have fertilizer-level sensing, making it easy for the operator to know how much product is available in each tank.

Another update is a new agitation system that keeps certain chemicals suspended and separated in the tank to ensure even product coverage. An auxiliary tank option enables the use of high-value micronutrients, biologicals, fungicides, and insecticides.

The dual fertilizer system is available from the factory on model year 2027 1775NT – 16/24R, and DB60 – 24R planters.

Furrow Optimization
“The importance of consistent seed depth and a clean furrow are critical to getting that seed off to the right start,” Styczinki said. “Studies show that uniform emergence can improve yield up to 20 bushels per acre, emphasizing the need to optimize the furrow as much as possible.”

New this year to John Deere planters is ExactDepth, an electric depth control that supports an in-cab on-the-go range of depth adjustments and individual row unit depth calibrations. ExactDepth also allows operators to optimize depth with prescriptions for each field and/or subfield zones.

Furrow residue has shown that one day of delayed corn emergence can reduce plant yield by 6%, on average. John Deere’s FurrowVision solution helps operators identify when residue is impacting the furrow, allowing them to manually optimize row cleaner settings. This system features three in-furrow cameras mounted on the planter that provide real-time sectional views of the furrow, as well as depth measurement readings, residue detection filter and additional quality map layers in the John Deere Operations Center.

Another new feature to improve furrow quality is Downforce Automation powered by FurrowVision, optimizing downforce settings and making it easier to create the best furrow in every field. Downforce Automation optimizes the amount of applied downforce by taking into consideration ground contact, soil resistance and furrow health as measured by FurrowVision.

Planting Logistics
Tight planting windows demand keeping the planter rolling as much as possible. Logistics is a new feature available through the John Deere Operations Center for those with the G5 Advanced license. Logistics provides real-time monitoring of equipment location, work status and product levels, keeping everyone on the farm informed and updated.

Combine and Front-End Equipment Updates

John Deere is making a wide range of updates and enhancements to its model year 2027 X9 and S7 combines and front-end equipment. Utilizing the latest in predictive and automated technologies, these new features promise to help farmers harvest under more diverse and dynamic crop conditions, utilize the automation across more crop types, and minimize the level of intervention required by the operator.

For model year 2027, Predictive Ground Speed Automation features Green Crop Detection. This new feature uses enhanced processing power and a highly trained algorithm to accurately detect green crops within an otherwise-mature stand. The result: The combine can adjusts its ground speed in response to a wider range of crop conditions, improving overall harvest efficiency.

(John Deere)

“These updates will enable our customers to achieve three critical goals: getting their crops out during tight harvest windows; helping less experienced operators perform better in the field; and achieving an efficient, high-quality harvest,” said Nathan Kramer, John Deere harvesting marketing manager.

The new model year 2027 combine features include:

Harvest Settings Automation updates
Harvest Settings Automation helps operators get into the field faster by automatically setting concave clearance, fan speed, rotor speed, sieve clearance and chaffer clearance, all based on the combine model, crop type and geolocation. After the operator inputs limits for grain loss, foreign material and broken grain, the system automatically adjusts the five combine settings to stay within the selected limits.

Harvest Settings Automation is currently available for corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, canola and rice. For model year 2027, Harvest Settings Automation will add lentils, peas, rye, triticale, oats and sunflowers to the list of crops from which producers can choose.

Predictive Ground Speed Automation updates
First offered for model year 2025, Predictive Ground Speed Automation controls the combine’s ground speed based on crop height and biomass measurements taken pre-harvest from satellite scans and from on-the-go measurements made by cab-mounted cameras.

Predictive Ground Speed Automation uses terrain maps to automatically adjust combine speed for sensitive areas like waterways, ditches, and terraces. Cab-mounted cameras add real-time detection of conditions such as down crops or dense weed patches, allowing precise ground speed regulation through these areas for optimal performance.

For model year 2027, Predictive Ground Speed Automation features Green Crop Detection, a new feature that uses enhanced processing power and a highly trained algorithm to accurately detect green crops within an otherwise-mature stand. Green Crop Detection allows Predictive Ground Speed Automation to adjust the combine’s ground speed in response to a wider range of crop conditions, improving overall harvest efficiency.

John Deere is also launching Precision Upgrade Combine Automation Packages allowing customers that purchased the Select Technology Package with a MY25 or newer S7 or X9 from the factory to upgrade to Premium or Ultimate Technology Packages. Farmers who purchased the Premium Technology Package from the factory now have the option to upgrade to the Ultimate Technology Package.

Other MY27 features include:
Tru-Threshconcaves with remote concave and separator grate adjustment. New half-length concaves allow modular installation, improved durability and are compatible with new model year 2027 X9 combines.

HarvestLab Install Ready. All model year 2027 X9 combines will feature factory pre-cut openings in the clean grain elevator suitable for HarvestLab mounting making installation easier.

JDLink Boost. Both X9 and S7 combines can come equipped with a JDLink Boost receiver from the factory providing satellite connectivity in areas with limited or no mobile connectivity.

Power folding ladder. All model year 2027 John Deere X9 and S7 combines will feature a new power folding ladder option similar to those available on select John Deere sprayers.

New 35’ (10.7m) unloading auger. The new unloading auger on the X9 offers an additional 4ft (1.22m) of clearance between the header and unloading auger, enabling the use of wider headers.

New 550-bushel grain tank capacity. The optional 550-bushel grain tank on the X9 allows for longer time between unloads, more capacity when opening fields, and includes heavy-duty final drives.

To learn more about the new John Deere planter options, combine enhancements and front-end equipment updates contact your local John Deere dealer or visit deere.com.

Don’t Cut the Backstop: Dowdy And Hula Weigh In on Crop Insurance, Budgets

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:47:49 GMT

When Randy Dowdy picks up the phone to call his crop insurance agent this time of year, it’s not to see if he can shave premiums — it’s to make sure one tough season can’t threaten the future of his farm. He and fellow national yield champion David Hula want more farmers thinking that same way. They are optimistic that with some attention to the details, growers can put their operations on stronger footing.

Dowdy and Hula hold to a simple, practical blueprint: run the farm with the same financial discipline as any other serious business. That starts with a written budget and continues with a crop insurance plan that’s built around each of their farms’ true risk—not just what feels comfortable when the premium bill arrives.

Dowdy farms in Georgia, where tropical systems are a fact of life, not a rarity.

“For us, it’s not a matter if we’re going to get a hurricane or tropical storm, it’s how many we’re going to get and will we be on the edge or will we be Bullseye central,” he says. “I can’t sleep at night knowing I’ve got $800,000-plus at risk and not have some kind of backstop on it.”

That backstop for both growers is crop insurance. Hula is concerned by how often it’s still treated as a soft target when growers start trimming expenses.

“Growers, if they’re doing budgets—which I know most growers don’t do a budget, unfortunately—but they need to do a budget,” he says. “The sheer cost of production is so high and the risk is there. We all got to service debt. We cannot afford to cut out crop insurance.”

A Working Budget, Not a Guess

Both Dowdy and Hula believe that most operations are simply too big and too leveraged to rely on “gut feel” budgeting. When total corn production costs push into the $600 to $1,000 per acre range, they say every line item needs to be accounted for and challenged.

Hula encourages farmers to use this time of year – winter meeting season – as a springboard to upgrade their financial discipline.

“Growers need to try to capture at least three things when they go to these winter meetings,” he says —whether it’s “something new to try or somewhere to help fine‑tune their budgets.”

For him, that starts with knowing where dollars actually move the needle: fertility, seed, planter performance and risk management. A written budget that ties realistic yield expectations to actual costs per acre then becomes the framework for his every decision – from which hybrids to plant to what coverage levels to buy.

Crop Insurance as a Strategy

Dowdy and Hula say crop insurance should be viewed as the core of a risk management strategy designed around each operation’s exposure.

Dowdy explains how he has traditionally built his coverage and how that thinking is evolving.

“In a normal year we do enterprise [coverage], and normal insurance gets us to that 75% or we buy up 80%,” he says.

After talking with his crop insurance agent, Dowdy is now also considering the benefits of Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO).

“He’s talking about the SCO version of it, getting coverage to 86% and then you can go with the ECO version to get it up into that 90‑plus‑percent range. And it’s affordable,” Dowdy says.

For Dowdy, the insurance structure matters too. While enterprise units can help manage premium costs, he believes his farming geography demands a more granular approach.

“We may farm ground 60 miles apart,” he says. “I’ll buy optional units just to keep individual farms’ coverage because of the proximity. I go ahead and spend that $75 to $80 an acre, and it helps me sleep at night knowing I got that coverage.”

His takeaway: Don’t stop at the base policy without taking a deeper look. Sit down with your agent and run the numbers on unit structure, SCO and ECO to find a package that realistically protects your cost of production, not just your comfort level with the premium.

Managing Quality and Catastrophic Risk

The risk picture doesn’t end with yield outcomes. Dowdy stresses that in his environment, a lack of crop quality can be just as damaging as outright yield loss.

With his full‑season beans often ready for harvest in late August or early September—smack in the middle of hurricane season—the window for disaster is wide open.

“If it’s 90 degrees outside and it’s hot and wet, those beans will rot right before your eyes,” Dowdy explains. “It’s a quality issue as much as it is just a wind issue.”

Corn brings its own headaches when storms hit hard late in the season.

“If corn goes down, you aren’t going to get it all,” Dowdy says. “Now, there’s some manufacturers that say, ‘you can use our head, we’ll get it all.’ I call BS on that. I don’t want to have to deal with the process of trying to pick it up and harvest it anyhow.”

Dowdy and Hula’s recommendation: build quality risk directly into your budgeting and insurance conversations. Know how your policies treat quality issues and lodging, and be realistic about what you can—and can’t—salvage when a storm hits.

Population and Fertility: Trimming Where It Makes Sense

While Dowdy and Hula believe crop insurance is the wrong place to cut, they both say there are smart, numbers‑driven opportunities to manage input costs—especially in seed and fertility.

“For me, the take‑home that I’ve seen is in fertility management—let’s fine‑tune that,” Hula says. That doesn’t mean making across‑the‑board cuts; it means using precision.

“Use soil tests, yield maps and response history to put fertility where it pays and pull it back where it doesn’t,” he adds.

On seed, Hula thinks 2026 could be a year to rethink planting high populations.

“A lot of times we think we’re going to push our crop a little bit more, and maybe plant a little bit thicker,” he says. “This might be the year just to dial it back a bit… just dial it back 2,000 plants per acre. You’re not going to see a big change in harvestability, you’re not going to see a big change in the end result of yield, but you can see a little reduction in cost.”

Dowdy agrees with the direction—but wants growers to test populations boldly enough to get clear answers.

“I’m going to take it one step further,” he says. “When you do 2,000, I just can’t see enough response. I’m going to go to at least 4,000 less plants so I can say, ‘did I move the needle, yes or no?’”

Dowdy uses a simple benchmark to judge whether the population used is delivering ROI.

“What needs to drive people is, are you making 10 bushels a thousand?” he says. “If you’re not making 10 bushels a thousand based off your planting population, we need to consider, are we planting it too thick? Are we just doing that much of a poor job on getting simultaneous emergence? Why not fix that piece first, and then consider the reduction in population.”

The Planter: One Chance to Get It Right

Hula reminds growers that an expensive mistake is a poorly maintained planter. He believe economic pressure should drive you to the shop, not away from it.

This time of year, Hula is disassembling, inspecting and rebuilding his planter, replacing blades and wear parts and checking every row unit. The goal is simple: give every seed the best chance at uniform emergence and early vigor.

“It seems like we talk about the planter and planting a lot, but that’s what gets everything started,” he says. “You can only do that right one time.”

Dowdy and Hula share more recommendations on their podcast Breaking Barriers With R&D and in their discussion on AgriTalk. Catch their conversation at the link below:

Unlocking More With Less Through Precision Agriculture

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 19:08:08 GMT

Increasing productivity while also using less fuel, water, inputs and time may sound like a dream at today’s farmgate, but a new report called “The Benefits of Precision Ag in the United States” says that very dream is very much a reality for many farms and fields across the U.S.

The report, published collaboratively by Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, CropLife America and National Corn Growers Association, is a follow-up to the landmark 2020 study that first analyzed the potential of precision agriculture technologies to allow farmers and ranchers to do more with less.

It studies precision ag technologies like auto-guidance, machine section control, variable rate application, fleet analytics and telematics and precision irrigation in U.S. production of crops including corn, soybeans, cotton, peanuts, wheat, sorghum, potatoes, sugar beets, hay and alfalfa.

Quantifying the Impact: Inputs, Resources and Yield

Compared to the study five years ago, the trend of precision agriculture adoption is upward, with farmers reaping the benefits in quantifiable ways, according to Austin Gellings, senior director of agricultural services, AEM.

“The industry continues to see an improvement in input efficiency as a result of precision agriculture,” Gellings says. “Compared to five years ago, we have continued to see productivity increase while the comparative amount of herbicide, fertilizer, fuel and water used on a per unit basis continues to decline.”

The report details its findings of the current savings of critical inputs through precision agriculture, as well as what is possible through increased adoption, including:

An estimated 4 billion pounds of fertilizer application was avoided due to precision agriculture technologies, with an estimated 7 billion pounds of additional fertilizer that could be avoided with broader adoption
An estimated 54 million pounds of herbicide was avoided due to precision agriculture with an estimated 66 million pounds that could be avoided with broader adoption

The report didn’t stop with analysis of inputs, though. The research found similar savings in terms of fuel and water use as well, including:

147 million gallons of fuel saved, the equivalent of 283,000 cars off the road annually or 26,000 fewer flights
Water use has decreased an estimated 5% as a result of precision agriculture, or the equivalent of an estimated 824,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water saved

The savings are helping to unlock an increase in overall productivity fueled by two decades of growth in U.S. corn and soybean yields, the report states.

Critically, the report not only highlights the strides made by adoption of precision agriculture, but what is possible with continued increases.

“The study references savings that could be achieved as a result of precision agricultural technologies if we were to reach full adoption, which we defined as 90-95% adoption,” says Gellings. “These numbers are not necessarily targeted goals, but rather a guiding light for the potential that remains within our industry.”

Quantifying the Impact: On-Farm Pain Points

Gellings encourages farmers to examine their operations for adoption opportunity.

“It is about identifying what the needs of your specific operation are and then identifying the proper technologies that can help you,” he says. “What are the biggest pain points that your operation faces? Once you pinpoint that, it is then about identifying what technologies address those needs while also fitting into the workflow of one’s operation.”

The report shares anonymous grower insights into how that analysis has paid off for their operation through precision agriculture technologies.

In the report, a Kansas farmer growing wheat, soybeans and alfalfa on their operation said, “We’re spraying less chemical, [targeted spray application technology] is saving us money, and it’s better for the environment.”

“We ran through our herbicide costs we were going to have and dropped them by two-thirds. That is going to make our sprayer payment.”

Similarly, a Minnesota corn and soybean farmer had this to say:

“We looked at what we were spending on postemergence weed control and felt we could justify [targeted spray application technology] if we sprayed only 50% of our acres post. In the end, we only sprayed 11% of our corn acres with postemergence herbicide and averaged only spraying 20% of our soybeans with both applications.”

Quantifying the Impact: Agriculture’s Solution Through Precision

The organizations behind the report are hoping that it will serve as a catalyst into conversations with policymakers and consumers around stewardship within the agriculture industry.

“When it comes to all of the conversations that are happening, whether it be healthy food, the environment, or a number of other issues, the solution at the end of the day tends to already exist and that solution is farmers,” says Gellings. “Farmers have, for generations, done what they believe is best for the land and the communities that they live within and serve.”

“Precision agriculture and all of the technologies that come with that term are nothing more than a tool to help them accomplish that goal at the end of the day,” he says. “None of these will be the silver bullet to solve any and all issues, but when chosen based on the needs and capabilities of a farm and then paired with the other proper practices and inputs, they can help farmers get ahead.”

The report is available for free download through AEM.

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New Seed Tender Built for Narrow Planting Windows

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:56:46 GMT

Spring planting windows aren’t getting any wider—and labor isn’t getting any easier to find. That’s the reality the new 60-Series Seed Runner from Unverferth Manufacturing is built to address.

“The planting window can be very narrow some years, so our goal with this seed tender is to give farmers more operational efficiency so they can get the job done faster and with less downtime,” says Andy Unverferth, director of marketing for the company.

Smarter Technology, Faster Turnarounds

The new 4960, 3960, 3760 and 2760 models boast hopper capacities of 500, 400, 375 and 275 seed units and bring operational efficiency to the next level with the innovative CAN bus communication system, electronically carbureted Honda engine and redesigned hydraulic system, Unverferth reports.

Key upgrades to the 60-Series include:

CAN bus communication system for integrated machine control electronically carbureted engine with a 15% increase in fuel efficiency and redesigned hydraulic system that allows operators to run multiple hydraulic functions simultaneously with seamless precision.
An auto-tension belt conveyor uses a spring-loaded tensioner that automatically keeps the belt in proper tension for reduced maintenance requirements and has a convenient gauge for quick tension reference.
A standard five-function wireless remote controls the conveyor on/off, conveyor raise/lower, hopper door open/close, engine start/stop and engine throttle. The remote features a weight readout for units equipped with scales, controls the conveyor speed, turns the LED work lights on/off, and operates optional accessories such as the talc and graphite applicator, hydraulic jack, hydraulic roll-tarp, and tank shaker kit.
A new DG3520 scale package is standard on DXL and XL models (optional on 3760 and 2760 models) and features a split-screen display, automatic conveyor shutoff for unloading a predetermined weight of seed, field calc function and Bluetooth connectivity so the user can operate limited wireless remote functions from a mobile device if the remote is misplaced.
Hopper access doors allow the operator to easily reach inside of the hopper for complete cleanout at the end of the season or between seed varieties.
New limited Midnight Edition Seed Runner tenders are available for DXL and XL models and feature a midnight metallic gray paint scheme, specialized decal package, aluminum wheels and upgraded standard features.

When it comes to raw speed, Unverferth says the unload rates on the 8-inch conveyor are about 45 bushels per minute. “So there is a faster filling process to get the planter going again,” he adds.

Available For The 2027 Planting Season

Unverferth says dealers can start entering orders this coming May for the new tender, which will be available for the 2027 planting season.

Available options and accessories for the new 60-Series Seed Runner seed tenders include new six- and seven-function wireless remote kits, talc and graphite applicator, hydraulic jack kit, new hydraulic roll-tarp operation, and tank shaker kit.

For more information about the new 60-Series Unverferth Seed Runner tenders, farmers can check with their nearest Unverferth seed tender dealer or visit UMequip.com.

A High-ROI Strategy for Corn Planter Upgrades and Stand Success

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 19:24:50 GMT

During a recent Farm Journal Corn College session, Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie tackled some of the tough questions growers have about closing systems and stand evaluation. From why social media trends shouldn’t dictate your equipment budget to the “ground-truthing” techniques that reveal hidden planting errors, Ferrie breaks down how to ensure your planter setup delivers a true return on investment this spring. Here are three questions Ferrie answered in detail:

1. Question: “Where would you rank the value of updating the closing wheel system compared to other planter attachments?”

Answer: Ferrie says before ranking anything, you need to know what problem you’re trying to solve. Today, you can easily spend as much on planter attachments as you did on the planter itself. So, every attachment needs a clear purpose and a clear return.
Whenever a farmer asks him about new attachments, Ferrie always asks a question of his own: “What do you hope this investment will do for you?”

“Too often, the honest reply is, ‘I don’t know, but I saw it on social media or at a farm show and it looked interesting,’” Ferrie notes.

He explains if you’re routinely evaluating corn stands and can see that your current closing system is not doing the job — there’s poor trench closure, sidewall smearing issues, uneven emergence — then upgrading that system can offer a strong ROI. But if your real limiting factor is row-unit downforce, leading to uneven depth and sidewall smearing, then changing the closing wheels won’t move the needle like fixing the downforce will.

Ferrie says if he had to pick “the top advancement” for corn stand establishment, it would be hydraulic downforce systems that both push and lift, and adjust on the go.

“Those systems, both in conventional and no-till situations, have done a lot to improve stands by maintaining consistent depth and reducing sidewall problems,” he says.

2. Question: “How can I evaluate my stand to identify if my closing system is an issue?”

Answer: Ferrie says good stand evaluation doesn’t start weeks after crop emergence. Instead, it starts at the planter.

“Ground-truthing your planter performance at planting can prevent a lot of stand issues later on,” Ferrie says. “This practice needs to be done on multiple rows across the planter, and in multiple soil types within the field.”

Ferrie’s recommendation: stop the planter several times in each field, get out and dig a cross-section across the furrow. In that crosscut, you’re looking for several problems that might need to be corrected.

(Crop-Tech Consulting)

A “perfect” cross-section, Ferrie says, is one where there’s no evidence of sidewalls standing, and no dry soil or air pockets are surrounding the seed.

He also reminds growers that the first 12 hours after planting, when the seed imbibes water, are critical. Dry soil around the seed in that window of time will delay water uptake and slow emergence.

Once the corn crop is out of the ground, shift your evaluation process to stand uniformity. At this point, Ferrie recommends doing plant counts and writing your observations down for future reference.

“Pay special attention to plants that are more than one collar behind their neighbors,” he says. “Those lagging plants should be dug up and examined.”

(Crop-Tech Consulting)

3. Question: “Can you put too much downforce on cast iron closing wheels?”

Answer: Yes, you definitely can, particularly in tilled or strip-tilled fields. Ferrie explains that excessive downforce on cast iron wheels can cause unnecessary compaction that young plants must fight through. The wheels can cut a deep trench in the furrow and push soil up into a ridge between the wheels.

This can create emergence problems in a couple of ways. If the spike doesn’t emerge dead center of the furrow, it may come up early off to the side, or it may attempt to leaf out underground if enough light filters down into the trench.

For plants that do emerge dead center, there’s another risk. As they break through that crown of soil pushed up by the closing wheels, they tend to set their crown roots about three-quarters of an inch below that raised ridge, Ferrie notes. If a heavy rain comes after emergence and flattens that ridge, those plants are effectively left with shallow crown roots — shallow corn that is more vulnerable to stress.

Be sure to check out Ferrie’s latest Boots In The Field podcast, where he offers additional answers to farmers’ planter and planting questions. Listen to it at the link below:

Don't End Up In The Ditch! Update Your GPS Guidance Lines For 2026

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:53:34 GMT

Farmers who use a local RTK network or state-run Real Time Network (RTN) — Iowa and Ohio both offer these signals — for auto steer and GPS guidance systems will need to recapture new GPS coordinates for field boundaries and A-B lines before spring planting.

That’s because The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) will soon replace two outdated reference frames, NAD 83 and NAVD 88, with a new corrections datum. The shift could knock your current A-B lines and GPS field boundaries off by anywhere from 1 to 4 meters, according to a pair of Iowa State University Extension precision ag specialists.

The Ohio State University Extension and FABE professor Dr. John Fulton issued a similar warning last fall at the Ohio Farm Science Review.

Iowa State University precision ag engineer Luke Fuhrer and digital Extension specialist Doug Houser say farmers using a major commercial satellite RTK network, such as those offered by John Deere and Trimble, should be OK for 2026.

Farmers who need to make quick updates to field boundaries or A-B lines, or check on the potential impact to existing telematics data this winter, are being told to use the free NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool (NCAT) to shift their GPS coordinates from NAD 83/NAVD 88 to NATRF2022.

Fuhrer and Houser also want you to consider:

Physically recollecting GPS coordinates for field boundaries, control points or benchmarks using a system aligned to the new datum.
Recalculating your historical data using updated reference points or transformation software.

Example Scenario

(John Deere/Mel Koltai)

The Iowa State researchers share the following scenario as an example of a farmer who will need to make updates before spring planting:

“A farmer in eastern Iowa has been using a local RTK base station tied to NAD 83 to map field boundaries with sub-inch accuracy to avoid a neighbor’s fence line.

“After 2026, the new NATRF2022 datum will shift those GPS-defined boundaries by several feet. While the fence hasn’t moved, the guidance lines will now show up partially in the neighbor’s field. Without correction, auto-steer will drift across actual property lines.”

Before spring 2026, Fuhrer and Houser want this farmer to:

Back up all current GPS files and data.
Talk to his/her equipment dealer about firmware updates or new coordinate system support.
Use NCAT or dealer-provided tools to test a few key points and see how much they move.
Consider a quick resurvey for high-value areas.

For more info, check out the NGS “Get Prepared” resource here .

John Deere Layoffs Continue Amid Sales Downturn, 142 Iowa Employees Notified

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 15:57:38 GMT

Farm equipment giant John Deere has confirmed it is laying off 101 employees at its Waterloo Operations (last day on October 17) and 41 employees at the Des Moines Works (October 31) plant, according to an official statement emailed to Farm Journal.

It is a little over a month since the last round of layoffs , which affected over 200 employees across factories located in the Quad Cities region of western Illinois and eastern Iowa.

Deere says in the statement: “Production schedules at each John Deere factory vary to align with seasonal farming needs. When fewer orders come in, each factory adjusts accordingly.”

Despite the layoffs and an overall tough farm economy that some think will stretch well into 2026, Deere still intends on moving forward with its $20 billion investment strategy here in the U.S., according to the statement.

During John Deere’s earnings call in August, the company issued a warning that tariff costs could total $600 million for fiscal year 2025. The company’s share price dipped 6% immediately following that call. Deere’s net income for Q3 also sank 26%, and its total net sales decreased by 9% compared to Q3 in 2024.

At the beginning of August, John Deere addressed long-standing Right To Repair concerns with a new digital diagnosis and repair product for John Deere machines and Hagie STS high-clearance sprayers. That tool costs $195 per tractor for farmers and $5,995 per year for independent service technicians.

And in May, Deere acquired Minneapolis-based drone and sensor provider Sentera . Financial terms for that deal have not been disclosed.

John Deere also just dropped a new commercial featuring injured San Francisco 49ers quarterback and Iowa State Cyclone Brock Purdy cooking meals for farmers with tractor influencer @JustAJacksonThing. You can check that out below.

Additional Information

Deere shares the following bullet points regarding compensation benefits available to laid off employees:

Affected employees are eligible to be recalled to their home factory for a period equal to their length of service. Those laid off are automatically placed in seniority order for openings they are qualified to perform at the factory.
Weekly supplemental unemployment benefit (SUB pay), dependent on number of years of continuous employment.
Transitional Assistance Benefit (TAB) pay, which may cover up to 50% of their average weekly earnings for up to 52 weeks. 
Profit sharing, calculated based on hours worked, average earnings and the company’s profit margin.

Healthcare benefits employees can receive during a layoff include: 

Employees can keep healthcare coverage for at least six months, or as long as they are eligible for SUB pay.
Weekly Indemnity (WI): Employees who become disabled while on layoff can get WI benefits for the same duration as their SUB pay.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Employees and their household members can access EAP services for the duration of their recall rights. EAP provides up to eight sessions of in-person or virtual therapy per year.

Other benefits laid-off employees may receive include: 

Life insurance
Legal assistance
Tuition reimbursement and job-placement assistance.

Your next read: Why a Farmer on the Brink of Suicide Chose to Keep Going

Yellow Soybeans? Why Weather and Carbon Penalties Are Stressing Midwest Farmers

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 13:40:55 GMT

A Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) in Michigan says a confluence of weather conditions resulted in a roller coaster ride for soybeans over the first two months of the growing season.

The good news is the plants still have time to catch up and recover on the back-end (if timely rains are consistent), but the early season issue is still causing a lot of growers to hang their heads in utter disgust when they head out in the morning and see large areas of small, yellow soybean plants in fields.

How did this happen?
In southern Michigan, northern Indiana, and northwest Ohio, most soybean farmers opted to plant early. That means the beans were in by end of April. The region then had the coolest average night temperatures in May of the past 14 years, followed by the warmest average night temperatures in June of the past 14 years.

A roller coaster ride indeed.

Missy Bauer with B&M Crop Consulting says that two-month yo-yo spell left the region’s soybean farmers battling the “largest carbon penalty the area has seen in 14 years.”

What is the carbon penalty in farming?

(Darrell Smith)

The carbon penalty Bauer refers to is the process where microbes in the soil come alive as soil temps gradually warm and start breaking down last year’s crop residue. The nutrients are then naturally converted to plant-available nutrients through mineralization.

Bauer says the warm-up occurred so quickly it created a sort of massive explosion of microbial activity in the soil. While that sounds like a good thing, she says it actually resulted in some essential early-season nutrients getting “locked up” in the soil, thus unavailable for plant uptake.

“How many calls did we take this year from farmers saying, ‘My beans aren’t growing right, why?’” says Bauer who also serves as a Farm Journal field agronomist. “We’re seeing the biggest carbon penalty we’ve had in 14 years, and this is a hard carbon penalty. It locked up the beans, and that added stress.”

How can I overcome the carbon penalty?
If you have liquid fertilizer technology on your bean planter, Bauer thinks it might pay off this year by offsetting the carbon penalty and helping beans battle that early season stress.

July is currently trending above average for growing degree days (GDD) in the Lake Erie region, which will help shift vegetative growth a gear or two higher and set beans on a course for canopy close and pod fill.

“Basically, we’re back on track (with beans),” Bauer says. “Maybe we’re just a little bit behind last year, but we had better heat units in May last year, too. Now, we’ve made-up for that GDD deficit heat unit-wise, we’re not quite all the way there, we’re still a little behind, but we’re knocking on average.”

Spray drone treatment for nutrient deficiency in soybeans an option, too
Recently, Kameron Barrow, field operations manager, teamed up with B&M owner and CCA Bill Bauer to address some nutrient deficient yellow spots in the operation’s test plots near Coldwater, Mich.

After tissue sampling the affected plants and finding out the culprit was most likely a manganese deficiency, Bauer and Barrow called up a local spray drone service provider and hired it to spot spray a 5% manganese liquid fertilizer over the canopy of the yellow soybean plants. The drone applied a rate of half a pound per acre of manganese.

“We came in and sprayed on July 10 and on July 15 we scouted and immediately those yellow spots are gone, and that’s only after five days,” says Barrow, adding they also left a nearby section of yellow plants untreated as a check. “This just shows we have access to spray drones now, and we can use the technology to use things we’ve never used to better manage the crop.”

Your Next Read: Put On Your Scouting Hat - Check for Southern Rust in Corn and White Mold in Soybeans

2025 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College: Making A Stand

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:40:25 GMT

A record-breaking harvest of corn or soybeans is built on the foundation of a good stand. That concept is the focus for the 2025 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie and team will be addressing some of the key agronomic practices and tools farmers use to accomplish high yields during the two-day event – slated for July 22 through July 23 – near Heyworth, Ill.

“We’re going to focus on what the elements of a good stand are in corn and soybeans and how you can achieve them through agronomic decisions and the tools you use,” Ferrie says.

The program includes a variety of both in-the-field sessions as well as inside, classroom sessions.

Planter Selection For Your Farm

One of the key topics being addressed this year for corn growers is the planter and how to select one that’s a good fit for your specific farm.

“There are so many different systems out there today, and when it comes to making planter purchases, add-on purchases and such, you have to think through the whole process and how they will work for you,” Ferrie says.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Missy Bauer will also be on hand to help farmers identify the impact of planting practices on corn and soybean stands.

“Missy will be talking to us about how to identify a good stand and also what contributes to a poor stand,” Ferrie notes. “We’re going to talk about hybrid characteristics and different aspects of the rooting structure of corn. We’ll then blend that information all in with farmers’ tillage practices, including strip-till, no-till, and also cover crops.”

Success With Early-Planted Soybeans

On the soybean side of the two-day program, Ferrie and team will be addressing early-planted soybeans and how to build a systems approach to growing them – from variety selection and planting preparation through harvest.

“We want to talk about row spacing, population, soybean characteristics, when can we stress plants and when to not stress plants,” Ferrie says. “We want to help farmers adopt a systems approach to early soybeans versus just planting them early and then trying to treat them like you would normal beans.”

In addition to these topics, the in-field and classroom sessions at the event will address:

Science behind spray nozzles: selecting the right nozzles for the job and making sure they perform well in the field.

Establishing corn ear count: examining the differences in rooting depth and stand establishment across a variety of tillage practices.

Closing systems: analyzing a variety of systems in different agronomic conditions to demonstrate how such systems impact stand establishment.

Put everything together, corn edition: evaluating everything from hybrid characteristics, leaf orientation, ear flex and how plant height affects light interpretation to ear development and plant stress in conventional corn and short corn.

Put everything together, soybean edition: looking at planting date, variety characteristics, tillage system, plant nutrition, row spacing and population all play a hand in bean stand establishment, overall light interception and yield.

The two-day event brings together presenters, farmers, and industry personnel that are passionate about raising the bar in farming, Ferrie says. “This is an unsponsored event making more time for our agronomists to spend with attendees, getting their questions answered, and more time to spend in the field,” he says.

Day 1 of the Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College starts at 8 a.m., Tuesday, July 22, and runs through happy hour/dinner.

Day 2 starts at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 23, and sessions will go through lunch.

“We will finish the second day with a Q & A following lunch. Our agronomists will be available to answer questions until your questions run out, so be sure to come with your list,” Ferrie says.

Price: $625 (includes access to one-day virtual event in January 2026).

Get the complete agenda details and register here .

No, John Deere is Not Freezing Production or Stepping Away From its U.S. Factories

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:48:46 GMT

An online report last week claimed John Deere is shutting down ALL manufacturing in response to the ongoing tariff situation in the U.S.

But we looked into it, and we’re here to tell you: don’t take the bait — or, as the kids say, feed the trolls — because it’s simply not true.

An article authored by Kieran Schalkwyk and titled “John Deere Freezes U.S. Manufacturing in Unprecedented Shutdown” appeared on MSN.com and was aggregated by Google News feeds last week, claiming the manufacturer is “making a radical move that some might think is ‘un-American.’”

John Deere shared the following LinkedIn post Friday afternoon. You can also visit Deere.com for more information on the company’s U.S. manufacturing presence.

The MSN.com post has since been taken down and brings up an error page:

MSN.com screenshot

(MSN.com)

It’s somewhat bewildering timing for this particular misinformation ploy.

John Deere recently put out a blog post outlining its commitment to U.S. manufacturing. The statement says John Deere will invest $20 billion into its U.S. footprint over the next decade, which includes major expansion projects in Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Today, the company has 60 manufacturing facilities in more than 16 U.S. states and employs over 30,000 American workers.

What is true is over the past 18 months, the company has been forced to lay off some employees , and it strategically slowed manufacturing at some production facilities in Iowa in response to depressed farmer demand for new tractors and combines.

Of course, John Deere is not alone navigating a treacherous global farm economy. Machinery rivals AGCO and CNH also made the tough choice to layoff factory workers over the past 12 months. CNH even completely shutdown its overseas machinery imports during the first few days of the tariff policy rollout, although that pause was only temporary.

In February, we updated our popular “Who Makes What Where” feature showing where major farm equipment is manufactured around the world.

Our analysis of John Deere’s global factory network shows that of the 60 John Deere machines relevant to U.S. farmers, 50 of them (83%) are manufactured here in North America. Of all the major farm equipment manufacturers we polled, John Deere has the largest U.S.-based manufacturing footprint other than Canadian-based Buhler Industries, which is 100% North America based.

So, it feels safe to say we can put this rumor to bed once and for all: No, John Deere is not shutting down its factories. Myth Busted. Shutdown the rumor mill.

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Mo Technology, Mo Problems? 2 Farmers Sound Off on Unreliable, High Maintenance Farm Equipment

Fri, 16 May 2025 03:54:27 GMT

Northeast Iowa farmer Tim Burrack is getting a little taste of Murphy’s Law this spring, and he’s not too thrilled about it. The same goes for Kansas farmer Matt Splitter. Both men are dealing with farm equipment that is breaking down more often than it is getting the job done.

It’s easy to see why such a situation would be so frustrating from the farmer point-of-view: the ag technology they’ve invested in to keep things on track this spring has basically done the complete opposite. And when the ideal planting windows are as compressed and as brief as they are today, stalled equipment is more than just a little problematic.

“There’s been a lot of problems for me — that’s a reason I’m not done planting yet — there’s just all these issues slowing us down, and more often than not, it’s (a problem with) the technology,” Burrack told “AgriTalk” host Chip Flory this week during his appearance on the weekly Farmer Forum segment.

Just yesterday, Burrack says, one row on his planter completely shut down. He took it down to the local dealership, but even the dealer technician was stumped. Lucky for Brook, the dealer’s IT guy was in the office that day and he figured out how to get his planter back up and running.

“He said let’s do an ISOBUS shutdown. Now, I’d never even heard that term before, but it’s when you shut everything off, you unplug the planter from the tractor, and then you start the tractor, back it up, and then plug the planter back in while the tractor is running,” he says. “That ended up solving my problem, but then something else shut down, and we sat there for another hour and a half before we figured that out. Stuff like that — as a farmer it makes you want to pull your hair right out.”

Kansas farmer Matt Splitter considers himself an early tech adopter, but even he is feeling a bit of tech-fatigue after having to do more “hard resets than I can count on all my extremities” this spring.

“There’s just something coming at us every day, all the time,” he says. “You get error codes. You get warnings. We’ve got a tractor down right now because of (an issue with) wiring, and we’ve got planters shut down. We can’t go a full day without some kind of technology issue, and what’s crazy is it’s not something that completely stops you in your tracks, just something that makes you want to pull your hair out. And there’s nothing you can really do other than chase down a mile of wires or do a hard reset.”

Splitter puts the onus for the dodgy tech and machinery squarely on farm equipment and ag tech providers. He believes they are not perfecting new products and machines before releasing them for sale, and then they simply move on to the next new product in the pipeline.

“And the technicians at the dealerships are not being properly trained, either,” he adds. “They’re at a loss for how to fix a lot of these problems, as well.”

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Add 75+ Bushels Of Corn Per Acre With Better Closing Wheel Performance

Tue, 13 May 2025 11:37:01 GMT

A single oversight at planting often costs corn growers 75 to 100 bu. per acre, yet many don’t even know they have a problem that needs solving. The problem? It’s poor planter closing wheel performance.

Closing wheels are supposed to deliver good seed-to-soil contact by eliminating air pockets, gently firming the soil around the seed corn and closing the furrow.

When those final steps in the planting process are done poorly, corn germinates unevenly and there’s no way to go back and undo the damage. For the rest of the growing season, you’re left with a crop that can’t perform up to its potential.

Corn yield champions David Hula and Randy Dowdy say they see the issue routinely when they check corn emergence and do stand counts with farmers.

Simple Calculations Help Pinpoint Losses
“Each row is an individual and producing income for you, and when you took and did the math, I remember seeing 190-bu. swings across the planter,” Dowdy tells Hula. “But just how many times do we see 100 bu. swings?”

Hula agrees that he has seen 190-bu. yield losses occur in extreme cases. He adds that even the best farmers incur some losses from poor closing wheel performance.

“I would say the average [has been] closer to 75 to 100 bushels,” he says. “The best one I saw was a farmer we worked with in Iowa, and they had spent a lot of time on his 12-row planter, and he still had a 27-bu. loss per acre,” adds Hula in the latest episode of the Breaking Barriers podcast.

You can also watch the podcast at Farm Journal TV - Agriculture video on demand.

Centered Over The Row
Closing wheels need time and attention to bring them into alignment just like any other part of the planter. Dowdy says even new planters with all the latest technology still need to have their closing systems checked.

“I was vetting a new 24-row planter in Michigan this spring, and on five of the rows the V-press wheel on one side was running in the furrow. That’s 20% of the rows, a problem perpetuating itself across every field,” he says.

“Those V-press wheels have a tendency to walk left and right because the bolt design that manufacturers use just won’t keep them centered,” adds Dowdy, who’s based near Valdosta, Ga. “It doesn’t seem to matter which manufacturer’s V-press wheels we’re using, either.”

If V-press wheels are set correctly over the row, Dowdy says they will leave a slight ridge or berm of soil above the planted seed to help ensure good seed-to-soil contact.

“But if you’re not centered that little ridge will not be directly over the seed and that’s problematic,” he says. “That will change your seed planting depth and impact emergence. No way will those corn plants all emerge at the same time and they won’t yield the same.”

Do The Job Other Farmers Won’t Do
Hula, a five-time world champion corn grower, suggests that farmers “trust but verify” their closing wheel system is performing well as they plant every field.

“I know that takes time, but think of how much revenue you’d gain by being willing to check and make some adjustments during the planting process,” says Hula, who farms near Charles City, Va.

The best way to check closing wheel performance is to do some digging behind the planter, notes Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

“We dig a cross-section of the row and work until we can find the seed and observe how it was placed in the soil,” Ferrie explains. “In ideal conditions, you want to see the seed at the bottom with enough firm soil over the top of it to keep the seed area from drying out.”

Do You Have The Right Closing System?
Another consideration, Hula says, is farmers need to determine whether they are using the best closing wheels for their situation. In the evaluation process, he says to look at your tillage system, soil texture, field conditions and weather.

“We can’t just throw dollars around at these market prices, but if you can get a better closing system that adds more revenue to your bottom line, that will pay for itself quickly,” he says.

Hula has been using a two-stage closing wheel system for the past six years and believes it significantly improves corn planting performance compared to traditional closing wheel designs.

“We have seen our emergence uniformity improve significantly these past few years,” he says.

Hear more from Hula and Dowdy on a recent episode of “AgriTalk.”

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Ferrie: Evaluate Corn Stands And Replant Decisions This Week

Mon, 05 May 2025 17:26:10 GMT

Rain showers have slowed or stopped planters from advancing in fields across parts of the Midwest, including Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. The situation continues a wetter-than-normal pattern that has been in place for the last several weeks, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor .

One farmer who was chased out of fields by rain this past weekend told Farm Journal, “This is the wettest drought I have ever seen.”

In central Illinois, Ken Ferrie says farmers there are also dealing with rain and rain delays but that there is a silver lining to be had.

“There is a lot of upside potential from the moisture – getting our soil-applied herbicides working for us, and helping some of those soybean stands that are struggling to emerge in timber soils,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

“This keeps our national corn crop from being in the exact same stage of growth all at once, meaning this entire crop isn’t going to try and pollinate in the same week – which could happen to be 110 degrees at the time. We just won’t know until we get there.”

Sure, there are valid concerns farmers have about getting crops planted, but looking ahead to identify benefits on the back side of the production season can provide some encouragement.

“Breaking up this planting window helps us all the way to the harvest, when we start knocking these fields out with the combine. We don’t want our corn and soybeans being too dry at harvest, which causes its own set of issues,” he says.

With that said, Ferrie offers four suggestions to consider for the week ahead:

Keep your powder dry if the weather outlook and soil conditions are crummy. If you jump the gun and muddy corn into wet, cold soils this week that could cost you big. Ferrie says you could easily lose 30 bushels per acre in that scenario.

“In that event, you could have waited until May 20 to plant and ended up with the same corn yield at harvest and a lot less replant to deal with now,” he explains. “Of course, there would be some drying costs to consider in that picture as well.”

Assess corn stands for replant decisions. If your situation is the corn got planted but then rains moved in, this is the time to swing back to those fields and evaluate emergence. Those fields that show signs of trouble need to be tended to sooner than later.

“We’re still early in the planting window, and replant decisions can be made without giving up any yield at this point,” Ferrie says. “With corn, you’re not only looking for emergence numbers, you’re looking at uniformity of emergence as well.”

Expect any plant that’s more than one collar behind its neighbor to be a small or no-eared plant. Furthermore, Ferrie’s experience is if corn was mudded into the field, you’ll likely have about two-thirds of a normal stand – rather than little or no stand.

Another issue to keep in mind are any seed corn lots you planted that had low test scores. Even if you planted those lots in good conditions, they still might not perform well.

Ferrie recommends verifying that ear counts are high enough to hit the yield goals that you’re after. Use those insights to guide the use of inputs and/or whether you need to replant the crop.

“Remember, we don’t thicken corn stands up, especially this early. We take them out and we start over,” he says. “However, if you are planting at 36,000 (population) hoping for a 35,000 ear count but end up with 26,000 due to your planting conditions, it might not pay to replant in $4 corn,” he adds.

Factors to consider if you’re planting soybeans. Ferrie says to put your early soybean maturities into the ground this week.

“Because it’s May 5, plant your earlier maturity beans first as we’re now in the ‘normal’ planting window,” he advises, “Then, finish with your full-season soybeans.”

This direction is just the oppositive of what he recommends when Illinois farmers want to plant early soybeans. If it was still early planting season, Ferrie would be saying to plant full-season soybeans first (based on your maturity zone) and then finish with your shorter-season soybeans.

If you feel you have to plant soybeans in tough soil conditions and get a less than ideal stand, don’t give up on the crop — soybeans have a remarkable ability to compensate.

“Because soybeans set their yield later in their development, a tough start for beans doesn’t carry the yield penalty that it does for corn,” Ferrie points out.

An important side note: Make sure your planter is set to do a good job of singulating for soybeans. That will help you get a more uniform pod load, which is important to yield outcome.

Anticipate pests showing up in fields now or headed your way. Ferrie says black cutworm (BCW) is moving into Illinois and other states, and farmers need to be on the lookout for feeding. Any field that had a green cover the last part of March to early April will carry the biggest risk.

“All cover crop fields will need to be watched, including the fields where chickweed and henbit were used as covers,” he says.

Ferrie cautions farmers that if they worked a cover crop in at the end of April, that does not take away the threat of cutworms. The eggs have already been laid.

“Guys, cutworm is easy to kill, so let’s not drop the ball on this one. Scouting from the road is not recommended. When you notice a stand disappearing from the road, you’re usually behind the eight ball already. And scouting cover crop fields from the highway is impossible.”

Ferrie adds that there has been a noticeable presence of true armyworm moth in traps. “That means we’ll have to keep an eye on this insect as heat units continue to climb. Cover crop fields, fields next to the cover crops and our wheat crop will need to be watched,” he says.

Join us this summer at the Farm Journal Corn & Soybean College . The two-day event, scheduled for July 22-23, is now open to you for registration. Ferrie and team host the annual agronomic program at their Crop-Tech Consulting facility based just south of Bloomington, Ill.

This is an unsponsored event making more time for our agronomists to spend with attendees, getting their questions answered, and more time to spend in the field. We hope to see you there!

Catch Ken Ferrie’s latest agronomic insights and recommendations in this week’s Boots In the Field Podcast :

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John Deere Challenge: Watch a New York Tech Journalist Farm 20 Acres of Corn for $20 Profit

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 13:52:49 GMT

You might recall this viral stunt from when it was announced last spring: John Deere and tech influencer David Cogen (@TheUnlockr) joined forces to set the New York-based journalist up as a row crop farmer for an entire growing season. Using 20 acres of prime Iowa farmland, Cogen’s mission was to find out if he could accomplish what farmers must achieve to put food on America’s dinner tables: turn planted crops into cold, hard cash.

Unlike most farmers, though, Cogen was basically given every cheat code in the game: He had guidance from John Deere experts throughout the crop journey, all of the latest John Deere equipment with all the tech bells-and-whistles any farmer could dream for —not to mention a blank check for seed, crop inputs, fuel and labor.

Cogen began by ordering up soil tests and custom fertilizer applications. Then he flew back to Iowa to complete the spring tillage pass and seed the field. Next came another trip to spray weeds post-emergence with Deere’s See & Spray smart application system before returning in the fall to harvest the finished grain and haul it down to the local ethanol processing plant.

Along the way Cogen learned a handful of lessons any seasoned farmer already knows all too well:

The weather never seems to do what you want it to do, when you want it to do it. That’s farming.
You have to eradicate weeds or they will rob your yields and destroy your profits.
Variation is the enemy, it’s all about consistent production and harvesting at the precise moisture level and timing.
A dry late-summer and early-fall is a factor you can’t control but it can cost you real dollars on your final yield. The corn will dry down too fast in the field if you don’t get it off on time, so in this case, water is truly money when it comes to corn and soybean farming.

In the end, Cogen’s field averaged 209 bushels per acre and produced just over 3,000 total bushels of corn, which equates to over 200,000 lb.

His total expenses for the year (land costs, seed, fertilizer and “other”) totaled $16,456, while his total revenues for the 19.24 total acres of corn harvested was $16,478.

Don’t adjust your monitor. Yes, you read that right.

The New York tech editor farmed all year long and only brought home $22 in total profit. It just goes to show, turning a profit on only 20 acres is incredibly hard to do. Small acre farmers deserve just as much respect as the big boys.

“Honestly, I hope that like myself, that this has opened your eyes into what it actually takes to farm,” Cogen says at the end of the video. “Just all of the work that goes into it and you can have a new appreciation for farming and for farmers.

Your Next Read: Farmer Finds A Silver Bullet For High Corn Yields

BREAKING: CNH Halts Farm Equipment Shipments From North America, Europe To Assess Tariff Situation

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 12:53:24 GMT

In North America, we are stopping shipments from North America plants and European imports effective today. This is a temporary move until we assess the full impact of planned tariffs on pricing. There are no impacts to production and parts shipments continue as planned. We will continue to monitor the situation.CNH Industrial has confirmed online reports it will temporarily pause farm equipment shipments from North American factories as well as from its European counterparts, effective immediately.

Here is CNH Industrial’s statement in full:

“In North America, we are stopping shipments from North America plants and European imports effective today. This is a temporary move until we assess the full impact of planned tariffs on pricing. There are no impacts to production and parts shipments continue as planned. We will continue to monitor the situation.”

CNH Industrial official statement

Quick Analysis

It’s a stunning move the international equipment giant is directly linking to the ongoing global tariff situation. President Donald Trump’s wide-reaching tariff strategy is set to go in motion April 2 (pending any last-minute shifts) and is projected to have sweeping implications for agriculture businesses and economies around the globe.

In addition, this development might represent yet another warning sign the global ag economy is entering a period of recession.

If this feels like a complete surprise to many in the equipment industry that’s because it likely is.

CNH’s latest earnings report call, on Feb. 4, did not contain any mention of the possibility the company would halt shipments. In that call CEO Gerrit Marx did note a 34% reduction in production had already been set in motion in Q4 2024. He attributed the move as a strategy to help lower dealer inventories by over $700 million.

Marx also shared the company is always actively monitoring the tariff situation, a development Case IH head of North America Kurt Coffey previously disclosed to Farm Journal during the National Farm Machinery Show in mid-February , but Marx also mentioned on the Feb. 4 earnings call that at the time it was “too early” to fully assess (tariff) impacts.

Our 2025 update to “ Who Makes What Where ” showed Case IH builds 66% of its row-crop machines throughout North America, while 24% of them are manufactured in Europe.

New Holland itself maintains a fairly balanced manufacturing presence between the two continents, with Europe (30%) and North America (43%) hosting its largest manufacturing footprints.

Your Next Read: Farmers Who Stand Strong With Trump on Tariffs Say Long-Term Gain is Worth Short-Term Pain

Hula and Dowdy: Planter Calibration Sets Up Your Season For High Corn Yields

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 19:33:38 GMT

David Hula says farmers are often puzzled when they talk to him about the condition of their corn planter that they just pulled out of the shed and want to take to the field.

“A lot of people will say to me, ‘When I put my planter to bed last year, it was planting just fine. Why wouldn’t it be ready when we’re ready to start planting again?’” says Hula, based near Charles City, Va.

The world champion corn grower says his experience is planters need annual evaluation and calibration to perform their best in the sandy soils that dominate his farm ground.

“This year, we’re rebuilding, putting all new blades on double disc openers, no-till coulters, starter blades and shoes,” Hula says. “You know, we’re even having to redo the closing system, we’re having to replace the blades this year. And it’s just a whole methodical process getting the planter ready, you know; it’s a system.”

From The Hitch Pin To The Closing Wheels
Taking a systems approach to getting planters ready is what Farm Journal Field Agronomist Missy Bauer has helped many corn growers use to achieve higher corn yields over the past decade. She says the key is checking each facet of the planter and making adjustments before and during the season.

Missy Bauer says it’s common to pick up several thousand additional corn ears per acre by doing planter prep ahead of planting.

(B&M Consulting)

“I tell farmers to inspect everything involved with the seed transmission: chains, sprockets, bearings, idlers and clutch assembly, including all seed metering components as well as the meter itself,” Bauer says.

Another important aspect on the planter is on the down pressure side of things. Bauer says she has seen a big improvement with airbags compared to springs and even greater improvement with the move to hydraulics.

“We want to make sure we’re running a good down pressure system on your parallel arms. It’s important not to let these get too loose or start to get wear,” she says.

Another significant problem area Bauer sees on planters today is with gauge wheels not being set tight enough. That’s an issue Hula and corn yield champion Randy Dowdy also encourage farmers to address.

“If you’ve ever seen Randy walk behind a planter, one of the first things he does is he’ll pick up the gauge wheel, pull it all the way up, and then he’ll let it go. And if you hear it just fall and hit with a thump, then we know we’ve got too much of a gap there,” Hula says. “Sometimes that gap comes because the blade has a wobble. Now, if we can keep the gauge wheel close to the blade, not too tight, but close enough they kind of drag going down, that’ll prevent you from allowing dry dirt to fall into the trench.”

“You want true contact with the disk opener,” Missy Bauer says. To test this, lift up the gauge wheel and when you let go, you should hear it rub down the disk. If there’s a gap between the gauge wheel and disk opener, then the wheel will move back and forth. That gap could be large enough to allow soil to gather inside the wheel.

(B&M Consulting)

Bauer agrees, noting, “When I try to pull the gauge wheel, get it to wiggle back and forth and there’s no slop in here, that tells me it’s pretty good and ready for the field.”

Bauer offers her 10-point planter checklist here, and you can also download a printable version of the Farm Journal’s Planter Checklist .

From Good To Great Yield Potential
Attention to the details can mean the difference between average corn yields and bin buster results, Hula notes. “We’ll take the time to make sure the double disc openers are not warped, for instance. These are aftermarket blades that are supposed to be true,” he says.

This year, Hula ended up checking 267 blades to find 32 blades that he felt met his standards for use. “The wobbles were less than 38,000^th, so the companies are doing better job because we’re asking more of them. We pay attention to those type of details, and that’s key to us,” he says.

The ultimate goal with the corn planter is to get seed placed in the soil in a manner that results in more uniform emergence and better ear counts, Bauer notes. “Uniformity comes from two main principles, what we call picket-fence stands and photocopy plants and ears,” she says.

“Every 1,000 ears per acre is worth 5 bu. to 7 bu.,” she adds. “It’s common to pick up several thousand ears per acre as a result of good planter setup.”

Even a 7 bu. per acre yield increase would pay for the grower’s time invested and small repairs to a planter. At $4 a bushel over 500 acres, you could pick up an additional $14,000, dollars that are more important than ever this year given the tough economics in farm country. ($4 x 7 x 500 = $14,000)

Think Through Any Technology Adjustments
As farmers consider adding technology to their planter or even replacing a worn part, Bauer says to think about how that might affect uniformity of seed spacing, emergence and overall ear size. Those factors are affected by what she calls the micro-environment around the seed.

“Any little change, whether it’s in planting depth, seed-to-soil contact, residue being pitched down, pressure settings, gauge wheels not being set right, closing wheels not being correct, or even an issue with the seed bed, can affect this micro-environment around the seed and, therefore, cause variability in germination out in the field,” she says.

How well your planter performs impacts the micro-environment in ways either good or bad for seed corn.

(B&M Consulting)

Uniform germination and plant emergence sets the pace for a corn crop for the entire growing season, according to Georgia farmer and yield champion Randy Dowdy.

“We pay so much for this seed, so we have to get that uniform plant emergence,” says Dowdy, who farms near Valdosta, Ga. “These plants have to come up simultaneously, from the first emerger to the last one, and that’s a big deal.”

Dowdy says there are so many variables Mother Nature routinely throws at a corn crop that farmers need to make sure they control what they can in the planting process. Failing to control the controllables can have unwanted consequences.
“Say you don’t get the seed trench closed just right and dry dirt falls into it, you could be changing the seeding depth and the environment around that seed,” Dowdy explains. “Attention to details really matters and is what I believe separates a good farmer from a great one.”

Earlier this week, Dowdy and Hula joined AgriTalk Host Chip Flory to discuss their personal steps to planter preparation for this year’s corn crop. The discussion, which is scheduled for every other week, is part of the yield champions’ new program, Breaking Barriers with R&D, on Farm Journal TV. You can catch the AgriTalk conversation with Hula and Dowdy here:

John Deere Details Model Year 2026 Updates, New Machine Capabilities and Technology Features

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 18:42:29 GMT

John Deere announces a suite of equipment and technology upgrades and new features across its portfolio of machines. Some of the updates are exclusive to model year 2026 machines, and some are available as retrofit options or upgrades for new and/or older John Deere machines.

Next Generation Perception System For Autonomous Tillage
John Deere is releasing its autonomy Precision Upgrades kit for select tractor models that brings autonomy to tillage work. The system is available as a Precision Upgrades kit for model year 2022 and newer 9R and 9RX tractors and model year 2020.5 and newer 8R and 8RX tractors. Select model year 2025 John Deere tractors are autonomy ready from the factory.

RELATED: John Deere Introducing Next Generation Perception Autonomy Kits

To add autonomy to the tillage tool, retrofit kits are available for 2017 and newer John Deere tillage implements with additional lighting and the StarFire receiver mast and harnessing. The autonomy ready solutions are factory installed in base models for select MY25 tillage tools.

Combine Improvements
For model year 2026, the additions include a new three-piece CAM hinge draper reel with dense pack fingers and a new CF 18 30 corn head, which John Deere says is the industry’s first folding corn head with 18" rows and 30" spacing.

John Deere is also announcing several enhancements to its model year 2026 combines:

The Harvest Settings Automation feature will now include an out-of-crop settings adjustment that engages when the combine is passing through previously harvested areas of the field. Now the feature supports wheat, barely, canola, soybean, corn and rice crops.

Predictive Ground Speed Automation is being updated with a new feature that helps operators manage unique field terrains such as waterways, ditches or terraces. Weed detection sensing is also being added. There will be new functionality incorporated into John Deere Operations Center that will use crop-type data from planting and satellite imagery to ensure all eligible combines have the essential harvest automation files necessary to increase productivity. Predictive Ground Speed Automation supports wheat, barley, canola, soybean, corn, peas, edible beans and lentils.

AutoTrac Turn Automation is being updated to automate the raising and lowering of the combine head for hands-free turning, and a new auto-unload camera with supporting hardware and software is available to help consistently fill grain carts and possibly reduce in-field spills.

(Dan Videtich/John Deere)

John Deere also announced a handful of harvest settings updates available in Operations Center, including grain harvest weight sharing and Grain Sensing with HarvestLab 3000 available now for all model year 2025 and newer X9, S7 and T6 combines.

And physical updates to model year 2026 machines include a new instructor seat in all models and a dual USB-C fast charging module in the cab. And the JD Link Boost satellite connectivity module is available for install on eligible combine models to maintain connectivity during harvest.

Sprayer Updates
John Deere says these updates were developed to give farmers cleaner fields that have less weed competition, leading to more yield potential.

See & Spray has new variable rate capabilities that can unlock precise applications and significant product savings in later-season fungicide and desiccant applications, preharvest passes and more, according to John Deere. Farmers can also now see the percentage of biomass each perception camera detects throughout the field. See & Spray Variable Rate capabilities will require a G5 or G5Plus CommandCenter display.

See & Spray Select is now available from the factory on model year 2026 John Deere 400 and 600 series sprayers with 90', 100' or 120' steel booms. See & Spray Select also will be available as a Precision Upgrades kit for model year 2018 and newer John Deere sprayers with ExactApply and a 120' steel boom.

See & Spray Premium is adding new boom sizes and is now available on Hagie STS20 sprayers. See & Spray Premium is compatible with 90', 100' or 120' booms.

(Mel Koltai/John Deere)

Beyond the See & Spray updates, John Deere also has two new AutoTrac options for sprayers:

AutoTrac Turn Automation (ATTA) is now compatible with John Deere 400 and 600 series self-propelled sprayers, 800R floaters, and Hagie STS12, STS16 and STS20 sprayers, model year 2022 and newer. The new feature is also included with Automation 4.0 on Gen4 displays and the G5 Advanced license for machines that have a G5 display.

AutoTrac Vision 2.0 is a new technology that ensures sprayer wheels remain centered within each crop row, and it boasts a maximum speed of 22 mph, slope performance of up to 6 degrees, and the ability to navigate curves with a radius of just 50 meters. AutoTrac Vision 2.0 is available on model year 2026 John Deere sprayers as a factory option.

John Deere is also introducing ExactApply Variable Rate capabilities – including multi-rate across the boom with AutoSelect Pulsing (and A+B pulse width modulation nozzle switching). Sprayer operators can now vary multiple application rates across the entire boom, up to 11 unique sections, leading to more precise product placement. Operators also can use increased rate ranges for variable rate prescriptions and curve compensation. This technology is available as a software update for model year 2023 to 2025 sprayers, and model year 2026 will come factory installed with updated software features and functionalities.

Planter Updates
John Deere announced four new planter updates:

A new rate controller, the John Deere Rate Controller 3, with the option to control and apply two liquid and/or anhydrous ammonia (NH3) products simultaneously across up to 16 sections. This can help farmers decrease the number of trips through the field while getting the same application work completed. John Deere says the new rate controller is suitable for a variety of row crops, ranches, high-value crops and even on golf courses.

Rate Controller 3 also features a new rate controller app that is available within the John Deere display menu. The rate controller app is fully compatible with Gen 4 v2 and G5 displays.

(Michael J Newell/John Deere)

John Deere says the new app will give farmers a similar experience as operating a self-propelled sprayer with a controller with a built-in base from the factory. This means farmers can now monitor their planter and rate controller functions on one screen on the display and execute easy adjustments, according to John Deere.

The new rate controller module also has a new harness and 48-pin connector, which expands the compatibility with third-party equipment.

Seed-Level Sensing provides farmers with a more accurate look at the level of seed remaining in the tank. It places a sensor in the tank that can measure the volume of seed left in the tank, which is then provided to the operator in the cab and the John Deere Operations Center. This feature is available on model year 2026 planters or as a Precision Upgrades kit for certain models back to model year 2022.

Fertilizer-Level Sensing is also new and it is similar to seed-level sensing, providing the operator with better information on the fertilizer level remaining in the tank. It is an external manifold that includes two pressure sensors, which are used to calculate both the liquid density as well as the volume remaining in the tank. This update is available on model year 2026 planters and is also a Precision Upgrades kit that can be added to machines that are model year 2022 and newer.

Active Vacuum Automation is available on model year 2026 planters with electric drives and the SeedStar 5 Monitoring System. This feature looks in real time at singulation and automatically adjusts the vacuum, helping to prevent skips and doubles.

To determine which new features and updates are available for existing machines or only on model year 2026 new machines, contact your local John Deere dealer.

Your Next Read: A Perfect Storm Is Driving Up New and Used Tractor Prices

Used Sprayers in 2025: Buyer’s Paradise or Just The Beginning?

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:34:26 GMT

The used sprayer market is shaping up to be a buyer’s market. That’s due to an oversupply in the market, and dealers are hauling a lot of late-model machines down to auctions to free up lot space.

On the flip side, strong buyer demand for older sprayers (10+ years) in good condition and a shortage of brand-new machines is holding those decade old machines rock solid on price, or even driving prices above what some would consider market value.

“2025 is looking like a pretty good time to look for that three-, four-, or five-year-old sprayer, to try and get ahead of the market before it flips and everyone wants to buy a new one (in 2026),” Greg “Machinery Pete” Peterson said. “You don’t want to buy when everyone else is buying. When any market becomes about availability, pricing goes right out the window.”

Moving Iron host Casey Seymour, who has almost 20 years of experience in the ag equipment industry, specifically tracking used equipment trends at the dealership level, agreed.

“The only thing that’s going to be out there to buy right now is going to be that late-model, low hour machine and I think we’re going to see a great opportunity for a big run on used equipment here in the last quarter of the year and going into 2026,” Seymour said.

Sprayer Segment Activity and Retrofit Options
Matt Raasch, AgriVision Equipment, says December was an average month for used equipment buying and selling activity, and January saw more action than normal. February did start out slowly, but he chalks that up to some of the poor weather across the Midwest.

“As I talk to other dealers, I’d say sprayers is probably the one category that comes up the most as far as level of concern, just with the number of units out there, and that inventory just continues to grow,” Raasch says. “The other thing I’m watching is the model mix, that used to be where we were pretty scattered as far as models and size of booms, and now everyone has the 120’ booms.”

In the retrofit segment, technologies such as John Deere’s See & Spray are moving the needle and seeing good uptake from farmers and custom applicators alike. That’s because farmers in general are more open to sprayer technology upgrades.

“They’re received better than planter, (upgrades),” says used equipment specialist Aaron Fintel. “On a planter you have virtually an entire new machine, and on a sprayer, you’re doing the, to use a bad term, the fancy stuff, the precision (ag) – it’s that next page for your farm.”

Commodities Update
Knowing the commodity market influences machinery movement, Rich Posson with Ag Financial joined the podcast to talk about where commodity prices are headed.

Posson says the markets started off slowly, but things are starting to wake up heading into spring planting.

“If you have strong prices from fall harvest into the next year’s growing season, and then you get a crop problem, that’s your larger, better bull market,” Posson says. “If you looked at it last year it was down, but this year it’s trending higher, it’s working. All that tells us is there’s even more upside (in the markets) if we do get that crop problem. The market has a good demand situation going for it.”

Posson is comfortable predicting corn, soybeans and wheat will see price increases later this summer. The trade situation with China isn’t something to worry about with corn and wheat exports because strong demand from South America and other export markets such as England and Japan can close that gap. China pulling back its purchases does have potential to negatively influence the soybean markets, he adds.

“I’m going to go a bit optimistic on China, they’re going to be OK,” Posson says. “But the rest boils down to, as far as our exports, the trade wars.”

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE OF MOVING IRON

From the Factory to Your Fields: Where Farm Equipment Is Made

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:47:09 GMT

The global agriculture equipment market is currently valued at $181 billion (USD) and is expected to grow by 4% over the next eight years. That’s according to a recent analysis from global consulting firm IMARC Group.

While IMARC Group pegs Asia-Pacific as the leading region for farm equipment manufacturing market share, it would stand to reason most of those machines are being sold to farmers in that region. The farm equipment U.S. farmers use is most commonly built in Europe, North America and South America.

Brand Breakdown
For example, John Deere’s manufacturing footprint is mainly based in North America. Of the 60 John Deere machines relevant to row-crop producers, 50 of them (83%) are manufactured in North America. Drilling down further, the three states with the largest John Deere manufacturing presence are:

Iowa at 61%
North Dakota at 17%
Illinois at 15%

Case IH builds 66% of its row-crop machines throughout North America, while 24% of them are manufactured in Europe.

Fellow CNH brand New Holland maintains a fairly balanced manufacturing presence between Europe (30%) and North America (43%).

AGCO’s Germany-based brand, Fendt, builds 57% of its row-crop machines in the European Union (EU) with North America hosting roughly 43% of its manufacturing. Claas has a large manufacturing presence in Europe, but it also manufactures its LEXION combine in Omaha, Neb., and has facilities in Columbus, Ind., and Regina, Saskatchewan.

McCormick and Landini machines are built entirely in EU factories. In contrast, Buhler Industries’ manufacturing footprint is fully based in North America.

Check out the data to see where your favorite tractor, planter, sprayer, combine and other farm machines are built in 2025.

Click here to download a printable version of the table above.

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FTC vs. John Deere: Two Experts Answer Key Questions

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 21:30:02 GMT

On Jan. 15, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court accusing John Deere of creating and presiding over a monopolistic and anti-competitive repair and dealer service system that puts farmers and independent repair professionals at an unfair disadvantage.

The news of this legal action has sent shock-waves through the ag equipment world. Deere has since offered an official statement condemning the action as “meritless…baseless…brazen partisanship.”

Incoming FTC chair, commissioner Andrew Ferguson, who has been appointed to head up the agency under President Trump, issued a statement that simultaneously recognizes the importance of allowing farmers to diagnose and fix their machines while indicating he disagrees with the decision to file the lawsuit. Fergusons’ statement was cosigned by fellow FTC commissioner Melissa Holyoak.

What happens next?
According to a post at FTC.gov, once the agency files a lawsuit the respondent – in this case, John Deere – has the right to contest the charges. FTC may then issue a final order, which can be appealed to the courts. The agency may also seek civil (i.e. financial) damages or request an injunction against Deere.

Plaintiff’s counsel have requested an injunction against John Deere. The lawsuit expressly asks for “a permanent injunction and other equitable relief against Deere to prevent its unlawful conduct in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act” along with several state statutes in Illinois and Minnesota.

The Interviews
Now that we’ve set the stage, here is what two experts who have paid close attention to the case have to say about it:

James Kovacs is an antitrust attorney with Shinder Cantor Lerner (SLC), a national litigation firm that specializes in antitrust law.

Q: Is what FTC is accusing Deere of difficult to prove in a court of law?

A: “This is actually a very interesting topic that has been going on now for a number of decades, called right to repair. And right to repair within the antitrust space, which is where I practice, has to do with whether or not restrictions placed by the original equipment manufacturer, in this case John Deere, and what we call an aftermarket, which are the areas in which people compete for repair or service, whether those, you know, aftermarkets are being harmed. And so looking at whether people cannot either independently repair their own equipment or whether independent retailers or repair centers are also restricted as well. With these cases, really any monopolization case is challenging, but here I will say that the practices of John Deere, I think, are quite open and notorious.

“For a long time, people have been aware that farmers have been restricted from repairing their farm equipment. There are a variety of means, most of which are sort of technical issues in which the data and information necessary to perform the repair or the tool, which I believe is called the Service Advisor, has been restricted. And so, when the farmer or the independent repair center goes to fix the John Deere equipment, they are not able to access the necessary technical information to complete the job. And now the farmer can only do those types of repairs through a John Deere retailer, an authorized retailer.

“And so, this type of conduct within the right to repair market dates back to cases in the 1990s, in particular, with Kodak printers. And it can be found to be anti-competitive, wherein there’s an entity with basically complete control over the repair market who applies these types of restrictions. So, this is not something that is uncommon. And it’s something that’s seen quite an uptick in interest since the Biden Administration made it a priority. And when the FTC issued their initial report, called Nixing The Fix, that sort of got the ball rolling on the FTC’s interest in these types of cases.”

Q: In your opinion, does FTC have a strong case here?

A: “In my experience, the FTC does not bring complaints unless they feel like there are strong grounds to do so. Again, I also think there are a couple key factors at play here. One, I think the public is becoming quite aware of John Deere’s practices. I know that there are several reports and public sources out there who have spoken about these issues and their impact on farmers and their farming equipment.

“The second aspect to keep in mind is there is also a private litigation against John Deere alleging the same practices. That case has proceeded past a motion to dismiss. And so, what that means is the allegations have been proven to be sufficient to allow the parties to proceed into discovery. And I think that gives credence to the fact these claims are not necessarily merit-less at all. But in fact, people who have been looking at these issues believe there are merits to these claims. And I think the FTC does not typically act unless they believe strongly that an issue could be problematic.”

Q: FTC, through their legal team, has requested an injunction against Deere along with their co-plaintiffs, the state attorney generals in Illinois and Minnesota. Let’s say I’m a farmer in Illinois or Minnesota, and I’m using Deere equipment. I may be looking to have some repairs made before spring planting by a John Deere dealer. Could there be implications at play for those users?

A: “I think it’s important to note that the FTC’s jurisdiction is nationwide. And so, what the FTC is seeking through its injunctive relief, as I understand it, is access to what they call the ‘full function Service Advisor (program).’ As of right now, there is sort of an incomplete Service Advisor that the independent repair pros and the farmers have access to, but that doesn’t give them the full suite of options to repair all the needs of their farming equipment. And the allegation is that John Deere has withheld some of this technical information out of a desire to sort of capture the repair market under the injunctive relief.

“As I understand it, if the FTC were to be successful in any litigation and a jury ultimately found in their favor, then ultimately the farmers would be able to get access to this full Service Advisor tool and therefore be able to complete more repairs. Whether or not John Deere comes up with additional ways of restricting repairs is going to be open to interpretation, but at least this is a very specific injunctive relief. And there’s also sort of broader language to sort of prevent them from continuing this unlawful conduct. And so, I think it could be substantial relief.”

Willie Cade is a Washington, D.C., lobbyist and Right to Repair advocate. His grandfather was on the board at John Deere and worked for the company as a chief engineer. He can be reached by email at willie@graceful.solutions .

Q: What have you learned about this legal action that sticks out to you?

A: “A couple of things really stick out in my mind. No. 1, deep into the filing, around paragraph 111, they talk about how this monopolization of repair actually affects all repairs.

“Yes, it’s not monopolization of every repair, but it affects the price of every repair, which is remarkable. And they really call it a monopoly. They’re flat out about it. I love the way they took the time – we initially filed the complaint with the FTC and I worked on that with the attorneys that filed it three years ago. So they did their homework and they’ve done a really good job. And I really recommend to the farmers who really care about this issue, that they read the complaint because it reads really well. It reads like they know the industry, like they know what they’re talking about and that kind of thing.

“The other thing that was kind of interesting is, is they have lots (of evidence). They have a number of John Deere executives on record saying that, yeah, we knew we were doing this. So, I mean, they’ve really nailed it from that point of view. And when you look at the dissenting opinion from the two Republican commissioners, it’s a non-dissent dissent. There really was no objection to the substance of the suit, just the timing.”

Q: Are you aware of any other major farm machinery companies that might be engaged in similar conduct?

A: “They’re all doing it. They all use the same similar kind of technology — the CAN bus. Caterpillar is a little different because it’s not a CAN bus, it’s a hub. But those are just technical details. They’re still wanting to, I assert, illegally control the consumer after they sell the product. That’s a legal concept called tying. And tying has been illegal for almost a century now. And the electronics allow you to do it today where you weren’t able to do it before, other than physically. So we’re going to nail this. It’s going to take a year or two and then we’re going to move on. We’re going to move on to some even more important issues in agriculture. But I won’t tell you what that is yet.”

Q: Could you see this becoming sort of a win-win situation, where the farmers win out on this and even Deere comes out of this looking somewhat okay and maybe better for the long term?

A: “Well, here’s the interesting thing. Due to the lack of rights to repair their own farm equipment, farmers stand to lose $4.2 billion a year. About 20% of that is realized in higher prices for repair and services. The rest is in lost yield. So, could you imagine if farmers could get that rough number, that $3.8 billion back or even $3.7 billion back? And it’s all profit, by the way. By the time you get the yield, it’s all profit. If they could get that as profit, of course John Deere is going to do better with sales.”

Watch this video for additional coverage from the Jan. 18, 2025, episode of U.S. Farm Report.

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BREAKING: FTC Files Right to Repair Lawsuit, John Deere Issues Statement

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:37:23 GMT

It is bone-chillingly cold throughout the Midwest, yet the Right to Repair issue is heating up once again.

Farm Journal Washington correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer learned early Wednesday morning that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is filing a lawsuit against Deere & Co. for allegedly violating U.S. competition laws.

The lawsuit was filed on Jan. 15, 2025, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Western Division. You can review the redacted filing by clicking here.

Update (6:31 pm CST): John Deere has released a statement vowing to fight the lawsuit, characterizing the FTC’s claims as “baseless” and “meritless.” It can be viewed here.

Wiesemeyer shared the following summary of key points from Deere’s response:

Commitment to repair access: John Deere emphasized its long-standing dedication to customer self-repair, noting its history of publishing manuals, selling parts directly, and providing digital tools like Customer Service ADVISOR.
Defense of innovation: The company stated that the lawsuit “punishes innovation and pro-competitive product design.”
Settlement efforts: John Deere disclosed ongoing settlement negotiations with the FTC prior to the lawsuit and criticized the agency for relying on “inaccurate information and assumptions.”
Recent initiatives: Highlights included the launch of Equipment Mobile in 2023, upcoming upgrades to the John Deere Operations Center, and a pilot program to enhance farmer’s repair options.

RELATED: What Does Right to Repair Really Mean?

What happens next?
According to a post at FTC.gov, once the agency files a lawsuit the respondent – in this case, John Deere – has the right to contest the charges. FTC may then issue a final order, which can be appealed to the courts. The agency may also seek civil (i.e. financial) damages or request an injunction against Deere.

According to the Jan. 15 filing, Plaintiff’s counsel has asked for an injunction against John Deere. The lawsuit requests “a permanent injunction and other equitable relief against Deere to prevent its unlawful conduct in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act” along with several state statutes in Illinois and Minnesota.

Farm Journal has reached out to its contacts in the ag law realm to find out what the implications are if an injunction is granted against Deere in Illinois and Minnesota, and what that would mean for Deere customers in those states. We’ll update with more information as soon as we have it.

Why is FTC filing against Deere?
Reuters and other news sources confirm the agency has been actively investigating John Deere since 2021 .

Weisemeyer has been following the situation closely. He has learned the agency claims Deere’s equipment design often necessitates proprietary software available only to authorized dealers, which in turn limits farmers and independent repair shop’s ability to perform repairs.

Deere had previously agreed in January 2023, through an accord with the American Farm Bureau Federation, to expand access to its repair tools, but according to Weisemeyer and reporting from Bloomberg, concerns over compliance with that agreement persist.

According to reporting from online publication Agriculture Dive, a court last year ruled against the heavy equipment giant’s bid to dismiss a similar lawsuit from a group of farmers.

In yet another twist in this ongoing saga, FTC Commissioner Andrew N. Ferguson has issued a dissenting opinion, which is cosigned by FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak. President Trump announced on Dec. 10 that Ferguson will serve as the new Chair of the FTC under his administration.

You can review that dissenting opinion here.

Deere’s news release on expanding self-repair solutions
On Jan., 14, 2025, John Deere issued a news release outlining its commitment to expanding access to various digital tools and resources to help independent repair technicians and farmers diagnose equipment and make repairs.

The full statement is posted to Deere’s online newsroom.

The statement details what Deere calls its “Commitment to Repairability” and includes a list of tools that are available today to “support customers throughout their machine ownership and repair journey.”

Deere also writes that a “latest addition to Deere’s suite of digital solutions will further empower customers and independent repair technicians by, among other things, enabling them to reprogram Deere-manufactured electronic controllers.” The new capabilities are being integrated into the John Deere Operation’s Center, Deere adds, and will “offer more comprehensive solutions for diagnosing and repairing equipment while ensuring machine reliability, safety, and compliance.”

The manufacturer also says it will have additional announcements regarding a “customer and independent repair technician pilot” which is due to launch in the U.S. and Canada by the second half of 2025.

The news release directs interested parties to visit Deere.com/repair for more information.

Your Next Read: 5 Tech Companies Embracing Electrification, Autonomy

Autonomy in Farming: What Manufacturers and Tech Companies Are Working On

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:28:11 GMT

A bold, new era marked by mass adoption of autonomous machines is nearing realization. Farmers are more interested than ever in the shift to full automation.

Ohio State University professor John Fulton points to the current farm economy as one catalyst driving interest. He believes challenges in recruiting skilled labor and an increasing comfort with technology will continue to advance buy-in from growers.

“You’re going to see more of it being embedded into machines, and we’re right on the cusp of seeing more autonomy adopted by farmers,” Fulton says.

Let’s dive in and explore what some companies developing autonomous solutions have been working on.

Retrofitting Robotics

Sabanto is developing retrofit kits to convert existing tractors into autonomous machines. The approach is grounded in founder and CEO Craig Rupp’s belief the next generation of highly capable, high horsepower tractors – what he deems the “Swiss Army Knives” of farming – are already in farmers’ machine sheds.

Rupp says rather than buying a new tractor with the latest autonomy features, farmers should first explore upgrading their current machines. Installation of Sabanto’s retrofit autonomous tractor kit is available today on John Deere’s 5E and 6E Series, as well as Kubota and Fendt models.

Sabanto is focusing on integrating farmer feedback into its autonomous tractor kits.

One potential low-hanging fruit is autonomous field-to-field traversal. This would shuttle the tractors autonomously between fields connected by a private drive, and someday do the same on public roads. Autonomous machines today are trailered from field to field.

In early summer 2024, Sabanto implemented the first virtual Field Operator (vFO) position.

(Sabantoag.com)

Sabanto is also forming a team of virtual field operators , made up of young people with experience in farming simulators, Rupp says. These operators will remotely oversee and control Sabanto machines across the country. After a farmer trailers a tractor to a field and unloads it, the virtual operators will manage tasks and oversee in-field operations in real time.

Rupp says Sabanto engineers are also improving in-field path planning and extending active hours with the goal of running robotic tractors around the clock.

From his viewpoint, the former electrical engineer turned ag entrepreneur is convinced autonomous farming will happen at a large-scale.

“We’ve gone beyond the when and if, and we’re at the stage where it comes down to how it is going to be done,” Rupp says.

2030 or Bust?

John Deere has released autonomy-ready packages for its tractors and tillage tools.

(John Deere/Bill Krzyzanowski)

John Deere’s transition from equipment manufacturer to data and ag tech innovator plows ahead at full steam. The manufacturers’ model year 2025 class of machines showcased more factory-installed autonomy features than any previous class in its long history.

A recent key development is the release of John Deere autonomy-ready packages for its tractors and tillage tools. The aftermarket kits include all of the necessary hardware and safety features for autonomous operations. To unlock full autonomy, farmers will only need to add a perception system, which consists of cameras and vision processing units.

In the future, Michael Porter, go-to-market manager – large tractors, says the perception system will be available alongside its retrofit precision ag technology kits through John Deere’s Precision Upgrades program.

“These elements are a key step in preparing farms for autonomous operations, and making those tools available [aftermarket] demonstrates the commitment we have to helping farmers at every phase along the autonomous journey,” Porter adds.

John Deere’s runway to bringing its machines to life without an operator at the helm is short: The company is in a race against the calendar, having pledged to delivering a fully autonomous fleet of machines in corn and soybeans by 2030.

The next opportunity to learn what John Deere is planning for its row-crop technology stack looks to be the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, in January 2025. Last year, the company showcased its 8R autonomous tractor and Furrow Vision seed furrow sensing technology.

Specialty Crop Starting Line

CNH-owned New Holland recently announced a tie up with ag robotics startup Bluewhite. The partnership will enable collaboration on distribution, manufacturing and integration of Bluewhite’s autonomous technology with New Holland tractors in North America.

According to Paul Welbig, director of precision technology, New Holland, the Bluewhite kits consist of many common components, such as front-facing LiDAR and various arrays of connected sensors around the tractor. Cursory mechanical drive components, as well as software to link everything up and make it all “talk”, or work in concert, are also included.

New Holland and Bluewhite will partner to deploy Bluewhite’s autonomous solutions for New Holland tractors used in orchards, vineyards, and other special crops.

(Photo courtesy of New Holland)

New Holland has also started building out its autonomy portfolio in row crops, starting with its driverless grain cart technology, Raven Cart Automation, that links up a grain cart (pulled by a tractor) and combine autonomously, removing the need for an additional driver during harvest.

“The practicality and return on investment [for that system] come in when you run more than one machine with only one operator,” Welbig explains. “That’s really how you start to see value; we can support multiple combine and tractor combinations – up to six machines total – today.”

Welbig and the New Holland executive team see autonomy as a five-step journey. The first step is auto guidance and GPS, and step two is ensuring all machines are connected and exchanging data. The highest level of autonomy, step five, represents a complete removal of both the driver and the farmer from the field altogether. At that level the farmer sits in a central location, managing and tasking multiple machines from a computer or tablet.

“Steps two, three and four in between, there’s still a lot of meat left on that bone,” Welbig admits. “As autonomous technology continues to evolve in the future, we’ll continue to evolve with it.”

Fully Cycle Autonomy

AGCO’s newest joint tech venture, PTx Trimble, is now solidly off the ground, and the company is advancing its autonomous grain cart tech heading into 2025.

The group’s vision of bringing autonomy to the full ag production cycle is also coming to life, although like its competitors, it’s going to take time for the full vision to come to fruition.

PTx Trimble’s automated grain cart system, OutRun.ag, will be available for purchase in 2025. For year one, single cart configuration is unlocked. The next evolution is enabling swarming of two autonomous grain carts around the same combine.

PTx Trimble also has an autonomous tillage system currently in development. The company figures many farmers will happily give up running a tillage tool across the field to a robot.

A clear differentiation point is PTx Trimble’s use of cellular connectivity and edge computing over low orbit satellite connectivity. This allows for operation in remote areas with sub-par connectivity.

RELATED: Planting A Flag: AGCO All-In On Mixed-Fleet Aftermarket Ag Tech

One limiting factor to adoption is farmer sentiment toward field work, and the types of tasks they’ll agree to give up to a machine. Ultimately, it will be up to the technology to fully prove its worth.

“As you automate you have the option of pulling the operator out [of the cab],” says Eric Hansotia, AGCO CEO. “But where is the farmer going to feel comfortable giving up that control? And can we find an autonomous solution there and build up farmer trust?”

Your Next Read: Making Purchases for 2025: All You Can Do Is Your Best!

New Products: AGCO, Bayer, Case IH, Firestone Ag, Great Plains, New Holland, PTx Trimble and Solinftec

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 15:30:07 GMT

AGCO Launches Fendt 600 Vario Tractor, Massey Ferguson 9S Series Tractor, Gleaner T Series Combines

Fendt’s 600 Vario Tractor series is available now for order in North America and features four models (614 Vario, 616 Vario, 618 Vario and 620 Vario) ranging from 149 to 209 rated-engine hp. The tractors are powered by the all-new AGCO Power CORE50 4-cylinder, 5-liter engine.

The Massey Ferguson 9S Series tractor is also available now in North America. The machine features a duo 8.4-liter AGCO Power engine, Dyna-VT transmission and Massey Ferguson’s Protect-U cab design. AGCO says operators have experienced up to a 15% reduction in fuel consumption with the 9S Series.

The Gleaner® T Series combines are available in 322-430 horsepower configurations (depending on model) and feature 4 bushel per second unloading rates as well as improvements in control and comfort, AGCO says. Its Dura Drive feature reportedly improves performance and productivity by allowing faster harvesting speeds of up to 25 mph.

Learn more from AGCO here.

Bayer FieldView Drive 2.0 Available Now

Bayer has unveiled FieldView Drive 2.0, a small plug-and-play device that farmers can use to connect, monitor and record activities across different farm equipment types and brands.

The multinational crop protection company says FieldView Drive 2.0 provides more processing power, data storage, and in-field connection stability than its previous iteration.

Bayer says hundreds of farmers have field tested the device and it will begin shipping the new hardware in the U.S. starting early next year.

Learn more about FieldView Drive 2.0 here.

Case IH Announces New Tech Solutions, Equipment Innovations

Case IH is launching a wide range of farm equipment and technology solutions that pair precision technology and equipment to make operations easier, more efficient and more productive, the company says in a recent press release.

Among the new introductions and releases:

The all-new FieldOps mobile and web application, which it says redefines the way farmers connect, view and manage operations. Expanded API integrations allow farmers to connect with third party providers and manage mixed fleets.
Connectivity Included eliminates subscriptions on new qualifying equipment (various machines) while precision technology packages simplify the technology purchase experience.
New AF9 and AF10 (pictured above) combines, which Case IH says are both redesigned from the ground up to maximize capacity and crop flow with efficient horsepower and simplified maintenance. The single-rotor AF9 (634 hp) and AF10 (775 hp) complete the new AF series, which launched earlier in 2024 with the AF1. The AF series offers a full suite of precision technology, as well.
A new C500 corn head series, which pairs with the AF and 260 series combines.
For Model Year 2025, Soil Command will be factory-fitted on select sizes of the Case IH Speed-Tiller 475 high-speed disk and VT-Flex 435 vertical tillage tool and will work on any ISO-compatible tractor.
Case IH Active Implement Guidance is available now and gives farmers access to an easy-to-use, plug-and-play system to correct implement drift while navigating planting, tillage and side-dressing.
Model Year 2025 Puma series tractors, for 185 to 260 models, have been upgraded to provide flexibility to manage row crop and livestock tasks on diversified farms.
New Model Year 2025 Steiger Series Tractors that Case IH says elevate the operator’s experience all around with powerful tools like Connectivity Included and farmer-centric functionality.
Case IH is expanding the Early Riser 2000 series planter lineup to bring more accuracy, customization and productivity to operations utilizing 20" and 22" row spacings with the new Early Riser 2160 48-row configurations.
For Model Year 2025, the Patriot 50 series sprayer and the Trident 5550 combination applicator include a new all-aluminum boom with factory-installed Boom Recirculation, increasing efficiency and chemical use.
For Model Year 2025, the Trident 5550 combination applicator also includes a new Dry Hi-Flow option, boosting product output and hydraulic flow.

More information on Case IH products and services can be found online at https://www.caseih.com

Firestone Ag Announces Bridgestone Availability In North America

Firestone Ag is bringing its Bridgestone tractor tires to U.S. and Canadian farmers, according to a press release from the company.

All three ag tires in the Bridgestone lineup feature triple-defense rubber engineered to resist wear, protect against stubble and enhance durability. Firestone’s patented Involute lug design is said to maximize traction and minimize soil disturbance and energy loss caused by tire slip, helping farmers reduce fuel costs.

In field trials, the Bridgestone VX-TRACTOR tire delivered 45% more wear life than a competitor, the company claims. Bridgestone tractor tires are backed by a 10-year limited warranty.

Contact your local Firestone Ag dealer or visit FirestoneAg.com to learn more.

Great Plains Ag Enhances Field Cultivators for High Speed Tillage

Great Plains Ag has enhanced its line of field cultivator implements with a new frame design, new shank system, and new finishing attachments.

The new CT8400 and CT8410 cultivators reportedly offer greater leveling, weed control, and residue management capabilities at faster operating speeds.

Available in 24' to 51' working widths, the new cultivators are offered with two hitch options:

The CT8400 features a constant-level hitch for operation on flat ground and open fields
The CT8410 is a floating hitch model for rougher terrain or fields with lots of variation.

Both implements are ready to order for the 2025 season.

Learn more about the CT8400/8410 Field Cultivators at www.GreatPlainsAg.com.

New Holland Announces CR10 Combine, Many New Innovations

New Holland Agriculture is launching the new CR10 combine (shown at top of article). The CR10 joins the previously launched CR11 and is set to maximize output, minimize grain loss and address operational economics in a platform that features the next generation of harvesting technology, the company says in a recent press release.

CR10 is powered by a 12.9-liter FPT Cursor 13 engine, delivering 635 horsepower. Paired with a 455-bushel grain tank with a grain unload rate of 4.5 bushels per second, the CR10 drives harvest efficiency.

Extended Twin Rotors provide threshing and separation performance, and the CR10 features a TwinClean cleaning shoe, which incorporates two sieve systems and automation sensors that continuously monitor and adjust for even material distribution and grain loss.

The CR10 is also compatible with a range of existing and new headers and features a redesigned operator cab.

CR10 will be available for 2025 harvest.

The manufacturer also announced the following developments:

A new FieldOps mobile app is now available for download. New Holland says it is a versatile farm management tool with over 40 API connections. Customers can use the app to view and monitor connected machines, and existing MyPLM Connect users can transition to FieldOps and their data will be there when they log in.
“Connectivity Included” grants customers limitless connectiviy with no recurring subscription fees on new connected machines built on or after October 1, 2024.
Connectivity Included is one key aspect of New Holland’s new Technology Packages, which the manufacturer hopes will make access to precision technology easier for farmers. Now available in select markets, packages come in three options on qualifying machines: Value, Core and Advanced.
Active Implement Guidance is a new plug-and-play aftermarket solution designed to be installed and link up guidance lines between the tractor and the implement. Use of this solution greatly reduces or stops implement drift, resulting in more reliable product placement, according to the company.
Model year 2025 New Holland FR Forage Cruiser self-propelled forage harvesters are receiving multiple upgrades. This includes an enhanced cab interior with new controls and electronics, a new system to reduce the risk of machine overload and blockage, and the CustomSteer system, which New Holland says speeds up headland turns. The new FR Forage Cruisers are available to order for availability in 2025.
New Holland has extended the Power Command full powershift transmission as an option for the T7.270 Long Wheelbase (LWB) tractor. New to the tractor are 60-inch tire settings, a quick-hitch frame, and PLM Intelligence solutions and digital technologies. Order writing for the T7 LWB is available now with deliveries starting in October 2024.
Several features aimed to increase operator productivity have been added to the new TH Series telehandlers. These include a redesigned operator cab, distinct operating modes such as Forklift mode, Loading mode, Transport mode, and Active Bucket Shake. Under the hood is a Stage V-compliant 4.5-liter, 4-cylinder engine built by FPT Industrial.

To learn more about New Holland’s new digital technology solutions and Iron releases, visit www.newholland.com.

PTx Trimble Introduces Autonomous Retrofit Grain Cart For Mixed Fleets

PTx Trimble is ready to introduce OutRun, its first commercially available autonomous retrofit grain cart solution.

Farm Journal viewed OutRun back in June at AGCO’s Tech Days event in Salina, Kansas. You can read more about that here.

OutRun is a self-contained retrofit kit that enables autonomous grain cart operation on John Deere 8R or 8000R tractors with IVT. The grain cart can be staged or be called for unloading without the need for another driver. The combine operator can also send the grain cart to a predefined truck unload zone for manual unload.

OutRun will be available for production release in 2025. The company is accepting beta customers in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri for 2024.

For more information, visit outrun.ag.

Robotic Sprayer Adds Docking And Filling Station

Solinftec has announced its newest development in the field of agricultural robotics: the autonomous docking station. The filling station will allow Solix Ag Robotics to operate 100% autonomously throughout the season, without the need for a manual refill.

The docking station is autonomous, solar-powered and integrated with the Solix platform, enabling continuous field management by ensuring the robot has unfettered access to products for 24/7 operations. The station incorporates scouting data obtained throughout the growing season to ensure the right products are available for day-to-day executions.

Solinftec is validating final features and concepts as the docking station nears production.

Learn more about Solinftec here.

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Planting A Flag: AGCO All-In On Mixed-Fleet Aftermarket Ag Tech

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 15:29:10 GMT

Farmers have long self-segmented solely on the paint color of their favorite brands of farming equipment.

Oh, you’re a green guy? You prefer John Deere tractors, combines and sprayers.

Or maybe you overheard someone make an offhand remark that your farm is “all red.” That’s not a shot at your political party affiliation. It means Case IH is your preferred brand of equipment.

No matter how you slice it, if you spend any time hanging around farmers it’s clear: they value loyalty and relationships. These long-standing, dyed-in-the-wool equipment allegiances do not die fast. They’re passed down like coveted family heirlooms from grandfather, to father, to son and daughter, and so on.

It’s rather fitting then that AGCO Corporation, a major farm equipment player long left out of these pigment-based affinity groups, has signaled another evolution in its go-to-market strategy.

How is AGCO shifting gears?

The company is planting its flag as the farmer-first, mixed-fleet leader for aftermarket and OEM precision ag technology and data solutions .

This new game plan correlates with what AGCO has been up to of late: The Duluth, Ga.-based manufacturer built its precision technologies segment via big dollar acquisitions, the same way Manchester City football club built its Premier League soccer dynasty.

AGCO acquired aftermarket solutions innovators such as Precision Planting (2017) and more recently Trimble (2023), the latter being the single largest ag tech acquisition by dollar amount to date. Trimble cost AGCO upward of $2 billion, to be exact. The company has a storied history of acquiring machinery brands since its inception in the 1990s.

That’s all a long way to say that today, this AGCO – a legacy equipment company most known for its Gleaner combines and RoGator self-propelled sprayer series – says it no longer gives a rat’s you-know-what the color of equipment farmers want to use.

OK, so that’s not entirely true. The company still intends to sell plenty of machines from its family of large equipment brands such as Fendt, Massey Ferguson and others, to farmers.

But when it comes to precision ag technology, AGCO is done rowing upstream against the green and the red guys. Now it’s time to play nice and make sure the only kid in the sandbox AGCO says it cares about – the farmer – is content.

That means taking a different approach: Gone are the days, in AGCO leadership’s minds, when you must buy new to get the latest and greatest technology. As long as the equipment is 10 years old or newer, you can bolt this aftermarket kit onto your tractor and experience similar smart farming capabilities as the guy up the road who just plunked down half a million on a brand new 2024 model.

According to AGCO, there are a lot of users who see value in the hole it’s trying to fill: a brand agnostic technology partner. Its recently unveiled PTx Trimble, AGCO’s newly imagined precision ag tech brand, intends to be just that for farmers going forward.

Setting the Scene

The company detailed its new tactics last week at its 2024 Tech Days event, held at Ade Farm, a 3,300-acre soybean and wheat operation outside Salina, Kan., that runs its own mixed fleet of machines and is a loyal AGCO customer.

AGCO says globally it has 55,000 active users across 158,000 connected ag machines planting, spraying and harvesting across 84 million acres worldwide annually.

“It’s about having one comprehensive solution across all brands,” says Corey Buchs, senior director – data cloud, PTx Trimble. “We see an opportunity, a missing piece in the market we think will help our farmers by helping them manage their operations in a mixed fleet environment, regardless of make, model or age of the machine.”

Full Cycle Autonomy – Coming Soon

The concept on display at Ade Farm was visually intriguing: laser precise planters equipped with the latest fertilizer application technologies, smart sprayers that can target tiny weeds in a field full of crops and driverless tractors pulling tillage tools and grain carts. It was all there to showcase the potential of upgraded autonomous machines in an ag environment challenged by labor woes along with razor-thin profit margins.

Even the farm office data management process – shown in a small but spacious converted shipping container replete with flat screen monitors and multiple computing terminals – was accounted for.

At each stop, product managers in crispy white polo shirts made their presentations as the various machines worked autonomously off in the distance. It would have been nice to get closer to the machines, and you can bet farmers will want to look inside the cab and see some of the components of these aftermarket kits up-close before they buy, but apparently that would have triggered the safety features on the autonomous tech, stopping the machines dead in their tracks.

Another 2030 goalpost?

Unlike some of its counterparts, AGCO is not putting a 2030 finish line in front of the project. Many of the concepts we saw in Salina were just that: concepts in the alpha (which is PTx Trimble’s internal description for its earliest stage of product development) or beta stages. Once a solution hits beta stage, AGCO says it is ready to be tested with real farmers on real farms, such as the Precision Planting Vision System we saw working on a John Deere sprayer, making the 2018 sprayer a selective spraying “smart” machine. The new Vision System is PTx Trimble’s green-on-brown aftermarket kit – able to tell small weeds from corn or soybean plants at an impressive 25 mph, AGCO says.

Perhaps most notable was the automated grain cart system PTx Trimble showed in beta stage. Dinen Subramaniam, product and marketing manager, PTx Trimble, says there will be 10 Outrun.ag autonomous grain cart units testing on farms throughout the Midwest this harvest season. Plans are to have it available for purchase in 2025. The first target is single cart configuration, while the next logical evolution is enabling two autonomous grain carts.

The autonomous tillage system PTx Trimble has in alpha stage also appeared quite capable. Many farmers would happily give up running a tillage tool across the field to a machine. Running the PTx Trimble system and connecting your Panorama FMIS app in the cab will also capture that elusive-yet-critical data layer that Farm Journal ag tech columnist Steve Cubbage talks about from time to time: tillage data.

One clear differentiation point that emerged is AGCO/PTx Trimble’s reliance on cellular connectivity and edge computing versus the growing-in-popularity low orbit satellite connectivity offerings that others are putting forth to connect and control machines. Once fully autonomy is unlocked, satellite connectivity will likely be a requirement, according to PTx Trimble reps, but the company says it can connect machines and provide comparable performance without the need for high-cost satellite subscription services.

Questions Remain

Chiefly among them, will farmers buy in?
Historically, AGCO has been pigeonholed as the third or even fourth option when it comes to OEM ag tech solutions, so that begs the question: Will farmers in large numbers get on board with PTx Trimble’s tech stack?

PTx Trimble reps attempted to address those concerns by stressing:

quick, year one ROIs on most of its hardware solutions.
a 3% to 5% average increase to net farm income for farmers who adopt its autonomous technologies, based on how the machines performed on Ade Farm during it’s pilot phase.

While that sounds good on paper, farmers know each farm is different, and what pencils out on a wheat and soybean farm in central Kansas might not be a dollar to donuts fit elsewhere. PTx Trimble acknowledged that fact, and, again, keep in mind the bulk of what we saw in Salina is still in development and will likely evolve further before hitting the market.

It is a bit perplexing, though, that attendees of the 2024 Tech Day weren’t provided the opportunity to meet or hear from the actual farmer that runs Ade Farm, where all this autonomous technology has been field tested. His perspective – if it were a positive one – could have hammered home the message AGCO worked very hard to convey. Maybe he was just too busy that day? Farmers will always put more stock in hearing it straight from another farmer, so that was a bit of a missed opportunity, if I’m being honest.

Then there’s this: PTx Trimble is hoping to lock farmers into one single data management log in, via what it is calling the PTx Data platform, which includes elements of Precision Planting’s Panorama app, PTx Trimble Ag Software, and AGCO Connect. Reps at the event claimed to have research that shows 65% of farmers are using digital technology such as FMIS software and apps. Our own Farm Journal Smart Farming research report from earlier this year, however, shows a much lower level of farmer adoption of those tools.

Consider the crowded company this campaign to lock farmers in to one single agronomy and machine data platform places AGCO in: battling it out with the Climate FieldView’s, Corteva’s and the SMS’ of the world. Will farmers ultimately believe in and switch all their data management to this new software package? And potentially pay for it, too?

That seems like a tough mountain to climb.

Will Farms Be Able to Depend on Automation?

Another roadblock that AGCO might run up against (this isn’t exclusive to AGCO/PTx Trimble) is a general skepticism of advanced technology – fully autonomous tech is about as high-level as it gets – being reliable and dependable when the farmer needs it the most. Where some see tractors motoring around fields with empty cabs and think ‘Wow, that’s some amazing technology’, there are farmers who just see more things that can go wrong, more potential troubleshooting headaches and more downtime waiting for a service technician to get you back up and running again. That’s the KISS crowd, not that I must spell that acronym out for anyone here, and they will likely stick with humans over autonomous tech for as long as they can afford to.

AGCO has an answer there, too, it says. Its new FarmerCore mobile service network and the recently announced same day direct-to-farm delivery of parts campaign will be crucial enablement pieces in delivering the timely service that could put farmer minds at ease and get them to adopt.

“The feedback we’ve gotten so far – not only do the farmers like it, but the dealers like it a lot – because it’s a much more flexible way for them to grow with these mobile truck service units, instead of having to put up brick-and-mortar,” says Eric Hansotia, AGCO president and CEO .

Questions were also raised around the recurring subscription revenue model that AGCO/PTx Trimble is eyeing for some of the aspects of its autonomy stack. The good news there is the company does have ideas for ensuring farmers are billed fairly – they detailed a metric called “active task hour” that measures when the actual autonomous capability is engaged and only charges farmers for that time – but AGCO executives did acknowledge that farmers historically have not taken kindly to technology that requires annual subscription fees.

Still, all that being said, what AGCO showed last week in Salinas could potentially raise it up on a parallel track with its competitors, all of whom are chip, chip, chipping away at the autonomous farming future. Deere and CNH both are on record with 2030 as the goal in demonstrating a fully autonomous production system in row crops.

PTx Trimble is eyeing that same deep pool, although right now it appears to be dipping its toe in to check the temperature versus sending it with a full-on cannonball. Automating things such as tillage passes and grain carts are relatively simple at this point in the game. It’s those ultra-important practices such as planting and spraying where building farmer trust in the technology will drive adoption by the tech skeptics.

“We’ve got an evolution [in mind] and we think it’s a combination of two things. One is, how automated is that process? Because you’ve heard us talk for a number of years about applying smart features to a machine so we can automate that feature, and as you automate more features you can have the option of pulling the operator out, so one is tech up,” Hansotia says. “Another one is farmer back. If you look at our planter, it’s super automated, so it checks that box. But where is the farmer going to feel comfortable giving up control? Tillage is like ‘Well, if I get it wrong I can go back and fix it,’ but getting planting wrong? There’s nothing I can do to catch that back up. It’s not a technology problem but one of farmer confidence. So, we’ve got these laid out at the intersection of those two critical questions: Where can we find an autonomous technology solution and where can we build farmer trust fast?”

Key Takeaway

Building farmer trust in its newly imagined tech stack should be priority numero uno moving forward at PTx Trimble. How that work fares will likely have a huge impact on whether this latest transformation garners farmer buy in and, ultimately, increases its relevance in the future of autonomous farming.

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Solar Storms Knocked Connected Machines Offline: So Now What?

Thu, 16 May 2024 14:55:41 GMT

By now you’ve surely read the reports: a very intense solar storm in space disrupted farm machinery telematics last Friday. For some, the situation lasted well into the weekend during the heart of planting season.

Simply put: not good, not good at all.

Now, we all know that weather delays are one thing - completely out of our control, even expected to an extent - but being delayed by the very technology that is supposed to make us more efficient is...ironic. And for some farmers, potentially quite maddening.

That’s because while many of us lucky enough to be in the viewing zone were chasing the aurora borealis (aka Northern Lights), many farmers were forced to press pause and wait until GPS satellites came back online. Many GPS services require a minimum of 8 connected satelittes to establish solid connectivity for accurate guidance and data telematics.

It seems, however, that like most things discussed and posted about on online, the posts on #plant24 and other social media channels perhaps made the situation seem a bit more dire (or dramatic) than it turned out in reality.

“There were some scattered reports of these storms delaying planting over the weekend, particularly in the Midwest, but no major disruptions have been reported by farmers at this time,” says Curt Covington, senior director of instituition credit, AgAmerica. “Dealerships like 21st Century Equipment reported a slight disruption to their RTK networks, but it was resolved relatively quickly, as far as I know.”

Covington has an extensive background in PR and he regularly monitors and comments on developments in agriculture and technology. Now that GPS systems have been restored to full functionality, Covington is concerned the outage may have frustrated some farmers to the point of no return.

“It could deter some farm operators from widespread adoption of smart agritech systems,” he opines. “Overall, this event should spark an important conversation in the farm community. Will this happen again and if so, at what scale? And what steps can we take to ensure the technology we rely on in agriculture is protected?”

Covington worries it’s just another setback to toss on top of the rather large, steaming pile of issues that farmers have had to sort through this spring. That’s everything from depressed commodity prices to dicamba’s now-sealed fate to the ripple effects of H5N1 in the livestock markets . These issues and others have created a mounting heap of uncertainty as we head into the summer months.

“If this delay affects planting schedules for corn growers in the Midwest, it might lead to increased yield losses if crops are planted too late, ultimately squeezing profit margins,” he says. “This situation compounds with expectations of declining farm income following several robust years.”

There’s no need for ambiguousness there: the solar storms surely did delay planting schedules for many operators. If there is one silver lining, though, it’s that many farmers in the Eastern Corn Belt were already rained out of planting for the weekend. An Ohio farmer we spoke with confirmed he didn’t miss any field time over the weekend because, well, he hasn’t been dry enough to plant corn for almost two weeks at this point. No harm, no foul for that farmer.

Still, it’s time, Covington thinks, for a wider discussion in ag tech around creating redudant systems that ensure uptime and consistent performance.

“We should be having these conversations now to reduce the risk of future disruption to our food system as technology becomes an increasingly essential part of it,” he says. “If this were a singular event, the lasting impact should be minimal. However, there may be cause for concern if this becomes a reoccurring event. If anything comes from this, it should be a focus on the importance of being proactive in protecting our food system and having a response plan in place to avoid large-scale disruptions.”

No Hands: Young Illinois Farmer is Now Taking Planting Tech to New Heights

Fri, 03 May 2024 22:10:26 GMT

From every pass in the field to every turn at the end of each row, every move made in Illinois farmer Heath Huisinga’s farm field is done hands-free each spring.

“That’s what I think really makes this great is that you can do all this, and you can focus more on just watching the planter,” says the Casey, Ill. farmer as he was rushing to finish planting a field last week before it rained.

Hints of automation are sprinkled across his farm, and at just 30 years old, Huisinga continues to fully embrace technology as it’s introduced.

One of the latest things he’s started using across all his acres is AutoTrac Turn Automation. It’s a feature that automatically completes turns and manages the implement a farmer is using by tapping into field and headland boundaries as the reference point. It’s available on newer John Deere equipment, but the majority of farmers aren’t using it yet, even if it’s available on their tractor. One reason is it requires time to set accurate boundaries in each field.

Huisinga says it took him a week straight this winter of driving around his fields to create the boundaries for AutoTrac Turn Automation. With the advice of his local Deere dealer, he used the left front tire of his Gator as a guide to set up the field, and he says it’s paying off this spring.

“Half the time, I’ll just sit sideways in here, and I don’t have to worry about turning,” Huisinga says from the cab of his tractor, as he navigates the field without any hands on the wheel. “I know if I have an obstacle coming up, it’ll tell me and I can just sit here, and I don’t have to worry about picking it up.”

Like other farmers, the view from his office each spring is the inside of his cab, but a glimpse inside Huisinga’s cab gives a hint into how immersed he is in the technology available in the tractor and on the planter.

“I can watch my [planting] pops; I can watch my ground contact, I can watch all that good stuff. So, it just frees me up to focus more on the actual planter itself than just focusing on driving the tractor,” says Huisinga.

The Illinois farmer is fluent in ag tech, but for him, grasping the latest technology is something that simply comes naturally. Admittedly, part of that is due to his age, but it’s also an area of interest he’s gravitated toward.

“I grew up with that stuff,” he says. “Now, there are so many different things to watch and see. I don’t know how you would do it following your marker track and staying straight.”

Modern conveniences have opened a new realm of realities for Husinga, even if some of those you can’t necessarily quantify with a true ROI. He says AutoTrac Turn Automation is just one example.

“It just frees you up to actually a) take advantage of the tech you do have and b) the operator strain at the end of the day is so much less by not having to constantly watch everything,” says Huisinga.

Early Adopter

Huisinga doesn’t view himself as an early adopter of technology on his farm; instead, it’ just a critical piece of his daily operation.

“Some of the things that we do a little different is we’re quick to embrace new theories. For right or for wrong,” says the Illinois farmer. “Sometimes when we go in on something, we go whole hog, but we’re always tinkering, always trying something. We’re just embracing the unknown,” he adds.

Farming on the edge of innovation, is seen as risky by some, but for Huisinga, it’s become the norm.

“The big jump that most people talk about is auto steer and AutoTrac. I mean, that really did change the game, but I feel like a lot of people are just stuck at that point,” he says. “That technology opened up the door for so many other things. I think that as you embrace more of that, if you want to be in the autonomy space, and you want to utilize that, I’m going to guess that having all the other things lined up and calibrated, and actually having the data behind it, is probably going to expedite your entry into that realm [of automation].”

Farming by the Row and a Wild Hair

Instead of looking at an entire farm field, he’s focused pass by pass and row by row. RTK and other systems are helping him replicate what he does in a field year after year, which he says has really helped him hone in on farming by the row and being precise in each furrow.

“Then it opens up my mind to the possibility of when it comes to fertilizer and the options, I’m not building up the whole field. I’m building up that strip, because with the tech and the accuracy, I know whenever I plant year after year, I’m not going to farm this 30 inches in between. I’m farming in that seed bed, right there.”

As Huisinga can better manage every pass, from the seed to the fertilizer, he’s growing more precise in how he farms. This young farmer is still willing to push the boundaries and try new things.

“Actually, just over here on this 40 [acres], I had this wild hair,” says Huisinga. “I had read this report that guys were doing skip-row corn. And I thought, ‘You know what, we’re going to make this work.’ So, I think I planted two rows, turned one off, planted two rows, turned one off, planted two rows, turned one off, and did that all the way across the field. But I also wanted to adjust my population so that it was the same 35,000 across the planter. And luckily, with Deere, I went in there and figured out how to shut the rows off, up certain rows and lower the other ones. So that was great. I was planting 45,000 to 50,000 on those two rows and then skipping one row.”

He says that one trial turned into a lot of questions from those passing by the field.

“We actually had some commercial guys spraying in the field next to it call and say, ‘Hey, I think you had a problem with your planter. You might want to go fix that.’ I said, ‘That was on purpose.’”

It may have been a wild idea, but it was one that actually worked.

“It made like five more bushel [per acre] than the test, but I haven’t given up on it. I think it was maybe the wrong hybrid that I tried with it. So, we’re probably going to try that again,” says Huisinga.

Coming Soon to a Field Near You: Autonomy with Tillage

With hints of automation already in his field, the biggest change on the horizon could be the ability for Huisinga to do more with less. That includes autonomy with tillage, where Huisinga thinks he can start using smaller and narrower tillage tools that run autonomously behind his combine at harvest.

“Even in the fall for us, sometimes you have good falls, sometimes you have bad. And if you can just even have an autonomous tractor follow you around in the combine and tell it, ‘I want these corn stalks dug, and I’m in this big block of area,’ I can watch the thing work over there, and I can basically have all my stalks worked and ready for next spring by the time I park the combine.”

Embrace the Technology

Technology may be racing forward in agriculture but for this maverick, he has one piece of advice for fellow farmers across the U.S.

“Embrace the tech. I think it can be daunting at first to get set up and say, ‘I don’t know if I can do that or I don’t have time,’ but take the time to do it. Work with your dealer or whoever you’re working with to get your tech, because I think it will open the door to other things you did not think that you could do, or things that wouldn’t be possible without that tech.”

By embracing the technology, Huisnga says your comfort level will grow with experience. But just like with other things in life, the hardest part is often starting something new.

Smart Firmer: What Is It, What Can I Do With The Data?

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 17:17:21 GMT

Kentucky farmer Eugene Keeton invented the seed firmer during the 1990s, coming up with the practical innovation with some steel wire and duct tape the WWII vet had in his pickup truck.

The concept is simple yet novel: a thin piece of material attached to the planter closing wheel mount, positioned in the center of the seed trench, responsible for corralling seeds and nestling them seed-to-soil, right into a cozy furrow.

After perfecting his design and selling it locally to his neighbors, Keeton eventually struck a deal with Tremont, Illinois, farmer and serial entrepreneur Gregg Sauder to manufacture and distribute seed firmers throughout North America. Today, Sauder’s former passion project – Precision Planting – still sells a composite seed firmer based around Keeton’s original design, with a few modern twists, of course.

A 2019 farm trial on the Seed Firmer conducted by Precision Planting showed a 3 bushel per acre advantage over planting without a firmer.

Precision Planting took the Keeton Seed Firmer a step further, developing a novel sensing technology – Smart Firmer – that places soil sensing technology (Near Infrared spectrum) deep into the furrow. The firmer’s optics can sense soil moisture and temperature, organic matter, and planting depth, transmitting those data points in real time to the in-cab monitor. Variable rate seeding by soil organic matter is possible when paired with VRT seeding technologies, according to Precision Planting.

Smart Firmer can also be set up with FurrowJet for in-furrow at-plant liquid pop-up applications. And it can transmit real time downforce readings (and adjust on the fly) if linked with Precision Planting’s Smart Depth product.

It represents a fresh spin on an existing technology that bolts on advanced sensors and deploys them in an innovative, useful manner.

How To Use Smart Firmer Data

The data is used by farmers in two-fold: during planting, the data displayed on the tractor monitor (Smart Firmer requires a Gen 3 or Gen 3 20/20 Seed Sense monitor) serves as a visual confirmation of planting into good soil conditions (moisture, temperature) for strong germination.

Soil organic material is also displayed, letting the farmer know if there is too much or too little residue in the furrow.

Since different areas of fields have varying soil types and organic matter, elevation, and drainage rates, it’s helpful to see those real-time metrics as the planter works ground in case it encounters spots that are too dry or too cold for fast, strong seed germination. Oftentimes, the farmer will manipulate planting depths based off these readings.

“By having that adequate soil moisture (confirmation) we can tell if we’re planting too shallow, too deep or if we’re planting in the right location,” Ohio farmer Austin Heil says in a recent Facebook video breaking down his planter tech setup. “It also gives us the opportunity to see what the soil temperature is, and what’s the clean furrow look like? Do we have a lot of trash in there? And then the other thing it gives us is our organic and CEC.”

Once harvest is complete and all the data collected, cleaned and sorted, Smart Firmer data can be considered alongside yield by zone data, elevation, fertility, soil organic matter and aerial imagery data, as well as rainfall/weather data, to gain valuable insights into how to adjust planting for better success next season.

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Key Takeaway

Related:

Solar Storms Knocked Connected Machines Offline: So Now What?

No Hands: Young Illinois Farmer is Now Taking Planting Tech to New Heights

Early Adopter

Farming by the Row and a Wild Hair

Coming Soon to a Field Near You: Autonomy with Tillage

Embrace the Technology

Smart Firmer: What Is It, What Can I Do With The Data?

How To Use Smart Firmer Data