2017 AGCO Crop Tour: All Done But the Harvest
The results of AGCO’s 2017 Crop Tour are in: Down force, planting depth and singulation are vital factors to maximize yield. This is the second successful year for the agronomic program.
2017 AGCO Crop Tour: All Done But the Harvest
The results of AGCO’s 2017 Crop Tour are in: Down force, planting depth and singulation are vital factors to maximize yield. This is the second successful year for the agronomic program.Technology is changing the way we farm; and analyzing best practices has never been more important. That’s a major reason why AGCO coordinated 11 crop test plots at seven locations across the Midwest as part of the 2017 AGCO Crop Tour. In August, nine on-site Crop Tour events let growers see the agronomic results first-hand.
The focus of the test protocol—using best practices as well some intentionally poor ones—was to illustrate the importance of getting seeds planted at the right depth with correct spacing and a down force best suited to location-specific soil conditions.
The findings regarding down force were the most striking of the many lessons learned in the 2017 Crop Tour, but planting depth and singulation (skips and doubles) are also vital factors to maximize yield. When the planter achieves optimum depth consistently, and maintains a high percentage of seed singulation and proper spacing across the field, the plot results show significant yield increases. The tests also demonstrated that all three factors—down force, depth and singulation—can remain accurate at planting speeds up to 10 mph with the White Planters™ equipped with Precision Planting technology.
“The message is powerful,” says Darren Goebel, AGCO’s director–global commercial crop care. “This is about return on investment, and we believe farmers will make their money back on the DeltaForce system, alone, after planting only 642 acres.”
The AGCO Crop Tour hosted nearly 500 farmers at nine events. The Crop Tour also hosted 38 AGCO product dealers who received training on the technology provided by Precision Planting, now owned by AGCO.
Based on feedback, growers who came to the events did go home with new ideas they can put to work on their farms. “It was very beneficial to see how singulation affects crop yield,” says Brad Karl of Hutchinson, Minnesota. “I think this surprises a lot of growers and helps them decide—when they see the differences—what products can do to help.”
For more information about DeltaForce, SpeedTube, CleanSweep and more, see the Precision Planting website. Or read the complete article about the 2017 AGCO Crop Tour.
Written by: Des Keller
