Producers Blog

Justin Krell (DSM, Region 2 – Minnesota)

With high commodity prices, farmers are looking to maximize their return per acre more than ever.  One of the highest returns that can be achieved is using planters with precision equipment for improved plant stands.   Using precision farming doesn’t necessarily require the latest and greatest planter you can buy from any local dealer who carries them.  It is just as effective by retrofitting existing planters.  For some, precision farming can be overwhelming since there are many different systems and types out there.  I’m not a salesman for any of these systems, but I do want to touch on what types are available for planters today.

The simplest way to use precision agriculture is by adding row shutoffs onto your existing planter or purchasing a planter with it installed.  For instance, if you have a square 80 acre parcel of land that you plant with a 12 row planter and you overlap eight feet on every planter pass, over 0.5 acres of that field will be double the population of the rest of field.  You might be thinking, “eight feet is too much.”  Well, if you’re going 5.5 mph that means your covering eight feet per second, only giving you one second to lift your planter when you get to your headlands.  Therefore, instead of planting 32,000 plants per acre you’re planting 64,000 plants per acre.  This could cause a yield reduction of up to 50% of expected yield in the overlapped areas due to plant competition.  If you figure a corn price of $6.00 and a yield of 200 bushels, then you will harvest 50 bushel less on that field costing you $3.75 per acre for decreased yield.

Now, calculate the seed you will save.  You will save about 0.25 bags on 80 acres.  Not a big deal right?  Well, if you plant 600 acres of corn per year you will need 240 bags of seed corn.  With row shutoffs, this could allow you to return 3 bags of seed corn.  With SmartStax corn costing $365 per bag and your yield decrease in overlapped areas, it will save you $3,400 per year that can be used to put towards the cost of having row shutoffs.  Remember, not every field is square and the smaller the field the larger the percent overlap will be.

Another effective way of using precision agriculture for planting is the use of variable rate drives to change populations for different yield potential areas of a field.  This is becoming extremely popular and can be retrofitted on to most existing planters.  This technology uses the speed and location of a GPS receiver mounted on the tractor to vary the planting population based on a prescription read from the planter’s monitor.  The monitor tells the planter what rate to plant depending on its location in the field.  The prescription can vary based on yield history of the field, soil type or organic matter.  This can help to optimize yield in both high and low productivity areas in the field, saving and optimizing your seed cost per acre.  This is very effective on variable soil types and soils with less water holding capacity.  Talk with your Producers Hybrids Agronomist or District Sales Manager for recommendations on prescriptive planting.

This is just a brief overview of the basics of precision farming systems that are available.  Precision farming can be as simple or complex as one wants to make it, but it does offer high returns for farmers who are adapting to this concept.  We are still about three months from the start of corn planting, which gives you time to make changes on your corn planter before spring.  If you have questions about getting started or are looking to learn more, feel free to contact your local Producers Hybrids District Sales Manager or Agronomist for more details on making your farming operation more profitable this year.

On behalf of all of us at Producers Hybrids, please make it a safe, successful and prosperous 2013 growing season.