Plant With Precision

White Planters already have a stellar reputation for accurate planting and rugged reliability. But even the best can get better, and that’s where Precision Planting comes into play. Known for its industry-leading precision  components, the brand offers a full line of mechanical, monitoring and control products, ranging from down-force control systems to individually controlled seed meters.

Better still is that farmers can purchase the best of both worlds in a new White Planters 9800VE Series planter, or they can have their participating AGCO dealer add their choice of Precision Planting products to a planter that’s already part of their fleet.

“Through our partnership with Precision Planting, we currently offer three models in the 9800VE Series,” says Tom Draper, AGCO seeding and tillage product marketing manager. “They include the 9812VE, 9816VE and 9824VE, which feature 30-inch row spacing in 12-, 16- and 24-row configurations, respectively.”

The VE Series planters come from the factory with vSet® seed meters; vDrive® electronic drive system, which allows each row unit to act as an individual planter; and fully integrated 20/20 SeedSense® monitoring. Options include DeltaForce® hydraulic down force, as well as SpeedTube^® for faster planting speeds.

“Of course, you can add Precision Planting components to any White Planters 9000 Series model, as well as the previous 8000 Series,” Draper adds. “Or you can totally convert any of those models to perform like a VE Series.”

Nathan Zimmerman, technology manager for A.C. McCartney Equipment, which has four locations in Illinois, says, “If the customer has a competitive planter and wants to upgrade, we’ll start by pricing him a model in the VE Series, if we have something that fits his needs. Otherwise, we’ll look at a Precision Planting package for his existing planter, no matter the brand.”

Zimmerman says a customer can spend anywhere from a few thousand dollars to almost $80,000 or more to upgrade a large planter. However, the dealership more often breaks it out in steps so the customer can spread the investment over a two- to three-year period. In the meantime, the producer can reap the benefits from each individual addition. Just adding the vSet meters, for example, provides 99%-plus seed singulation that results in proper population rates and spacing to achieve a uniform stand.

“Out of all the products, I think the DeltaForce system provides one of the quickest payoffs,” Zimmerman says. “It provides a definite increase in yield, because it ensures every seed is planted at the ideal depth, regardless of soil or field conditions, and this has a direct impact on obtaining even emergence.”

Or, “it may be as simple as adding the 20/20 SeedSense monitor so the customer can see what’s going on back there,” he continues. “There are a number of farmers who are still running monitors that don’t tell the operator anything about seed singulation, spacing, plant population, etc. So that information alone is an upgrade for some farmers.”