It was last December when we announced our newest concept planter: the world’s first electric multi-hybrid planter. It was a big announcement and since then things have been moving rapidly at Kinze as we prepare to bring this exciting innovation to market.
In preparation for market, Kinze collaborated and placed planters with several top seed companies including AgriGold, Beck’s Hybrids, Burrus Hybrids and DuPont Pioneer, and their customers located across Iowa, Illinois and Indiana to plant hundreds of acres, using some of the best seed hybrids on the market.
During spring planting, we were elated to see the planter in action, automatically switching seed hybrids and population on the go. The hybrid changes were conducted within a single seed drop, so there were no gaps or overlap when switching from one hybrid to the other.
The planters also successfully demonstrated the creation and application of prescription maps controlling the seed hybrid and population. This was achieved in conjunction with Raven and the partnering seed companies, which created prescription maps that utilized their respective seeds and were optimized for every part of the farmer’s field.
Based on the early successful results we have received so far, the plan currently is to put the electric multi-hybrid planter into limited production next spring, in time for the 2015 planting season.
All of us at Kinze are really looking forward to bringing this innovation to farmers, as it will help them to better optimize their seed hybrids and ultimately increase their yields.
