Planter technology

Finding a late model used planter is going to require a lot of patience these days. You might be better off upgrading what you already have to make sure your seeding equipment is accurate.

Lina Pham is a marketing manager for John Deere planters and seeding equipment. She says if you have an older John Deere planter from the 2000’s, she recommends upgrading to Exact Emerge. 

"With our Exact Emerge technology, you would be able to run faster with your row unit, be able to have the seed in the right position, we include IRHD at better depth control. IRHD is “individual row hydraulic downforce”. So, better depth control, better seed-to-soil contact, and better residue management overall," says Pham.

She says this would also include an upgrade in data and technology with Operations Center. 

If you’re planning on buying new, model year 2022 planters and the 8RX tractor are outfitted with ExactRate technology. This is for farmers wanting to apply high rates of liquid fertilizer while making as few stops to fill and tender as possible. 

"What that is, is you would be able to get a factory-integrated technology for essentially providing fertilizer at the time of planting, or nitrogen at the time of planting all in an integrated system," she says. "We have tanks on our 8RX and then on our planter as well. So, a fully integrated system with ExactRate."

When a 2022 planter is paired with the 8RX tractor, the combined liquid capacity climbs to 1,600 gallons. Another factory-installed option includes the ability to swap out tires for tracks on the 2022 John Deere 1775NT planters.