Wallaces Farmer

Farmers can plant fields in less time and with more ease using new systems and technology.

July 22, 2020

3 Min Read
4905 Kinze planter
SETTING THE PACE: The 4905 Kinze planter can reach high speeds while maintaining accuracy, enabling farmers to plant faster than ever before. Willie Vogt

Farmers today are operating at a much faster pace compared to the past. Planting especially has become a quicker process, thanks to advances in equipment and technology like those made by Kinze Manufacturing. 

Kinze, the ag equipment manufacturer based at Williamsburg, Iowa, makes planters, grain carts and tillage equipment. Kinze even has operations in Lithuania but remains privately owned by the Kinzenbaw family. At a recent media day event at the company headquarters in eastern Iowa, reporters learned about the newest in planter technology and gained insight on the company’s innovative roots.   

Starting the business in a small welding shop in 1965, Jon Kinzenbaw focused on his customers — still one of the company’s core values. After listening to their questions and concerns, he began making and marketing his own equipment. 

Justin Render, product specialist with the company, explains that farmers used to haul planters on trailers to and from fields. One of Kinzenbaw’s first inventions was a toolbar that allowed a planter to fold up and transport more easily.

“The first real toolbar he built was a rear-fold, so customers didn’t have to unhook the planter anymore,” Render says. In addition to planters, Kinzenbaw went on to produce grain carts and tillage equipment that would further increase the ease of production. Today, Kinze is also responsible for the Blue Drive electric drive, a system that improves planting performance.  

Related:Gain closer look at new tools from Kinze

Advantages of electric drive 

Eric Broadbent, North American sales director, says the advantages of electric drive can work with many styles of farming. It’s a system that can improve planting accuracy and thus, yield. “If you just want to plant, you can do that,” Broadbent says. “But if you want to analyze the data that comes with electric drive, you can do that as well. You can be as sophisticated as you want to be.” 

The system has many features farmers can use to evaluate their planting, including data for fertilizer and insecticide levels and hydraulic downforce.  

One challenge farmers who want to increase planting speed may face is sacrificing accuracy. “Once you get above 6 miles per hour, you have to defeat gravity,” Render says. “You will be driving faster than the terminal velocity is going to pull the seed down.” 

Kinze has designed a feature of the Blue Drive system that solves this issue. True Speed is a feature that maintains control over each seed until it leaves the planter. “True speed is the solution that takes the seeds all the way from the disk to the trench,” Broadbent says. “That allows you to go at speeds of 10, 11, 12 miles per hour. You don’t have to go fast, but what it really concentrates on is accuracy.”  

Aim for accurate seed spacing 

Accuracy of planting can result in a uniform coefficient variation or spacing of the seeds. “Having an accurate COV is going to yield you more money in your pocket because it gives every seed an opportunity to fully produce to its genetic potential,” Render says. Thus, you should always aim for accurate seed spacing and planting depth. 

While farmers can increase yield and profit, they might also be able to increase their acreage. Broadbent says the flexibility of speed and accuracy of electric drive translates into flexibility of farming. “I may gain 600 acres next year,” he notes. “And yet, I don’t have to change my planter size or add more people to my farming operation because I can do it all with the same machinery I already have.” 

From the first innovations made by Jon Kinzenbaw to the ever-changing technology the company continues to develop today, Kinze offers farmers the resources and flexibility to improve their crop, Broadbent says. The 4905 planter will be available in spring, along with other planters in the company’s series. For more information, visit kinze.com

Friedrichsen is a Wallaces Farmer intern. 

 

 

 

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