Jason Webster is excited. The head of the Practical Farm Research Program for Beck's Hybrids near Downs in central Illinois says that multi-hybrid planter concept is no longer just a concept. Farmers have bought planters.

Related: Beck's, Kinze multi-hybrid planter collaboration becomes reality

This is the first year Beck's hybrids worked through Kinze to sell planters to interested customers so Beck's could follow up and help them place hybrids successfully.

Webster says four multi-hybrid planters have been sold – three in Indiana and one in Ohio. In addition, Webster will be working with planters on demonstrations in other areas, including Illinois.

Multi-hybrid hits the farm: Farmers have shelled out their own money to purchase multi-hybrid planters for use in 2015.

Their three-year tests have shown an 8 bushel per acre advantage for corn and 3.6 bushel per acre advantage for soybeans for varying hybrids and varieties by soil type. The most benefit comes in variable soils, he says.

One reason Illinois farmers haven't stepped to the plate to buy planters, he believes, is that much of the flat black soil in central Illinois has minimal variation. The less variation in soil type, the less likely there will be a payback for the technology.

The other big development, Webster says, is that they now have a price for the technology. It costs $30,000 more to buy a 16-row Kinze planter with multi-hybrid technology vs. regular single hybrid planting capability.

Precision Planting is also making multi-hybrid capable units for blue and green planters. Webster anticipates that due to recent developments, Case red planters may be able to use the technology by next year.

Related: Multi-Hybrid Planter Concept Solidifies Ag Technology Expansion

"Based on our yield advantages and current crop prices, a farmer could pay off the $30,000 extra for multi-hybrid capability when he buys a new planter quickly," he says. In fact, if you can achieve the 8 bushel per acre advantage for corn and 3.6 bushel per acre advantage for corn, and you grow corn and soybeans in rotation, you could pay for the technology in less than the first 800 acres of rotation cropping.

In other words, if you plant at least 800 acres in rotation, you can pay it off the very first year, assuming current but fluctuating prices and the yield advantages Beck's data indicates you can obtain.