Posted on 4/30/2019
Henderson Farms put two John Deere 1795 planters out into its north Alabama fields this spring mounting RTK guidance systems. "When you're pulling the planter on a drawbar with a pin, and the GPS unit is centered over the tractor, you get some planter drift," said Stuart Sanderson, who farms in partnership with his uncle, Mike Henderson, Mike's son, Chad, and Jackson, Chad's son.
Their purpose is to have the planter communicate with the tractor. Essentially, the planter takes over guidance to control drift. "It gives you absolute straight rows," Sanderson said. "We want every plant to be the same distance apart in the row and equal distance from row to row." There is a 10 to 15% reduction in ear quality from the effects of drift.
That Henderso...