Glacier FarmMedia – Fans of SeedMaster toolbars and equipment with green paint may benefit from a new equipment supply agreement between John Deere and SeedMaster.
SeedMaster will supply Deere with 60-, 70-, 80- and 90-foot frames in green paint, with 10- or 12-inch spacing and dual knife openers.
The dual-knife opener places fertilizer 1.5 inches horizontally and 0.75 inches vertically away from the seed. John Deere will then outfit the toolbars with its air seeding technology.
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The frames will be sold as John Deere’s P600 Precision Air-Hoe Drills series, which includes the P660, P670, P680 and P690.
“We’ve added RelativeFlow blockage, so that’s the sensors that help prevent skips, and we’ve added section command,” said Lina Pham, marketing manager for planting and air seeding at John Deere.
“We’ve added active calibration to the new P600 to help with delivering the seed with that air seeding technology. It’s also fully integrated with our John Deere Operation Center as well, so you’ll get all of the documentation, prescriptions, in-field guidance and coverage mapping.”
With RelativeFlow blockage sensing, farmers can see the flow rate of seed and fertilizer from inside the tractor cab. Sensors are located on all primary towers and secondary hoses to monitor the flow of seed and fertilizer from the cart to the opener.
Three-inch primaries on toolbars wider than 60 feet will be fitted with John Deere distribution towers.
The tool bars will typically be sold paired with Deere air carts, including the C650 and C850 models, and come with factory-installed integration with JDLink connection, John Deere Operations Center and John Deere Connected Support.
Pham said Deere will continue to produce its P500 series toolbars that come in widths up to 76 feet.
“We now have larger working widths and that really helps with increasing that productivity. So compared to our 576 model, the P600 has a 15.5 per cent larger working width and a 24 per cent weight reduction compared to the P500,” Pham said.
“That’s really going to result in less draft, lower fuel consumption, you have reduced compaction with fewer passes in the field. In a 160-acre field you’ll have five fewer passes.”
Deere dealers will carry parts for the P600 series, but they are green and probably wouldn’t look right on a frame with SeedMaster colours, and vice versa.
Pham said John Deere is targeting the western Canadian market with the P600 series frame because its customers and dealers have asked for larger toolbars than what it could previously provide.
Don Henry, chief executive officer of SeedMaster, said the new agreement will be a significant contract.
“It’s really a supply agreement for us. We have nothing to do with the sales, nothing to do with the marketing, nothing to do with the service side. We build it, we paint it the John Deere colours and, once they drop the pin in it and take it away, it’s their baby,” Henry said.
“They will be a John Deere product. But at the end of the day certain people will know that it comes from our facility, which is great.”
He said any time a major equipment manufacturer is willing to put their name on a machine developed by a short-line manufacturer, it’s a testament to the quality of the product.
The global brand and reach of John Deere will likely increase the volume of frames produced at the SeedMaster plant in White City, Sask.
“Ag is really strong right now, but over time we know that it has highs and lows,” Henry said.
“This is going to diversify our risk because John Deere’s reach is global. They have a great distribution network and they will continue to purchase some units that maybe we wouldn’t have sold in a slow year just with our SeedMaster product line.”
The supply agreement does not restrict SeedMaster’s ability to sell and support its products.
– This article was originally published at The Western Producer.
