Seeding is a high-pressure undertaking. During the season, you have one shot to get the seed in the ground right. If seeding depths are off, crops can get buried too deep or fall over as they grow, causing serious headaches come harvest.
Doing it well means taking steady control over several factors. You need to calibrate application and metering rates with tractor speed to ensure optimal seed depth and density given the type and size of crop you’re seeding. If calibrations are off, blockages can occur, causing inconsistent seed placement, reduced yield, and more. It’s a lot to chew on, let alone apply with surgical precision. While many farmers can do this day in and day out during the seeding season, they can end up fatigued when paying such constant attention to detail.
As the adage goes: Work smarter. Not harder. The AccuRate Metering System from John Deere enables you to do exactly that when calibrating optimal seeding depth and density.
AccuRate Metering comes with the industry-exclusive EZCal™ system, which dramatically simplifies the calibration process. It automatically sends calibration numbers to the cab display. Once you calibrate application rates with tractor speed, the amount of feed being delivered to the drill will automatically adjust as you slow down or speed up, preventing blockages and improving accuracy.
Additionally, AccuRate™ meters are individually controlled, ensuring consistent seed flow rates across all rows and precise control over seed density and placement. This combination of automatic calibration and individually controlled meters allow you to seed up to eight times more accurately,* while lessening the mental load of maintaining optimal calibration.
This metering upgrade has an added benefit of reduced downtime. The meters are built with 316-grade stainless steel that provides improved corrosion resistance, while the primary tubes are built with proprietary, anti-corrosive plastic that also prevents crop buildup. Combined with fewer blockages, these durable meters and tubes reduce maintenance and increase uptime.
The AccuRate Metering system also unlocks capabilities like High Fidelity prescriptions, Curve Compensation, and SectionCommand Pro that further increase seed distribution accuracy.
Come seeding season, the AccuRate Metering system can ease the pressure of getting your crop in the ground right the first time. With its surgical precision, you can seed with a calm confidence, knowing your fields are set up for success from the very start.
As with any upgrade kit, the StarFire™ receiver, JDLink™ modem, G5 series display, and John Deere Operations Center account are essential pieces to have for the AccuRate Metering system to work for your operation. And if the world of precision ag tech is new to you, our specialists are here to set you up for success with the optimal technology for your needs. They can also work with you from seeding through harvest and beyond, providing insights and advice based on your data and assisting in creating an action plan.
As we follow the farming season in sequence with this blog series, we’ll turn our attention to spraying upgrades for the next Unleash the Beast blog post. Gear up for several upgrade options that can help you reduce costs and cover more acres with precise, consistent application.
*Based on seeding with an 8 primary run air cart and an 80-foot air seeder. Prescription zones would improve from 80-foot zones to 10-foot zones.
Owning an acreage involves a lot of hard work, often taking up large chunks of weekends and evenings to keep up with the maintenance and tasks required. For this reason, having equipment that’s easy to operate is valuable for your acreage for more than mere convenience. If you have to fight with your equipment to get