Agri Innovations
New Sunflower® 9700 Series Air Till Drill Promises Top Small-Grain Yields
Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:04:08 CDT
AGCO has introduced the Sunflower® 9700 Series air till drill. New for 2013, the drill optimizes small-grain yield potential with its industry-exclusive ribbon-seeded planting style. Designed as a single-pass seeding system, the drill opens the soil, slices out weeds, places seed and fertilizer, and then packs the soil to preserve moisture and optimize seed-to-soil contact. It is built to handle any production system, from no-till to conventional. The drill's 5-inch-wide seedbed is the widest possible that is available from a packed-row drill.
"The ribbon-seeding style of the 9700 Series was long ago proven to produce yields that consistently outperform conventional row drills," says Tom Draper, Sunflower seeding and tillage product marketing manager. "By pairing the SF9730 60-foot model, which is our largest, with a Sunflower 9900 Series commodity cart, farmers will have a unit that will cover many acres quickly and really help optimize their productivity and yields."
The new 9700 Series drill is available in 40-, 50- and 60-foot seeding widths that deliver one-pass seeding and several fertilizer placement options. With 10-inch-row spacing, the drill places seed in a 5-inch-wide ribbon, with only 5 inches between rows. The heavy frame and wide packing wheels are designed to deliver uniform emergence of small-grain crops.
The frame of each 9700 Series drill weighs more than competitive drills to help ensure the row units penetrate even the toughest of soil. The frame and wings rest on walking tandems. The drill also is designed to ensure uniform seedbed packing across the machine's width regardless of field obstacles, as packing wheels are mounted on walk beams, with every walk beam separately spring-mounted to the drill frame.
Setting a uniform seeding depth is handled with depth-control collars on the packer wheel-frame lift cylinders making it easy to see that each cylinder is at the correct depth, and re-phasing lift cylinders ensure that the drill returns to level after raising and lowering.
Depending on the choice of seed openers, fertilizer can be placed with the seed, or split between the seed ribbon and below or to the side of the seed, for maximum fertilizer-placement flexibility. The drill's 650-pound trip-spring shanks help seed openers stay firmly in place and allow opener assemblies to trip over fixed obstacles without disrupting row alignment.
Optional equipment includes disc levelers for a smooth field finish regardless of field speed; tillage coulters to slice through heavy residue; and wireless seed tube blockage sensors. The machine also may be equipped to apply anhydrous ammonia.
More information is available from Sunflower dealers or at: www.sunflowermfg.com .
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