FARM REPORT: NORTH AMERICA ▶▶▶


fitted with speed sensors, so as the rig negotiates an obstacle it will compensate for the turn by decreasing the drilling rate at the innermost row and gradually increasing it to the outer one.


Triple-shot opener The openers are built to move just enough soil to encourage rapid root development without getting too much surface disturbance. A big 610mm (24in) saw-tooth vertical disc


coulter bites through the trash and is trailed closely by a three-part opener that delivers the seed and fertiliser. The latter is typically dropped about 60mm (2.4in) deep – well below the seed – and is covered by 50mm (2in) of soil. The seed is then placed on the loose portion of soil, through any one of the three apertures, and a closing wheel (rather than a packer) throws over a blanket of dirt to finish the job. That gives farmers the option of drilling


paired rows or, often in the case of Canadian farmers, throwing down stacks of urea between rows to get canola crops growing. Having a fairly loose column of earth


encourages quicker root development than those drills that work by scratching out a stiff channel and ramming soil back over the seed to close the slot, says Clean Seed. In turn, that allows water to permeate


through the surface and also climb wick-like from underneath, so users should see pretty quick emergence compared with a conventional system.


Inventor Noel Douglas Lempriere (centre), with his two sons, who founded Clean Seed


Why six products? It might seem a little overkill to have six separate tanks along with the associated pipes and metering units, but it allows buyers to make very specific blends of N, P, K and S fertiliser at each opener. There’s also the option of


playing about with seed varieties. Research into this particular area is pretty thin on the ground at the minute because the tools to apply it have not been available, so the CX-6 opens the door to a whole new world of intercropping and multivariety drilling.


Six-tank set-up The individual row units are fed by a medley of six separate hoppers that have been carefully proportioned so each one empties at almost the same time. Total capacity is 17,600-litres (622cu ft), which is fairly modest by North American prairie standards, where the big boys often have up to 35,000 litres (1,236cu ft) at their disposal. Individual tanks range in size from 1,450


litres to 5,285 litres (50-187cu ft) but, provided each hopper is filled with the most suitable input, the drill should still be able to outlast a lot of its larger foes on each load, which keeps downtime to a minimum. Each chamber uses its own Clean Seed-built


venturi system to shift the material to a vacuum meter. Pressure differential is the key here, so it applies -0.1bar (-2psi) in the tank to encourage the product to flow. There are also two fixed-rpm fans on the front of the drill that run at different speeds. The first is for the


venturi system and spins at relatively slow 5,200rpm to shift the high volume of material from the tank. A second fan acts as a boost system by whizzing around at 6,300rpm and at high


26 ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 9 November 2017


The machine’s triple-shot opener is built to avoid excessive surface disturbance


pressure to keep the lines clear. The hoses that lead to each


opener are fairly run-of-the-mill.


The difference is that, while an air seeder fires material at huge


velocities that cause the seed to have a sandblasting effect on the hose wall, the Smart Seeder sends them down at a comparatively leisurely pace. That low velocity could also lead to marginal improvements in germination rates because of


fewer microfractures in the seed.


Quick filling on the go Frequent half-hour, stop-and-go fill-ups have long been the choke point in high-speed drilling operations, so Clean Seed has developed a hook-on nurse cart that mirrors the tank layout of the main drill. The idea is to leave it in the field roughly


where the drill is expected to run out of seed. A winch cable on the back of the CX-6 means the driver simply reverses within 5m (6.5ft) of the cart and then reels it in until it’s latched on the back. Once onboard, the rig can carry on seeding while the tanks are filled on the fly. Initiating the transfer is done wirelessly from the cab and the whole process takes 23 minutes, after which the cart can be dumped on the headland and collected by a waiting helper.


Processing power A machine of such sophistication requires powerful software to control its operations. The in-house-developed Seed Sync system runs off a Windows tablet and information is transmitted wirelessly to each of the metering units via Bluetooth antennas. This avoids the need for a girthy harness of cables running from the cab to the coulters. As well as offering full control of flat-rate


inputs, it can also process variable-rate application maps. However, the major limitation at the minute


is the resolution to which agronomists and farmers can concoct the seed and fertiliser maps, rather than the ability of the drill to apply them.


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