Precision Planting, a company well known for innovative planting technologies, has set its sights on the sprayer market, revealing projects focused on improving the operation and data collection of sprayers.
In January, the company announced it was working on three sprayer technologies it will be testing this summer and releasing over the next couple of years. At the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, Precision Planting marketing manager Bryce Baker provided a sneak peek at those innovations.
In this video report, Baker tells RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin how Precision Planting’s ReClaim boom priming and recirculation system will eliminate the need for farmers operating traditional sprayers to spray product to the ground to fully prime the width of the boom.
Baker notes that often more than 50 gallons of product is sprayed, causing a hot spot of chemicals. With ReClaim added to sprayers, chemicals mixed in the tank can be circulated through the booms and back to the tank, without a drop of chemical having to be sprayed on the ground.
ReClaim uses a single rocker switch in the cab to engage recirculation. Once recirculation is complete, farmers are ready to spray with the correctly mixed chemical across the entire boom. Baker adds that the system is designed to be retrofit onto a farmer’s existing sprayer with electric or standard nozzles. (Story continues after the video)
The company has also announced further field-testing in 2022 for vision-based technologies using multiple applications of cameras on a sprayer.
- Vision guidance steers the sprayer in the crop rows, allowing the operator to focus on sprayer operations and not on steering, while preventing running over crops and providing a significant reduction in operator fatigue.
- Vision-based scouting will provide farmers with a snapshot of their stand count in the field and information about how evenly the crops emerged, letting them know if there are areas of the field where more attention is required.
- Vision-based weed ID uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to see and categorize each plant seen in the field as a crop, a broadleaf weed, or a grass weed. With this information, a map of weed pressure can be created that allows farmers to understand the type of weeds and the variability in pressure across the field.
In the video, Baker discusses the new Symphony nozzle control system. It’s being designed to pair with Precision Planting’s vision module for targeted spraying. He notes that many sprayer nozzles have a change in pressure when sprayer operating speed or rate are changed, effecting droplet size, drift, leaf coverage and efficacy. The Symphony nozzle control system allows the sprayer to maintain constant pressure even when changing rates or speed.
Baker also shares that the company is investigating how a weed ID and contact herbicide program could work effectively for growers who utilize pre-emergent weed control systems on their farms.
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