WINNIPEG – The technology to select a seed variety on-the-go creates opportunities for farmers. Among the first to benefit are seed growers who need to plant both male and female seeds in a prescribed ratio and proximity.
John Deere has reported that its new Refuge Plus option is designed specifically to meet those requirements.
Refuge Plus is a third tank that can be added to any new Central Commodity System planter.
However, because the new CCS has a larger fan capacity and redesigned manifold, the Refuge Plus kit is not available for existing units.
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Refuge Plus has a 25 bushel poly tank that mounts in front of the two existing tanks. It accommodates eight extra runs for seed distribution,
allowing growers to load male seeds into the Refuge tank and female seeds into the standard tanks.
“Our standard seed tanks have a manifold, or venturi at the bottom, to feed the seed into the air flow,” said Brian Childs of John Deere’s seeder division. Childs, who has worked on the Refuge project from the concept stage, said that it’s not complicated with enough air flow.
“The Refuge Plus tank has the same kind of venturi, with a maximum number of eight runs down to the openers. When we install the Refuge, we close off the prescribed number of hoses from the main tanks and then hook up the same number of hoses from the new tank.”
The option carries the name Refuge because Deere’s target market comprises corn growers who plant refuge, or buffer strips as part of their Insect Resistance Management or IRM program.
In the United States, more than 20 million acres, or one third of the annual corn crop, are planted to IRM varieties.
IRM uses genetically modified hybrid corn that carries the naturally occurring soil-borne bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).
When corn boring larvae ingest part of the Bt corn plant, it stops feeding within two hours and drops dead within three days. The Bt corn allows growers to produce higher yields and better quality grain, while reducing insecticide use.
However, corn boring insects have the potential to develop Bt resistance, so the protocol for IRM corn production is strict.
Every farmer planting Bt corn must plant a buffer strip of non-Bt corn to attract insects away from the higher value Bt corn.
The minimum buffer size is 20 percent of a grower’s corn acreage for a given year. In areas with extreme insect pressure, Bt corn growers are required to put 50 percent of their corn acreage into buffer strip varieties.
The preferred location is adjacent to or half within the Bt field. If they are in the Bt field, they must be four or six rows wide.
That’s where the JD Refuge Plus comes into play. Rather than going back into a field and trying to line up for those half-dozen refuge rows, it’s easier to put them in the ground while the main Bt crop is going in.
The number of refuge rows a grower selects will depend on the refuge percentage and the width of the planter.
“We’ve been getting more requests from customers who want better control or better manipulation of the seed flow,” said Childs.
“I would say this is just the beginning of what can be accomplished in seeding technology.”
