Blog Category: Machine Optimization

Platte Valley Equipment customer, Jerame Rief, leaves us with his final thoughts on John Deere's Soybean Singulation Seed Discs after using them for the first time this year. Read more about his experience here!

Yield maps are a valuable agronomic decision making tool. Unfortunately, they are rarely perfect straight out of the combine. By understanding common problems and their symptoms, many of these issues can be avoided during harvest or repaired in the John Deere Operations Center with a few simple steps.

Combines are incredibly complicated machines, with multiple systems that need to be adjusted independently for the best performance. By better understanding these systems and through our free Guide to Successful Combine Adjustments, you can experience a successful harvest this season.

Learn the key steps to winterizing your John Deere planter before putting it away for winter storage. By following a few easy steps, you will extend the life of your planter and maximize future performance. When winterized correctly, planters will be protected from environmental conditions, chemicals, and rodents and will be ready to plant as soon as spring arrives.

John Deere performance upgrade kits provide an excellent option to get the latest sprayer technology in your operation. These retrofit options allow you to install the latest John Deere sprayer technology on an existing sprayer, enabling features such as individual nozzle control, AutoTrac Vision and RowSense, See and Spray, and many others.

John Deere performance upgrade kits provide an excellent option to get the latest planter technology in your operation. These retrofit options allow you to install the latest John Deere planter technology on an existing planter or toolbar, enabling features such as high-speed planting at speeds up to 10 mph, individual row hydraulic downforce, pneumatic row cleaners and closing wheels that are adjustable from the in-cab display, and many more.

One of the most frequently asked questions our teams receive during the planting season is how to correctly set planter downforce margin. Unfortunately, there is no straight-forward answer or a standard number to enter into the display. However, by understanding how downforce margin works and some best practices for setting it correctly, it can be successfully achieved.

Like all equipment, the John Deere ExactEmerge planter requires regular adjustments to perform at its best. Last season we experienced a problem with the ExactEmerge planter where we found seed on the surface of the ground at some fields. After digging into the problem found it was discovered that proper bowl tension is critical to avoiding this issue. To achieve consistent planting quality, regular inspection of the seed meters and bowls is necessary.