Planter Upgrades: Doing More With The Planter You Already Have

Friday, February 21, 2025

‘If you have access to a planter, there’s no real reason why you shouldn’t use it.’

By Emily Mckinlay

Planters have been gaining recognition for their precision and crop quality. This renewed interest might have some producers looking to acquire a new planter or find ways to do more with the planter they have. Planter upgrades and add-ons can offer producers many of the benefits of a brand-new piece of equipment.

While planters have frequently been used for feed corn, sugar beets, and dry beans, more farmers have been achieving persuasive results when using planters for canola and pulse crops.

Collin Collins, owner of Double C AgCo near Lethbridge, Alta., believes that the opportunity for using planters is increasing, particularly with the high cost of seed and inputs.

“Planters are more viable than people realize,” says Collins.

“As a farmer, I spend so much on inputs, seed, fertilizer, and land rent. Everything has gone up. I want to do the best I can do with that.”

He states, “If you have access to a planter, there’s no real reason why you shouldn’t use it.”

How are farmers integrating planters into their cropping program and which upgrades can help them make the most of what they have?

Why upgrade your planter?

Collins says that farmers in Western Canada have been expressing greater interest in planters as they have observed their neighbours implementing them.

“More and more people have started using planters and people are seeing results.

“Planted canola has had good success in the Prairies. It has worked in every soil and every climate.”

Collins initially purchased a planter due to his interest in growing dryland corn. He has also planted more pulses with his planter in the past three years.

“A planter side-by-side with an air drill is going to be more accurate at getting seed in the ground, from rate to depth and coverage,” says Collins, who notes that planters can help producers reduce seed costs and increase yields.

It is also important to compare the cost of purchasing a new planter with improving an older planter.

“New machinery isn’t cheap, but when people start realizing you can put some money into the old planter, there is some opportunity there,” says Collins.

“No one wants to put $3,000 to $5,000 a row into a 30-year-old planter, but there’s still a return on investment to that.”

Cullen Tinline, sales and customer support at Kearney Planters in Thamesville, Ont., says there are unlimited possibilities for improving older planters.

“It’s cost-effective but not necessarily cheap because nothing is. An upgraded planter keeps up with the times and has all the technology anyone could want,” says Tinline.

“With a brand-new planter, you get it and then pay for it, but by taking your old one and making it better, it is possible to improve it $20,000 at a time.”

There are many options for upgrading older planter models which allow producers to tackle smaller expenses while increasing their efficiency during planting season.

Upgrades and add-ons

With planter upgrades, farmers can implement technology that rivals brand-new machines.

Collins and Tinline discuss some add-ons that they recommend as starting points for improving the planting experience.

Hydraulic downforce

Downforce is the first improvement that Collins recommends. He explains that as farmers are growing their acreages and running larger machines, a single downforce setting may not be sufficient.

“Primarily, when people talk to me about upgrades, I think about upgrading to hydraulic downforce,” says Collins.

“Individual row hydraulic downforce offers a huge improvement over what the standard practice would’ve been on older planters.”

Collins believes farmers will get the best return on this investment.

“As your planters get wider, having one downforce setting across the entire tool bar is pretty generic,” says Collins.

“With individual row hydraulic downforce, you are planting that corn or canola seed at the perfect depth every time and across every row. That’s why people are so happy with planter canola. The stand and emergence are much better than with a crop seeded by an air drill – row-by-row planting with downforce is better than seeding with 200 pounds of air pressure across 40 feet.”

Tinline adds that this can be particularly valuable on farms with variable soil types.

“This is beneficial if your field doesn’t have the same soil density from one side to the other. For most growers, there’s some variability from one field to next as well,” explains Tinline.

“At my farm, I have mostly sandy soil, so I only need a little down pressure, but when my hopper is full it can be too much down pressure. A good, active hydraulic system can provide some uplift, which is necessary for not over-applying and maintaining optimal gauge wheel load.”

With hydraulic downforce, Tinline says that the planter can adjust to the ground second by second.

Population Monitors

Monitors can communicate data about the planter to improve real-time decision making. Tinline says that population monitors have been evolving to generate significantly better information in recent years.

“Most people already have one, but old population monitors would tell a farmer the seed population and that’s about it,” explains Tinline.

“A new population monitor is able to pick up on singulation skips and doubles row-by-row, and it is real-time information you are seeing first-hand.”

By also incorporating gauge wheels and load cells, he says that a population monitor can generate even more data.

“This can tell me ground contact. If it looks like it’s hovering around 70 to 80 per cent, I can get out of the cab and add more down pressure. If I see it at 100 per cent all the time, it’s good proof that there’s too much down pressure,” says Tinline.

“I am able to make decisions right away based on the monitor.”

He says that many producers run their planters with only a run block monitor, which alerts when no seed is falling, whereas a population monitor can identify if there is too much or too little seed being planted.

Electric Seed Drives

Electric seed drives can minimize planting overlap and save farmers money on seed costs.

“Seed costs are high, particularly with hybrid seeds, like corn or canola. Some hybrids are as much as $80 to $120 an acre. We want to make all that seed count,” says Collins.

“Electric seed drives not only reduce seed overlap to nothing, but they can shut off as you are coming in and out of the headlands.”

Collins anticipates a 10 per cent average seeding overlap in most fields, with higher rates in the small or oddly shaped fields more common in the north. For producers growing corn, which is sensitive to competition, he notes that avoiding double seeding will improve yield as well.

“If you are planting at a population of 32,000 and the headlands are suddenly at 64,000 seeds, you’ve now taken a yield hit. You’ve lost money on that seed and hurt your corn,” says Collins.

He suggests that this addition could also help producers increase their planting speeds, helping them get across their acres quicker.

Many more options

There are many more options for producers looking to rejuvenate older planters.

Collins suggests that it could also be beneficial to consider electric liquid fertilizer pumps and row cleaners.

Tinline says he has received questions about speed systems, which can be retrofitted to older planters. He does note that not all planters are built to run at higher speeds.

Each farm is different. There are a few factors that may determine which planter upgrades make the most sense.

What’s right for your farm?

Aftermarket upgrades offer many strategies for farmers to personalize their planters to meet their farm goals.

Tinline suggests evaluating the mechanical integrity of the potential frame to start.

“The first step in determining what kind of upgrades you’re going to do is to assess the mechanical feasibility of your planter,” explains Tinline.

“Look at what basics need to be repaired to get it to field-ready condition. Then review what budget is left for attachments.”

He also recommends reviewing what the tractor running the planter is capable of, in terms of amperage and hydraulics.

“A million dollars of automation won’t do anything without a good foundation to prop it up,” Tinline reiterates.

He also suggests researching parts and service availability.

Collins says that a service shortage led him to his planter sales and service business. He says there are too few machines and too few experts to service the demand for planters.

He recommends reviewing farm goals and what type of planter will best meet them.

“What are your long-term goals with that machine? Are you going to put money into upgrades but are also maybe planning a farm expansion and will be looking to get a bigger machine?” asks Collins, who cautions against spending large sums on upgrades if a new machine will be needed within the next few years.

“The reality of upgrades on old planters is that you can put a lot of money into it, but on the resale market, people still see it as an old planter.”

Depending on the goals of a farm, upgrades and add-ons can be a cost-effective way to get more efficiency out of a previously owned or lower-cost machine.

Collins says, “There are efficiencies and economic benefits to doing a better job with the current piece of machinery you’ve got.” BF