Frame Bolt Breakage on JD Air Drills
If you have a JD drill where the rear transport wheel frame is held together as shown in the photo, you probably are constantly replacing… Read More »Frame Bolt Breakage on JD Air Drills
If you have a JD drill where the rear transport wheel frame is held together as shown in the photo, you probably are constantly replacing… Read More »Frame Bolt Breakage on JD Air Drills
It seems to be the latest trend amongst the Regenerative Ag folks to stop using seed-applied fungicides for fear of what they might be doing… Read More »Do Seed-Applied Fungicides Harm Mycorrhizae?
We tend to be rather complacent about soybean stand uniformity—non-uniform distance between plants as well as non-uniform timing of emergence. As an agronomist, I stopped worrying… Read More »Soybean Stand Uniformity: Does It Matter?
If you have new blades on a Deere planter with the depth mechanism set as shown in this photo, the furrow being cut should be… Read More »Planter Downforce, Depth Settings, and Levelness
If you notice a lot of wear on the depth-adjustment mechanism (the plate with the notches in it, as well as the knob), it’s probably… Read More »‘Cover-Plate’ Wear on JD 60/90/Pro-series Drills
by Matt Hagny, freelance agronomic consultant since ’94[Originally written Nov 2017; updated March 2019] Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, marestail, kochia in many regions are now resistant… Read More »Resistant Weeds: Tillage vs Technology (including WEEDit)
We’ve been waiting decades for Deere to come out with improvements to their 90-series no-till drill openers. Now that it’s finally happened, it’s mostly a yawn.… Read More »Deere Pro-Series NT Drills: Worth It?
For those who don’t know my history, I’ve been an agronomist (independent crop consultant) for nearly a quarter-century now, working almost exclusively with no-till systems… Read More »Fertilizers in the Seed Row (“Pop-up”)
We now have Forges de Niaux opener blade assemblies for late-model JD planters (XP & ME5). And with larger bearings than OEM or other aftermarket!… Read More »Super-Duty Opener Assemblies for JD XP, ME5 Planters!
A nuanced topic. First, let’s look at gauge wheels on planters, then drills. (Your drill isn’t a true gauge-wheel design? Maybe it’s time to upgrade).… Read More »Gauge Wheels In No-till
Content of this page is copyright 2005-2025 Exapta Solutions, Inc. (reprint with written permission only).
Thompson wheel covered by U.S. Patent No. 6,907,833. Liquid delivery feature of Valion seed tube guards is U.S. Patent No. 8,978,564. Ninja seed bounce flap U.S. Patent Pending. UniForce U.S. Patent Pending. All rights reserved on other designs. Exapta is a registered trademark of Exapta Solutions, Inc. Keeton is a registered trademark of Precision Planting. Mojo Wire, Thompson wheel, Valion guard, Ninja flap, UniForce, DuraLok, No-till Seeding Explained, and No-till Seeding School are trademarks of Exapta. Disclaimer: Recommendations & page content are current, accurate, and believed to be broadly applicable as of the time of writing (Dec 2005) and last update (2005 – 2014). Because of diversity of soils, climate, crops, planter & drill models/designs marketed worldwide, combinations of attachments, etc., actual results may vary. No warranty is made as to actual results obtained. Should you encounter exceptions or worthwhile annotations to the statements made on this page, please contact us.
Derek is Kansas native who grew up in a 100% no-till farming operation. From an early age the benefits of no-till were made known to Derek by his father and by attending no-till conferences. From there he furthered his passion for soils while at Kansas State University getting his agronomy degree. He has had the experience of working in various roles and sectors of agriculture from sales and consulting to management, which have all been within production agriculture. Derek has also worked in specialty ag markets such as turf and ornamentals.
Sales & Service Representative
Prior to joining Exapta, Bob Pagel was an Agricultural Territory Sales Manager for Ritchie Brothers, serving parts of MN, WI and IA. He continues to support his family farm in SE Minnesota.
Current Product Engineer
Jonathan Zeller joined Exapta excited to return to working with no-till planting equipment. He supported research of no-till planting and other ag related projects for 7 years with Kansas State University’s Agricultural Engineering Department after getting his engineering degree. He later worked 3 years for Landoll Company, LLC. where he gained experience in a design engineering role. Jonathan grew up on a small family farm in NE Kansas working with row crops, hay and cattle. Jonathan enjoys solving engineering problems and improving or creating products to be robust and easy to install and service.