When looking at things that need to be upgraded on your operation, perhaps your air seeder comes to mind. Maybe the newer N series drills… Read More »John Deere Air Seeder Owners: Put Money Back in your Pocket.
Every pass you make through the field is important and seeding cover crops should be treated with care. Whether it’s a small grain or a 12-way… Read More »Your Cover Crop is a cash crop and should be treated as such.
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—almost… Read More »Deere ‘Pro’-series NT drills: Worth it?
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
Bigger isn’t always better. At least not for opener blades cutting mulch (and soil) in no-till.Too many OEMs want to use 20 – 24” opener… Read More »Blade Size for No-till Openers
I sometimes am called upon to do the impossible: Make a poorly designed planter or drill work well in no-till. And I then have to convey
We at Exapta have long emphasized the importance of adequate seed-to-soil contact. For instance, I saw enough evidence in ‘95 that I realized that Keetons
i.e., how much precision is economically advantageous? As an agronomist and the founder of a company that strives to improve seeding hardware and methods, I… Read More »How Much Accuracy of Seed Placement Do You Need?
Content of this page is copyright 2005-2024 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.
