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No-till Planter Preparation

Corn planting season is fast approaching for much of North America’s Corn Belt, and many planters are now in the shop for overhauls, so a quick review of some essentials seems appropriate:

1) Check opener blades. Once they’ve lost 3/8-inch off their diameter, they’ve lost their bevel and no longer cut residues (or soil) readily. If you continue to run the blades for a long time, eventually they get worn so thin that they are sharp again (razor sharp), but this thinness causes huge problems with blade flex and furrows that are pinched slits so narrow that a corn kernel cannot get to the bottom.

For replacement blades, use the 3.5 mm instead of 3.0. Also, Deere now offers a double-row bearing and hub that reduce flex even…Read More

Derek Tjaden

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.

Bob Pagel

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.

Jon Zeller

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.