Without a doubt, one of the biggest concerns among no-tillers is seed placement. With the many attachments and tools available to move residue, drop seed in the row or close the seed slot, all are designed to put seed in the best possible position to emerge with the potential to be a high-yielding machine.

So it probably comes as no surprise that No-Till Farmer readers would chose one of the those products — the Keeton seed firmer from Precision Planting — as the 2009 No-Till Product of the Year.

The Product of the Year process started last summer, when product nominations were accepted from both no-tillers and manufacturers. Our initial voting by no-tillers resulted in 11 product category winners, and those 11 products were then put to a final vote to see which one would emerge as the overall winner.

Winners were recognized and announced in January during the 18th annual National No-Tillage Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. Following is a summary of the 2009 crop of No-Till Product of the Year recipients.

2009 No-Till Product Of The Year/No-Till Planter/Drill Attachments

Seed-to-soil contact in the trench is important to germination. This thin piece of plastic slides down the seed trench and traps seeds as they exit the seed tube in a way that firms them into the bottom of the seed trench.

Precision Planting officials say the Keeton seed firmer — designed by Kentucky no-tiller Eugene Keeton — has proven to increase yields by 6 bushels per acre as a…