By No-Till Farmer editors

John Deere recently announced a number of new developments with farm equipment for 2016 and 2017, including a new air hoe seeder model, planter row unit and updated combine.

For more information and photos provided by John Deere, please read below.

1870 Air Hoe Seeder

Small grains and oilseed producers can now plant more acres quickly and accurately with the introduction of the 76-foot 1870 Air Hoe Drill.

This latest addition to the 1870 air seeder lineup, which includes 40-foot and 56-foot models, incorporates many new features designed to improve seed and fertilizer placement and increase productivity.

John Peters, marketing manager for the John Deere Seeding Group, says the wider air seeder integrates the latest in precision placement, depth and pressure control and other enhancements.

“The new 76-foot model 1870 offers a time-saving 36% increase in seeding width, better residue-flow capabilities and improved seeding and fertilizer placement and control,” Peters says. “Also, with the new retractable openers for easier servicing and improved transport, customers will gain more productivity when seeding small grains and oil seeds.

“When combined with a John Deere air cart and used on rolling, undulating terrain, this is one of the most accurate, productive air seeding systems available.”

The 76-foot 1870 is a five-section seeder with 12-inch row spacing, compatible with 430-bushel tow-between and 430- or 550-bushel tow-behind John Deere seed carts. It features increased frame height and 56 inches of spacing between each rank, which is nearly 20 inches more space compared to other seeders, to help move residue through without clogging.

The 1910 Air Carts have been updated to add even more productivity to the 1870 Air Seeder system. They feature a new AirPower 2 Dual fan option that delivers up to 550 pounds of total product per acre across the full width of the air seeder, using two independently controlled fans. The large, cast aluminum design and increased fan size allows higher-capacity performance especially when operating on slopes or hilly terrain.

The new 1870 Air Seeder also features a floating front hitch and wings with a range of 25 degrees of flex. High-flotation tires placed inside the high-clearance frame are standard and provide better ground following and drill-to-soil contact, which helps improve accuracy of seed placement when covering hilly, undulating terrain.

Another exclusive standard feature to the 76-foot model is the TruSet depth and pressure control. TruSet lets the operator monitor, set and adjust trip force and packing pressure from the tractor cab. TruSet also makes side-to-side frame leveling easier.

Controlled through the GreenStar 2630 display, operators can set target seeding depth and adjust on-the-go, saving time and making it easier to fine-tune settings due to changes in field and soil conditions.

“Another new feature on this machine is our own Relative Flow blockage system that allows the operator to monitor the relative flow rate of both seed and fertilizer from the cab,” Peters says. “Sensors on the primary and secondary hoses and an easy-to-read display help ensure proper seed and fertilizer flow across the drill, from opener to opener.”

For improved seed and fertilizer placement, the 1870 has independent hydraulic controls and state-of-the-art openers for consistent seed placement and fertilizer separation. Fertilizer can be banded 6 inches deep and seed tubes can be adjusted in ¼-inch increments. A new cam lever on each opener makes it easier for the operator to adjust seed depth across the entire seeder.

With the new 1870 Air Seeder, folding and transporting can be easier and more maneuverable. The 76-foot 1870 folds completely in two minutes and the retractable openers narrow the folded width to a slim 22½. The ability to retract the openers also makes servicing the seeder easier. And the use of more greaseless bushings and long-life components cuts service time in half and increases uptime in the field.

To make transport easier, John Deere has included a “bump up” and “duck down” feature that allows customers to increase ground clearance by 4 inches to clear obstacles like railroad tracks and duck down by 6 inches to clear low hanging power lines or overpasses. And to help speed up planting and headland turns, full-rise of the seeder has been optimized to seven and one-half seconds.   

MaxEmerge 5e Row Units

John Deere is introducing the MaxEmerge 5e row units to help corn and soybean growers improve planting accuracy, reliability and uptime. Available in time for use next spring, the variable-rate MaxEmerge 5e row units can be used on a wide variety of John Deere planters, including popular mini-hopper and DB planters.

Brian Boelens, product specialist John Deere Seeding, says the new MaxEmerge 5e row units provide significant improvement in seeding population accuracy across the full width of the planter, especially when operating on curves.

“With planters equipped with the electric meter drive for each row unit and related technology, customers can achieve up to a 20% improvement in population accuracy and eliminate a potential one to two percent yield loss due to seeding inaccuracies,” Boelens says.

While the MaxEmerge 5e row units still utilize a seed tube, an electric drive meter on each row unit replaces traditional shafts and drivelines, allowing each row unit to work independently. Eliminating these components also provides easier access to each row unit and decreases time and labor needed for planter maintenance.

The MaxEmerge 5e row units can be used on 1725 16-row, 1775NT, 1795, DB44, DB60, DB66, DB80, DB88, and DB90 planters, including mini-hopper, 1.6-bushel and 3-bushel hopper models. It is compatible with SeedStar 3HP and SeedStar Mobile seed monitoring systems that have a wireless data server.

Standard features of the MaxEmerge 5e row units include variable rate, individual row electric meter drives; SeedStar 3HP monitoring system; one year free activation of SeedStar Mobile; Curve Compensation; vacuum automation; meter runoff and built in RowCommand. To operate the electric drive meters, tractors need to have PTO for electric power generation.

Optional features available for use with planters equipped with MaxEmerge 5e units include easy-adjust row cleaners, individual row hydraulic downforce, pneumatic closing wheels and, depending on model of planter, fertilizer attachments. Active pneumatic downforce is standard equipment on all MaxEmerge 5e row units and ExactEmerge models.

Updated T670 Combine 

For model year 2017, John Deere T670 model walker combines will have significant enhancements to boost productivity, threshing capacity, and straw quality for baling while making service and maintenance much easier and less time consuming. These are all benefits that U.S. and Canadian small grain producers will appreciate when it comes to harvesting during often tight windows and tough conditions.

According to Terry DeMay, senior marketing representative for John Deere Harvester Works, the newly updated T670 Combine will lead the industry with several new features, helping to make it the most productive walker combine available.

“The new model year T670 combine has one of the largest active separation areas and largest cleaning shoe of any walker combine on the market today,” DeMay says. “We’ve increased productivity by 15% in wheat and increased unloading rates by 50%. We’ve also made it easier to switch between small grains and canola, and improved the service points to allow producers to spend more time harvesting and less time waiting.”

For customers harvesting both canola and small grains, the new T670 has a new swing-in Booster Bar that makes switching between crops easier and faster – often in less than 5 minutes – and easier to adjust as crop conditions change.  

In addition, John Deere has increased the size of the overshot beater, concaves, separator drum and grate, and walker area as part of its updated T-concept solution. These are all designed to improve threshing speed, throughput, and straw and grain quality during harvest while making it easy to change over to other crops and optimize harvesting performance.

Greater throughput and capacity means operators need more speed to unload. As a result, the T670 with its Xtra Fast System can offload grain at 3.3 bushels per second.

The new T670 Combine has optimal maintenance intervals with easier access to those service areas and fewer filters to check and replace. To make servicing and cleanout more convenient, the new T-series comes with an optional factory-installed 16-gallon air compressor with 33-foot hose and three quick-coupler points to access different areas of the machine.

Like its predecessor, the new model T670 has a spacious, comfortable and quiet Premium Cab, and transmission options.

“Compared to the previous model T670 combine, this new model offers significant improvements that customers will quickly see and appreciate,” DeMay says. “When added up, these enhancements help producers harvest more acres per day and spend more time being productive.”

The newly redesigned T670 Combine from John Deere is available for model year 2017.