To evaluate the agronomic and economic potential benefits of incorporating precision planter air bag down pressure equipment on modern corn planters. Farmers traditionally take the time to setup the planter in the first field planted, but there after tend to stay with the same setting despite changes in soil type, soil moisture and other conditions. This often means sub optimal planting especially where fields are variable.
The Precision Planting technology is supposed to be able to account for field variation and make on the go changes to optimize planter performance. The equipment has not been sufficiently researched to determine the flexibility of the equipment under varying field conditions and as to whether the technology pays to deploy. Two fundamental questions are does the automatic adjustment optimize planter performance leading to enhanced yield and secondly, does the system react quick enough to address significant changes in infield conditions or more on a field scale level.