Re-envisioning the Planter

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

For farmers that are moving to no-till or trying to plant seed into cover crops, how are they getting that seed into the ground? Traditional seed disc openers are not built for these conditions, says ReEnvision Ag founder Jayson Ryner.

Ryner… “Today we are planting into high residue, cover crops and wet soils without tillage using high speed. We're trying to use the disc opener where it was never meant to go, resulting in disc opener compaction. Farmers planting in wet soil can experience 20 to 50% yield loss caused by disc opener compaction. To the farmer, there's a danger of messing up the entire crop at the most critical time in the most critical spot: the root zone at planting.”

Ryner invented a new type of planter that leverages a dibble-style system of placing the seeds in a precise location at an exact spacing.

Ryner… “With this innovation, we believe we can eliminate the field cultivator pass and save around $16 an acre by planting more precisely in cotton. For every 1000 seeds we don't need to plant, we save $2.60 per acre. For the no till strip till farmer with a 200 bushel corn average, profitability goes up $8 per acre for every 1% increase in yield by reducing compaction.”

ReEnvision Ag was one of five participants in the recent pitch event put on by AgLaunch an organization that attracts, creates, and grows agtech startups.