Poor maintenance defeats good tech

Running new fancy planters is fun.

Working on dirty, used ones is less fun.

But huge problems can be avoided if farmers take the time to make sure their equipment is set up the way it’s supposed to be.

“If we don’t do good maintenance, it’s going to defeat that technology,” said Dustin Weinkauf of Precision Planting to farmers in Manitoba’s Red River Valley.

Weinkauf said poor maintenance of planters can lead to bad row spacings, poor emergence and other yield and profitability killing problems.

Many problems come from a simple cause, rather than a complicated agronomic or software issue.

“It’s all maintenance and mechanical,” he said about basic problems.