Growers wedded to ploughing light land before setting in with a seed drill to establish the next crop could tap into a one-pass approach using a new furrow press seeder that brings current drill technology to the concept.

The Alien System developed in Germany features an air seeder available with electronic GPS control capable of sowing at variable rates and putting in fertiliser at the same time.

Seed is placed by disc coulters mounted aft of two rows of interlocking press rings, and this assembly is mounted on a swing-across arm that positions it on ground ploughed on the preceding pass.

According to Olgierd Lemanski, a mechanical engineer and farmer, the machine has the potential to reduce establishment costs by ploughing and pressing in one go to produce a firm, friable seed-bed, and then sowing straight into it as a single operation.

He has been developing this setup for the past eight years, with prototypes tested in practical situations sowing rapeseed, grain and peas on a friend’s 200ha farm of mainly sandy soils in Poland.

Cost savings

Zygmunt Wierzbiński says that the plough-and-sow system has contributed to a change of approach that prioritises cuts to the cost per tonne of production rather than high-input maximum yield.

This has worked well without any noticeable effect on crop performance.

Eliminating a pass is the most obvious benefit in terms of manpower, fuel and other running costs.

However, reducing field travel also lessens the amount of compaction needing remedial treatment by deeper cultivations or subsoiling.

The finished version was launched in Germany in July by Alien System, a company set up to handle sales, parts and other support for the implement.

The kit is is being offered in six widths from 1.5m to 3m, and to three levels of specification.

In basic, seed-only Eco guise without any digital control elements, the 1.5m unit is priced at the equivalent of £12,600 and a 3m version £25,200.

Profi models have a divided hopper to handle seed and fertiliser and are priced £21,000 for a 1.8m and £33,600 at 3m.

The spec includes electronic metering unit set-up and control using a wi-fi-connected tablet computer.

Next up comes the Progress version with cloud-based data processing and variable-rate seeding and fertiliser placement using satellite guidance; this takes the 1.8m and 3m versions to £29,400 and £37,800, respectively.

Kockerling Minimat

As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun, and that is certainly the case with the one-pass ploughing and sowing concept.

The now-defunct plough maker Dowdeswell Engineering produced a front-mounted swingover arm carrying a furrow press to eliminate the faff of towing it behind the plough.

© Pro Horizon

And Kockerling’s Minimat placed an Amazone seed box over a combination of two press rings and two cage rollers to drop seed as the enclosed furrow press was towed along.

This device is still in use on some UK farms with very sandy soils for the same benefits inherent in the Alien device.

What the newcomer does is combine both concepts to create a fully mounted, easily mobile one-pass solution that incorporates modern seed drill technology – such as accurate metering, variable-rate control and tramlining – for precision and consistency.

See the Kockerling Minimat in action