Maximizing inputs was a big theme at the National Farm Machinery Show, which bodes well for the precision technology world in 2026. There was plenty of cutting-edge tech on display in Louisville. We got our first look at PTx/Precision Planting’s ArrowTube. Let’s check out out how it works.

"The ultimate goal of ArrowTube would be to orient seeds, trying to stick them tip down in the furrow for better, more consistent emergence. It's an amazing piece of technology that mates up with the vSet meter, using basically a seed accelerator to help orientate the seeds using some frictional forces up here at the top, sliding it down this twisted C tube here to try to use some centrifugal forces as well, while a knife is kind of slicing almost like a sub-furrow in the ground, giving just a very little trench inside the furrow for that seed to land tip down inside of it."

"This is the ultimate goal would be tip down like this. You can see with our seed here, it'll highlight it green. Where we're actually using a camera at the base of it here just to show, so we can see on the screen here how these seeds are landing. The strong majority of them will be tip down as they land into the ground, into that furrow. It is also a high speed system, so not only are we able to orientate the seeds as they come out, but we're spacing very well."

ArrowTube is going through another round of testing this spring, and could be available for some farmers later this year.