One of the things you often hear from farmers, including corn yield world record holder David Hula many years ago, is we have all these innovations with planters, but why can't we put the corn kernel in the furrow right side up instead of upside down? You don't want to lose growing degree days or yields. So the folks at PTx had a five-year R&D product before they designed a new product, Arrowtube, and it guides seed all the way down into the furrow and deposits the seed in the proper orientation so you don't lose any yield or any growing degree days.

"When we place a seed with a tip down, it knows exactly what it needs to do. We see that caliopto go straight up vertical and we see the radical root dive straight down. That seed's not confused. Versus in traditional systems, when we put seed in the ground, it's random. The embryo might be down and that's where we see the cork screwing. Sometimes when we dig plants, we see that caliopto all twisted around. Well, that's all wasted GDU and wasted time getting to the surface. And so the goal of this is if every seed is put in the furrow the same, they should all get to the surface at relatively the same 24 hour window, which is the sweet spot to push yield numbers. And that's what we're after. The second benefit is if we're planting in this direction and the embryo is facing the adjacent row, the first set of leaves will come out and we'll move towards the adjacent row."

"That opens up maximized sunlight capture and that's what we like out of the system too. We want those leaves going out into open space, grabbing that sunlight and pushing for better plant health and better yield potentially."

There are a number of other planter innovations out here at the PTx booth as growers continue to look ways to be more efficient and effective with their planting and seeding.

Watch the full Video of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.