Section control and scales on the tank set the Väderstad PD 400 iCON air seeder apart from its competition
Landpower displayed a new machine in Melbourne recently, which it expects to be popular this season – the Väderstad PD 400 iCON air seeder.
While Väderstad has been perfecting this machine for a while, Australian product manager Murray Tuck believes rising input costs make the iCON concept’s benefits more important than ever.
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Väderstad PD 400 iCON air seeder
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“We questioned when the market was going to go to section control, and now input costs are just going through the roof,” he says.
“This year everyone is asking about section control. The iCON concept is weigh scales, section control, input cost saving, accurate seed metering calibrations, virtual boundaries – the whole package. What makes us stand alone in section control is two really simple things and that is scales on the tank, which means we can actually do in-field calibration and get accuracy.
“The second thing with section control is our Seed Hawk bars, the tines hydraulically lift up. They do not disturb planted ground.”
Tuck says the machine’s section control allows for every 10-foot (3m) section to be controlled individually, allowing meters to be turned off at exactly the right time to prevent overuse or underuse of seed or fertiliser.
The PD 400 is named for its capacity of 400 bushels (14,000L), while a larger 680 bushel model (23,000L) is also available.
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The air seeder is available in two sizes
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Tuck says the technological offerings and range of advantages from the iCON concept – plus the fact it was already tried and tested – made it a reliable option he expected considerable interest in.
“We want blockage sensors. We want scales on our tank. We want section control for different reasons, but bringing it all together into one package makes sense,” he says.
“The best thing is we’ve been doing it for seven years. This is not new to us.
“We know the areas to look out for where we know mistakes can happen. We can’t afford a failure and we don’t have failures.”