Seed distribution on demand with the new Elektra kit

The Sfoggia Agriculture Division in Treviso is preparing to again turn the spotlight on the manufacturer’s precision vacuum planter equipped with a new electronic device, the Elektra which made its debut earlier. This important innovation joins the restyling of the planter’s construction with a hopper which is now white and a black seeder unit. The Elektra planter, with a touch screen control, enables the operator to automatically manage the machine directly from the tractor cab to guarantee excellent sowing precision. First among the new functions to report is the introduction of an automatic selector which, using the touch screen console, enables the operator to regulate in real time the sowing settings and the operating mode of each of the sowing elements on the basis of the real work requirements encountered. The Elektra’s system – tested by the University of Padua Department of Land and Agro-Forestry Systems – is controlled by software which processes what has been detected by a photocell sensor and positions the selector in automatic mode in relation to the data gathered on seed characteristics and the speed of the planter. Sfoggia explained in a communique that this procedure strongly reduces sowing overlap or failure to sow. This new electronic device is not, however, the only high tech solution brought in for the manufacturer’s planters which can be equipped with  a vacumetric detector which reads the degree of depression on the console and warns the operator each time the minimum or maximum preset values have been exceeded. Among the other innovative features tried and tested for the Elektra model is the ISOBUS satellite link for sowing with variable dosages, the capability to sow at differing inter-row distances and the automatic Tramline function which which closes the headland to facilitate weeding operations with the option of increasing seed dosages in the rows adjacent to those which are closed.