Craig McCloskey, potato producer and founder of Bluefield Seeding Solutions believes that perfect seed placement is the key to growing high-quality potatoes. 🥔

In 2019, Craig launched the Press Wheel. When attached to a conventional potato planter, it can improve the placement accuracy of potato seeds and allow producers to plant more quickly, while using fewer resources. After initial interest from producers was very promising, Craig wanted to see how he could improve the technology.

“Our goal was to reduce ‘misses’ during planting, when a seed doesn’t hit the exact spot the producer wants it to go,” explains Craig. “The next step was to provide real-time data to producers, so they know where their misses are happening, and how they can lower those misses. If farmers can reduce their misses by 4%, they are using 4% less resources to grow the crop.”

By preventing gaps in fields and having evenly spaced plants, farmers are more likely to use inputs, like fertilizer, more efficiently resulting in fewer environmental impacts. To support the development of this data management technology, Craig received support from the Agricultural Clean Technology Program – Research and Innovation Stream, and after years of research and engineering, Bluefield Seeding Solutions launched their Seed Sensing Technology. It provides producers with real-time feedback of the actual seed placement, allowing them to maximize planter performance, reduce planting time by up to 30%, and provide adequate space for crops to grow to improve yield and reduce crop waste. Craig also notes that the Seed Sensing Technology helps producers be more efficient with fertilizers and other crop inputs by providing exact locations where they can directly target the crop.

Read the full story here: https://ow.ly/iyrA50W8kxQ