Väderstad Proceed opens the future of seeding

Väderstad, one of the world’s leading companies in tillage, seeding and planting, introduces the new product innovation Väderstad Proceed. Proceed is a new seeding machinery category, where one single machine increases the yield potential of a full range of crops – such as wheat, barley, oilseed rape, sugar beet, peas, maize, sunflower, and many more. 

– At Väderstad we build machines that keep our customers at the forefront of modern farming. We develop new methods and from time to time we set completely new standards. Proceed is one of those leaps that doesn’t happen often in the farm machinery industry, but when it does, it changes things, says Mattias Hovnert, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, at Väderstad, and continues: 

– Väderstad Proceed can place the smallest of seed at the perfect depth with millimetre precision, enabling significant improvements in areas like yield levels, need for tillage, chemical treatment and use of fertilisers. 

Field trials show that Proceed can cut the wheat seed rate by half, while keeping the yield compared to modern seed drills. Importantly the crops are stronger and very even in all growth stages of the crop year. 

– Proceed takes a huge leap from current seeding technology. It is outstanding in depth-precision, in-row precision, end-of-row precision, as well as seedbed optimization. The result is a quick, even emergence and vital crop population where each plant is provided conditions needed to reach full potential, says Lars Thylén, Director Product Management at Business Development at Väderstad. 

A few months after seeding, trials of winter wheat at a seed rate of 150seeds/m2 show an increase of 102% in plant biomass, 72% in root biomass and 62% more shots per plant, compared to a modern seed drill.  

Highest precision for all crops 

When seeding cereals Proceed has a row spacing of either 225 or 250mm. By an easy configuration and a quick change of seed discs the machine can switch to 450 or 500mm for crops such as sugar beet or oilseed rape, to then switch again to plant crops such as maize, sunflower or cotton at 750mm row spacing. All crops will be established with an outstanding precision, maximising the yield potential for each seed. 

The heart of Proceed is its high-precision row units. Prior to seed placement, individual pre-seeding wheels consolidates the field to ensure same conditions for each seed. The pre-seeding wheels are individually mounted, using hydraulic down-force to ensure high performance.  

– When the seeds reach the row units from the central hopper, an adapted version of the world-leading Väderstad PowerShoot singulation system take full control of each single seed all the way down to the soil. Leaving the short seed tube, each seed is received by a stop wheel. This ensures optimal seed-to-soil contact at selected depth all over the working width, says Lars Thylén, Director Product Management at Business Development. 

To provide the driver with full control, each row unit is electrically driven and controlled via the iPad-based control system Väderstad E-Control. Functions include row-by-row shut-off and variable rate, dynamic tramlining, individual calibration, as well as real-time precision monitoring and control. All of which are true technical innovations in the cereal seeding sector. 

Väderstad Proceed will have its public premiere at the international tradeshow Agritechnica 2022 in Hannover, Germany. During 2022 Väderstad are pushing the limits further with new full-scale field trials, and cooperation with researchers, seed companies and progressive farmers all over the world. Väderstad Proceed is the next generation seeding machinery, opening a new future for crop establishment.