Facilitating Access to Interactive and Practical Learning-Based Programs for Youth at the Martin Richenhagen Future Farm Community  Quality education and skills enhancement programs are essential pathways for empowering young populations and for transforming societies both economically and socially. Many young people lack education, skills, and access to capacity development programs, particularly in developing countries.   Importance of capacity development programs  Cu ..read more

Leveraging Inclusive and Sustainable Poultry Production to Empower Small-scale Farmers Last year, the AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF) launched a sustainable poultry production project in Zambia to help small-scale producers increase their sustainable and market-oriented poultry production and contribute to improved food, nutrition, and income security.  In Zambia, poultry farming serves as a major source of income and nutrition for more than 1 million farmers and households who ..read more

The primary focus of this study was to quantify the yield impact of poor seed singulation (percentage of skips and doubles) at planting. The study was conducted from 2016 to 2020 on 22* different fields throughout the U.S. Midwest. Modified seed plates, or “goof” plates, were installed on specific row-units of each planter to intentionally create skips and doubles (Picture 1). Standard seed singulation plots contained a low occurrence of skips and doubles, whereas poor seed singulation plots contained a higher occurrence due to the modified seed plates.   Picture 1: Modified seed plate t ..read more

The objective of this study was to quantify the sugar beet yield impact of section control technology. The study was conducted in 2019 on two different sugar beet fields that were double planted on a 45-degree angle to the master row direction. The sugar beet in the master rows was hand-harvested and measured as harvested yield with beets between the rows counted as loss. This procedure is a replication of how a sugar beet harvester will react in areas of the field with overlapping rows.  See figure 1.                         Fi ..read more

Agronomic Research and Field Trial Tuesdays AGCO puts farmers first, and that means discovering ways to unlock yield potential while farming more efficiently and sustainably. AGCO’s Agronomy and Advanced Farm Solutions team is hard at work bringing the latest research from fields around the globe to the farmers who feed the world. Check back every Tuesday for a new agronomic research study as the team explores different crops, equipment, pathogens, and growing practices. Three-Year Planting Speed Study in Corn The objective of this study was to determine if high-speed planting resulted in simi ..read more

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of different planting depths on sunflower yield. The study was conducted in 2019 at two different locations in Ukraine, six plots were established where sunflower seed was planted at different depths, which were 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, and 3.5 inches (2.5, 3.8, 5.1, 6.4, 7.1 and 8.9 cm) deep.  Individual plots were 8 rows wide and 50m long. The entire study was positioned in the field so that all treatments were planted into similar soil moisture conditions to avoid any influence from different soil conditions. Results:     &nb ..read more

The objective of this study was to determine the optimum planting depth for corn across multiple locations and growing environments. The study was conducted from 2016 to 2020 on 22* different fields, mostly throughout the U.S. Midwest. Six planting depth plots were established at each location, beginning at 1 inch and increasing to 3.5 inches in half-inch increments. Results: When averaged across all locations, planting at 2 inches resulted in the highest overall yield (Figure 1). However, optimum planting depths per location often ranged between 1.5 and 3 inches, depending on field conditions ..read more

AGCO puts farmers first, and that means discovering ways to unlock yield potential while farming more efficiently and sustainably. AGCO’s Agronomy and Advanced Farm Solutions team is hard at work bringing the latest research from fields around the globe to the farmers who feed the world. Check back every Tuesday for a new agronomic research study as the team explores different crops, equipment, pathogens, and growing practices. The objective of this study was to measure the yield impact of automatic downforce control using DeltaForce. The study was conducted from 2016 to 2020 on 25 fields* acr ..read more

The objective of this study was to compare maize yields using automatic planting down force control (Precision Planting DeltaForce) against two fixed down force settings: heavy and light. A Massey Ferguson 9108V planter with DeltaForce was used to plant plots across three different sites in Ukraine. Each plot was planted using the following down force settings: Plot 1: the planter was configured manually to provide a light down force (40kg). Plot 2: DeltaForce automatic down force system was used and automatically adjusted to provide the correct down force regardless of conditions. Plot 3: th ..read more

For most of the business world, 2020 was one of the chaotic years of the decade. With the emergence of COVID-19 in November 2019 in Asia, and with several waves spreading the virus around the world in 2020, many organizations cut back or even closed their operations. For AGCO, though the pandemic roiled global markets and disrupted millions of lives, 2020 was a year marked with accomplishments. Thousands of workers in production sites, warehouses and offices (whether at home or following public health guidelines at the work site) around the world worked hard this year to help our farmer custom ..read more