Farmer: Christophe Pelé
Location: France
Farm size: 330 hectares
Contractor size: 380 hectares
Crops: Maize, oilseed rape, sugar beets
Tempo model: Väderstad Tempo V
In the center for France, maize acreage tends to decrease and is replaced by sugar beet. That's why I arrived on a Väderstad Tempo planter, for planting 150ha of maize, 100ha of oil seed rape and 100ha of sugar beet, to which I added 100ha of cover crops. Generally, for sugar beets and maize it is behind ploughing and for oil seed rape it is minimal tillage.
Versatility was my primary factor. I wanted to plant maize in 80cm row spacing, plant the oil seed rape and sugar beets in 50cm and have the possibility to fertilize during the planting. Not all planter does this, I learned that Väderstad does it and I was seduced by the technical progress and simplicity of the brand. In addition, I already own a Rexius roller, I knew the solidity and reputation. That's why the Tempo V12 and the FH2200 front hopper perfectly answered my expectations. Thanks to the FH2200, everyone can adapt their fertilizer formulation according to their soil. Customers are really satisfied with this option.
The capacity is monstrous. I plant maize around 14km/h, sugar beets at 12km/h and for oil seed rape I limit myself to 18km/h, while having an accuracy of 99% quality. At home, I tried at 20km/h for test on sugar beets and the experiment was convincing.
I have the iPad with the E-Control system. Everything is very well explained, it's easy to use. Väderstad regularly updates it to make it easier to use. What is very practical is to get out the tractor with the iPad and go and do the weighing tests and adjust the double and missing parts.
In maize I plant in 8 rows, I put half a day with one person to transform the planter from 8 to 12 rows. It is very practical and easy, thanks to the rail on the beam.
This year I also tried planting modulation and row shut-off in maize. The planter modulates by itself the seeding rate per area, depending on the soil potential, we vary the seeding rate from 95000 to 105000 plants per hectares. It's very responsive.
Customers were apprehensive about the speed the first year. But in the end, they all are very happy with the regularity which is better than before.
