Down Force History

For years, down force has been supplied by springs on individual row units. While better than no down force, springs struggle to maintain a consistent pressure and are difficult as well as time consuming to adjust.

“In the past, the typical scenario was to have a manual spring setting on the back of the planter, but it wasn’t an easy adjustment,” says Nathan Paul, On-Farm Network. “You would have to get out of the tractor cab and adjust springs that would have different weights across the width of the planter. With the weight of the seed itself or the additional bags being carried, you would have rows putting too much pressure on the seed. When that row would go across the ground, it would compact the seed wall. If you didn’t have enough pressure on the row, you ran the risk of planting too shallow.”

Down Force Technology

As technology progressed, a pneumatic (air bag) system was developed, which uses a compressor to inflate/deflate air bags across the planter as it calculates down force.

“The air bag system became popular because you could adjust down force on-the-go,” explains Paul. “The system slowly adjusted the weight across the entire width of the planter based on field conditions, which were preset and monitored from the cab.”

Although this was an improvement over past practice, the pneumatic system can struggle to keep up because it takes anywhere from 15 to 20 seconds to inflate or deflate air bags to match conditions. In a field with varying soil types, the air bag system may continually be trying to catch up, which can still cause inconsistent seed depth or unnecessary soil compaction.

Learn more about Malone Specialty Inc’s “Metric Fittings“.

Read more: The Evolution of Down Force Tech