Methods for growing plants and seeds may include blending a polyacrylamide polymer with the uppermost portion of the soil, usually top 1 inch of the soil at a rate of around 1 pound polyacrylamide per 100 square feet of soil. The polyacrylamide attaches to the roots of the plant and acts as an extension of the root system facilitating the uptake of water by the plant and increasing the soil permeability around the root system. The method also improves germination of the seeds and facilitates the growth of the resulting plants. The method may be utilized with a variety of plants, sod, and trees.

An apparatus and system for adjustably controlling the position and depth of row closer wheels in no-till planting applications, the apparatus comprising a frame, a piston movably secured at the top to the frame, upper and lower parallel arms disposed about the piston and movably secured at one end to the frame and at the other end to a hub stem, and a set of piston arms each movably secured at the top to one of the upper or lower parallel arms and at the other end to the bottom of the piston. A closing wheel assembly having a closing wheel frame and a set of closing wheels pivotally mounted to a lever on a single axle assembly allows the operator to change the angle at which the closing wheels intersect the ground surface during use. Accordingly, as the angle of the lever is manipulated, the angle of the closing wheel pivotally mounted to that lever changes in the vertical and/or horizontal dimensions.

An agricultural harvesting system has an agricultural harvesting machine with at least one agricultural working unit that performs agricultural work, and an adjusting unit for adjusting the parameters of the particular working unit, a conveyor channel for a crop stream generated in a harvesting process by harvesting a field of crop, and an NIR sensor unit containing an NIR sensor which is configured for detecting constituents and/or properties of the crop stream. The crop stream in the conveyor channel can be guided past the NIR sensor. An on-line data processing unit controls the particular working unit, and generates control data on the basis of crop stream data which have been generated by the NIR sensor unit and correspond to the constituents and/or properties detected by the NIR sensor, and the adjusting unit carries out a parameter adjustment of the particular working unit on the basis of the control data.

An agricultural harvesting system has an agricultural harvesting machine with at least one agricultural working unit that performs agricultural work, and an adjusting unit for adjusting the parameters of the particular working unit, a conveyor channel for a crop stream generated in a harvesting process by harvesting a field of crop, and an NIR sensor unit containing an NIR sensor which is configured for detecting constituents and/or properties of the crop stream. The crop stream in the conveyor channel can be guided past the NIR sensor. An on-line data processing unit controls the particular working unit, and generates control data on the basis of crop stream data which have been generated by the NIR sensor unit and correspond to the constituents and/or properties detected by the NIR sensor, and the adjusting unit carries out a parameter adjustment of the particular working unit on the basis of the control data.

Methods and apparatus for adjusting a delivery, distribution, emission, or spray of an adaptable material include contacting the adaptable material with a compatibly-selected kinetic energy fluid. The contact provides a motive force to move the adaptable material to or from an outlet of a spray fixture. The spray fixture is adjustable to emit various forms of drops, mists, extrusions, emulsions, or fibers. The adjusting is based on characteristics of a feedstock material, the adaptable material, the compatibly-selected kinetic energy fluid, or combinations thereof.

A finger wheel for a row cleaner has multiple, spaced, radially extending fingers. Each finger has a concave forward edge with inner and outer sections, and a convex rearward edge with inner and outer sections. The outer sections of the forward and rearward edges converge to a point. A curved connecting section connects the forward edge of one finger to the rearward edge of the next finger.

A seed unit for placing seeds into soil is described herein. A seed unit includes a seed meter for singulating seeds, a shaft to deliver the seeds into soil during operation, and an actuator coupled to the shaft. The actuator moves the shaft during operation and the shaft delivers seeds into the soil without a continuous seed trench.

An autonomous vehicle platform and system for selectively performing an in-season management task in an agricultural field while self-navigating between rows of planted crops, the autonomous vehicle platform having a vehicle base with a width so dimensioned as to be insertable through the space between two rows of planted crops, the vehicle base having an in-season task management structure configured to perform various tasks, including selectively applying fertilizer, mapping growth zones and seeding cover crop within an agricultural field.

An autonomous vehicle platform and system for selectively performing an in-season management task in an agricultural field while self-navigating between rows of planted crops, the autonomous vehicle platform having a vehicle base with a width so dimensioned as to be insertable through the space between two rows of planted crops, the vehicle base having an in-season task management structure configured to perform various tasks, including selectively applying fertilizer, mapping growth zones and seeding cover crop within an agricultural field.

A method for reducing material accumulation relative to ground-engaging tools of a tillage implement includes receiving measurement signals from at least one accumulation sensor mounted to the tillage implement during a tillage operation. The measurement signals include a three-dimensional (3D) representation of an environment containing material accumulation relative to a plurality ground-engaging tools. The method also includes estimating an amount of material accumulation relative to the plurality of ground-engaging tools based on the 3D representation. Further, the method includes comparing the amount of material accumulation to an accumulation threshold. The material accumulation threshold is indicative of a given degree of material accumulation relative to the plurality of ground-engaging tools. Thus, based on the comparison between the amount of material accumulation and the accumulation threshold, the method includes controlling an operation of at least one component of the tillage implement to execute a control action for reducing the amount of the material accumulation.