Seed meters, agricultural planters, and methods of planting seed may include a housing defining a chamber, a seed disc rotatably coupled to the housing and at least partially positioned within the chamber with the seed disc adapted to engage a seed, and a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the seed after the seed disengages the seed disc and before the seed exits the seed meter. The sensor may be coupled to a seed chute of the seed meter and may detect a wide variety of seed characteristics such as seed position within the seed chute, seed size, and seed shape. The seed characteristic may be used to adjust operation of the seed meters, agricultural planters, and methods. In some instances, the adjustment may be manual. In other instances, the adjustment may be automatic.

A single-grain seeder including a chassis that supports at least one seeding element including a dispensing housing, at least one opening disk for opening a furrow in the ground, and at least one depth control wheel, the dispensing housing delivering seeds one by one via a rotary dosing element configured to turn about a rotation axis, each seed being ejected from the rotary dosing element at an ejection point extending in a lower portion of the rotary dosing element. The ejection point is disposed in an external diameter of the opening disk, when viewed along the rotation axis of the rotary dosing element.

A seed metering system, for use on a row crop planter, selects individual seeds from a seed reservoir and dispenses the seeds singularly at a controlled rate. A direct drive seed metering system includes a seed disc having a plurality of suction apertures with a recessed pocket adjacent to an aperture. The recessed pockets act to agitate seeds in the seed reservoir and to direct seed flow towards the apertures. A seed path relief system aids in the placement of the seeds such that they are released from an outer edge of the seed disc. An adjustable seed singulator is mounted adjacent to the face of the seed disc where inner and outer blades are adjusted radially to compensate for the singulation of various seed sizes and shapes. The seed disc is driven via engagement of an internal gear with the external gear of an independent drive motor.

A seed meter for metering a plurality of seeds includes a seed meter housing defining a seed inlet, a seed outlet, and a chamber therebetween, a hub rotatably mounted to the seed meter housing about a rotational axis and extending from a first end positioned within the chamber of the seed meter housing to a second end positioned outside of the seed meter housing, a metering element mounted to the hub within the chamber, a plurality of drain apertures located in the seed meter housing adjacent to the hub, and a handle mounted to the second end of the hub, the handle extends over the plurality of drain apertures in an axial direction parallel to the rotational axis of the hub.

Adjustable seed meters having a first seed disk having first openings defined therein and a second seed disk having second openings defined therein adjacent to the first openings such that the first and second openings are alignable to form adjustable seed cells. Various embodiments have a plate adjustment drive system to rotate the first and second seed disks in relation to each other. Other embodiments relate to methods of automatically adjusting a seed meter during operation of the overall planting system.

Meters for fertilizers, small seeds, and chemicals include a housing defining a loading chamber, a rotatable metering disk provided with a receiving surface and a discharge surface, the disk including metering orifices; a ring including a discharge opening, and an insulating barrier arranged in the interior of the housing, the insulation barrier forming an insulating chamber on the rotatable disk and defining an inlet region of the disk and an output region of the disk; a metering bulkhead associated with the insulating barrier in the inlet region of the rotating disk with metering orifices loaded, the metering bulkhead being arranged on the rotatable metering disk so that a lower portion of the metering bulkhead is coplanar to the receiving surface of the rotatable disk.

Provided are a material broadcasting device, an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a material broadcasting method. The material broadcasting device includes a material picker, a material receiver, a material feeder, and a controller. The material picker includes a housing having an upper opening and a lower opening; and a material picking wheel located at the lower opening and driven by a driving member to rotate. The upper opening is in communication with a material box. Material picking cavities for accommodating materials are provided on the material picking wheel. The controller is electrically connected to the driving member. The material receiver is located below the material picking wheel and is in communication with the material feeder.

A device for an for singulating grains based on a pressure difference comprises a chamber for receiving the grains, and a rotatable singulation element. The chamber is delimited in one direction by the singulation element and grains are transported from the chamber to a dispensing region by the singulation element. A first compressed air supply supplies compressed air to the chamber in order to generate at least one pressure difference. The singulation element has a plurality of recesses and the grains can be held in the recesses due to the pressure difference. Individualized grains are dispensed into a grain line in the dispensing region. A second compressed air supply is provided in order to prevent a flow of air out of the chamber into the grain line and in order to transport the grains through the grain line in an accelerated manner by the compressed air.

A particle delivery system of an agricultural row unit includes a shuttle track configured to be disposed adjacent to a particle metering and singulation unit, shuttles movably disposed along the shuttle track, and a track belt disposed inwardly of the shuttle track. Each shuttle is configured to receive a particle from the particle metering and singulation unit at a particle reception section of the shuttle track and release the particle toward a trench in soil at a particle deposition section of the shuttle track. The track belt includes paddles, and each paddle is configured to move a respective shuttle along a particle transfer section of the shuttle track from the particle reception section to the particle deposition section.

A particle delivery system of an agricultural row unit includes a particle belt configured to be disposed apart from a particle metering and singulation unit and a particle acceleration system configured to apply a force to a particle to accelerate the particle from the particle metering and singulation unit and to guide the particle toward the particle belt. The particle belt is configured to receive the particle accelerated from the particle metering and singulation unit, and the particle acceleration system is configured to apply the force to the particle to accelerate the particle from the particle metering and singulation unit to the particle belt, such that a particle speed of the particle reaches a target particle speed, is within a target percentage of a belt speed of the particle belt, or both, as the particle reaches the particle belt.