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ƹƵ assesses industry precision tools for planting, better crops, grower success

ƹƵ assesses industry precision tools for planting, better crops, grower success

Contact: Grace Jones

Left to right: Mike Mulvaney, ƹƵ associate professor of plant and soil sciences and Hartwig chair; Dru Carey, agricultural and biological engineering graduate student from Olive Branch; Wes Lowe, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering; and John Wallace, research associate II, are pictured with planting equipment.
Left to right: Mike Mulvaney, ƹƵ associate professor of plant and soil sciences and Hartwig chair; Dru Carey, agricultural and biological engineering graduate student from Olive Branch; Wes Lowe, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering; and John Wallace, research associate II, are pictured with planting equipment. (Photo by David Ammon)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State is conducting research with global precision agriculture company Ag Leader to assess the functionality of planting technology for more defined crop growth.

Assistant Professor J. Wes Lowe in the university’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, along with researchers in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, is conducting research on the performance of advanced planting technology at multiple sites with geographically different soil types.

While the technology is widely used and adapted to farming and soil types in the Midwest, Lowe and his team—all scientists in the university’s Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station—aim to test the adaptability and the precision of the tools for the range of soil types in the South.

“Planting is one of the most important aspects of a crop; a mistake can drastically drop the crop’s maximum potential. These advanced planting tools give us the ability to place our seed exactly where we want in the ground, which can create a sense of security in the planting process and pave a more optimum path for crops to grow and flourish. This research will provide feedback about this technology and how we can adapt it to fit best into each of our Mississippi agricultural production regions,” Lowe said.

John Wallace, research associate II, operates the precision planter.
John Wallace, research associate II, operates the precision planter. The team planted soybeans at the Northeast Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Verona in early June. (Photo by David Ammon)

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