Presenting the world’s largest seed drill

“The huge 46 cubic metre cart minimises the time required for refills whilst increasing efficiency. Despite its enormous size, the cart can be filled in 15 minutes” including both seeds and fertiliser according to Gustav Nilsson, who is responsible for Seed Hawk at Väderstad.

The cart is divided into four compartments of varying sizes: 10 500 litres, 16 800 litres, 16 800 litres and 1400 litres. Wheat is normally kept in the 10 500 litre tank and two types of fertiliser in the two 16 800 litre tanks.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest hopper on the market. Together with a 25 metre wide direct drill, it is possible to drill up to 61 hectares per fill.  This is based on a seed rate of 120 kg per hectare and a fertiliser rate of 300 kg per hectare”, said one of the founders of Seed Hawk, Brian Dean.

Field trials carried out by Väderstad Seed Hawk have shown that direct drilling can give just as high yields as conventional drilling. The proportion of direct-drilled land is relatively small in Sweden, but in Australia for example it is the most commonly used method as soil moisture is very limited.   

“In the case of Seed Hawk 1300 we believe that the highest demand will come from markets such as Russia, Canada, the USA and Australia”, said Gustav Nilsson.