Seeding Wheat By Air

Seeding Wheat By Air CROPS New Techniques 9-1-23 "Seeding wheat by air is getting to be popular with farmers here in southern Wisconsin," says Dick Vorpagel, operator of a custom aerial planting and crop dusting service headquartered at Elkhorn. "It's always almost sown into standing soybeans. The leaves fall off and are ideal for protecting the wheat from wind, rain and birds. I've tried flying wheat into standing corn but found the seeds have a tendency to fall to the center of the rows," says Vorpagel. He charges $8 per acre. "We load about 1,200 lbs. or 20 bu. of wheat seed into the plane. This amount will plant about 13 acres. The pilot then returns to the landing field to pick up another load of wheat." "I've been among the first customers to try fly-on wheat," says Pete Knapp, of Delavan, Wis. "I've found the cost for Vorpagel's service is cheaper than I can plow the land. I've gotten excellent results." "It saves us a lot of extra labor," says Bob Pearce, of Walworth. For the past three years, he and his son Bill have had wheat seeded into soybeans by air. "We seed when the first yellow leaves appear on the soybean plants."

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