This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first Amazone seed drill; the 2.0m wide horse drawn D1 launched in 1949.
There have been lots of milestones since, including the launch of the first seed drill combination (RE reciprocating harrow with the D4 drill) in 1967. Still a successful concept for the company today, it reckons to produce thousands of drills each year still mounted to a PTO-driven KE rotary harrow or KG cultivator or the non-powered CombiDisc.
1970 saw the inauguration of the Hude production facility in Oldenburg, Germany as a dedicated factory for drill and harrow production, using metal workers laid off by a collapse of the ship building industry in Northern Germany. Hude still produces drill and harrow components, but assembly has now moved down the road to an 18-line production facility at Altmoorhausen.
Amazone drill highlights from the 1970’s included the D7; the first commercially produced drill to offer a tramline system. Another 1970s creation was the EV Garant, which opened the door to 9.0m solo seeding with a transport width of just 3.0m, and the same decade also saw production of the NoTill drill ramp up as direct drilling became popular.
The NT was later phased out by the Primera which used the same chisel opener principle but then with hydraulic folding and pneumatic seed conveyance. The company reckons to sell Primeras by the 100’s across the big farming areas such as eastern China, Kazakhstan, the Baltic States and eastern Europe.
Introduced in the 1990’s, the Airstar pneumatic seeders used a centralised metering system and a distribution head feeding individual coulters via an air flow from the on-board fan. This provided the ability to completely empty the hopper, ideal for OSR and other small seeds where keeping a box drill covered over the full width often resulted in large residues.
The introduction of pneumatic distribution systems led to wider trailed drill working widths, such as the Airstar Xact, and as farm size continued to increase and min-till systems became popular, the larger tank capacity of the trailed Cirrus cultivator drill increased output.
The 250,000th seed drill left the factory mid-November 2019, and the current Amazone drill portfolio includes the Condor and Cayena tine seeders, Citan solo disc drills, Cirrus cultivator drills, Primera direct tine seeders, Centaya and Avant power harrow/drill combinations. Working widths are from 3.0 to 15.0m.
And to celebrate 75 years of making seed drills, Amazone is offering a cash-back offer of £75/row. This shaves £1,500 off the price of a 20-row 3.0m drill combination and £7,200 on a 15m Citan solo disc drill. The offer applies on drills purchased up until June 30, 2024, and delivered before the end of this year.
Amazone sells 250,000th seed drill – Profi
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