Find all our subscription offers from €149.90Discover La France Agricole for 1 month free of charge and without obligation (you will thus be able to access all the content of the site)reserved for subscribersFor the 2022 sowing season, Arnaud Gautsch has manufactured a machine to plant his soybeans, his cover crops and also several cultivation trials.Arnaud Gautsch is a farmer in the commune of Witternheim in Bas-Rhin.He is at the head of EARL Gautsch, a mixed crop-breeding operation which includes 22,000 laying hens, 3 hectares of vines and around 50 hectares of crops in organic farming.Since this year, he has been planting his soybeans with his “homemade” seeder.Until last year, he used a company equipped with a single-grain drill.But in addition to having a certain cost, this solution brought him some agronomic concerns.“Two years ago, I noticed that in my weakest soils, the press wheels of the seed drill tended to compact the seed line too much.This strip of compressed earth favored the growth of weeds on the row.In addition, this crust prevented me from weeding the row correctly with the spring tine harrow.»In order to remedy these problems, Arnaud decided to manufacture his own tool.Last spring, he bought a used Roger R-400 seed drill.“At first, I wanted to make it a front hopper.I then made a frame around the hopper, to hitch it in front of my tractors.The objective was to sow my green manures with it, but the distribution rate was too low for the large seeds.»The farmer then chose to use this achievement to build a seed drill, in order to plant his soybeans himself.The hopper is then returned to the rear hitch.It was coupled with a "homemade" ramp, made up of 10 rows at 50 cm spacing.“I started with an old maize hoe frame that I lengthened to go from 4 to 6 m.From this one, I also kept the folding system.I installed windrower wheels on this chassis.Together with the third point of the tractor, they are used to adjust the sowing depth.»Arnaud also added square tubes to the frame to fix his sowing elements.The latter are made up of discs from a Nodet-Gougis seeder.The supports were recovered from the Roger seeder.Two descents are installed on each element to successfully apply the dose of 800,000 soybeans per hectare.At the distribution outlet, the pipes are held by two bars to prevent them from moving and coming out of their housing."With this tool, I sow at a speed of about 4 km/h", specifies Arnaud.In order to maintain versatility, the frame made under the hopper can always be hitched to the front of the tractor.“In this configuration, I will have to make a second seed bar.It will be used for my plant cover.It will be combined with a spring tine harrow, or a flat harrow, installed on the rear linkage of the tractor.I will also review the folding so that the tracers can nest.I also plan to add crenellated discs oriented at 45° in front of the elements.They will dig the earth and chase away stones and debris.I'm also thinking of fitting a spray boom.»Arnaud carries out many trials of different crops on his farm.Thus, on his 53 hectares, he cultivates the most classic - corn, rapeseed, wheat, barley and soy -, but also 3 ha of vines and 6 ha of hemp to make oil.“This year, I will carry out several crop trials, next to my soybean plot.For example, I will sow a round trip of lentils, 20 ares of safflower destined to become oil and 4 ha of lovage, which is a crop that remains for several years.If this last test goes well, I plan to sow lovage in all my small plots located around my vines to reduce the work to be done on them,” says Arnaud.A few years ago, the farmer started producing seed mustard.At the time, he had been taken for a madman in the sector because there was no market, but finally he managed to find a local processor.In 2021, he tried quinoa, but bad weather conditions did not allow him to harvest it in time and he had to grind it.This page requires JavaScript to be displayed.JavaScript is enabled by default in your browser, but it appears to have been disabled.To enable it again, follow these instructions, then refresh this page.