By Ethan Begle In early April, the forecast looks cool, but the field conditions are dry enough to plant. Considering what varieties to plant first,… Read More »Checking Seed Vigor & Uniformity to Improve Emergence
by Ethan Begle Do you plant in wet soil in the spring, or is it usually too dry? When it’s wet, it’s tempting to scratch… Read More »The Importance of Covered Soils, Wet or Dry
by Ethan Begle Is there one right way to do everything or are there multiple ways to arrive at the same result? Listening to opinions… Read More »You Need to Be Doing Your Own On-Farm Testing
If you are a JD box drill owner thinking about going to a wider drill or deciding whether to trade for a new box drill,… Read More »Rebuilding Your JD Drill vs Buying New
A Summary of 2024 Air Seeder Know-How by Ethan Begle, Technical Service “Will it last longer?” “Is this really better?” “How do I know when… Read More »“Will it Last Longer?” “Is This Really Better?”
by Ethan Begle, Technical Service Kinze 4000 and 5000 series planter owners have a renewed option to place liquid in-furrow under the seed. The Valion seed… Read More »Kinze Planter Improvements for This Winter
By Ethan Begle, Technical Service Exapta now carries Airguard products to fix many common issues with your air seeder. Overheating, hoses pulling out, gunk in… Read More »New Products to Improve Your Air Flow
by Ethan Begle, Technical Service Just as a dentist can quickly tell your eating and brushing habits, a visit to your field will reveal visual… Read More »Adjustments to Be Made for Harvest & Fall Seeding
by Ethan Begle, Technical Service By June and July it’s usually hot and dry when double-crop planting tries to follow wheat harvest. “Trying” is a… Read More »Double-crop Planting is Always Tough
by Ethan Begle, Technical Service A weed is a plant in an undesirable place. When we are trying to grow a monoculture of corn, soybeans,… Read More »Don’t Stimulate Weeds to Grow
Content of this page is copyright 2005-2025 Exapta Solutions, Inc. (reprint with written permission only).
Thompson wheel covered by U.S. Patent No. 6,907,833. Liquid delivery feature of Valion seed tube guards is U.S. Patent No. 8,978,564. Ninja seed bounce flap U.S. Patent Pending. UniForce U.S. Patent Pending. All rights reserved on other designs. Exapta is a registered trademark of Exapta Solutions, Inc. Keeton is a registered trademark of Precision Planting. Mojo Wire, Thompson wheel, Valion guard, Ninja flap, UniForce, DuraLok, No-till Seeding Explained, and No-till Seeding School are trademarks of Exapta. Disclaimer: Recommendations & page content are current, accurate, and believed to be broadly applicable as of the time of writing (Dec 2005) and last update (2005 – 2014). Because of diversity of soils, climate, crops, planter & drill models/designs marketed worldwide, combinations of attachments, etc., actual results may vary. No warranty is made as to actual results obtained. Should you encounter exceptions or worthwhile annotations to the statements made on this page, please contact us.
Derek is Kansas native who grew up in a 100% no-till farming operation. From an early age the benefits of no-till were made known to Derek by his father and by attending no-till conferences. From there he furthered his passion for soils while at Kansas State University getting his agronomy degree. He has had the experience of working in various roles and sectors of agriculture from sales and consulting to management, which have all been within production agriculture. Derek has also worked in specialty ag markets such as turf and ornamentals.
Sales & Service Representative
Prior to joining Exapta, Bob Pagel was an Agricultural Territory Sales Manager for Ritchie Brothers, serving parts of MN, WI and IA. He continues to support his family farm in SE Minnesota.
Current Product Engineer
Jonathan Zeller joined Exapta excited to return to working with no-till planting equipment. He supported research of no-till planting and other ag related projects for 7 years with Kansas State University’s Agricultural Engineering Department after getting his engineering degree. He later worked 3 years for Landoll Company, LLC. where he gained experience in a design engineering role. Jonathan grew up on a small family farm in NE Kansas working with row crops, hay and cattle. Jonathan enjoys solving engineering problems and improving or creating products to be robust and easy to install and service.
