What are the most important items to repair and/or replace when the budget is tight? While Exapta has a multitude of solutions to completely rebuild and… Read More »Ballin’ on a Budget: What to Replace on JD 50/60/90 Openers When Grain Prices Are Low
On JD and CIH P-500/NH P-2080/85 single disc drills (with 18″ blades), blades should be replaced at 17 3/8″ diameter or sooner. At Exapta, we… Read More »Drill Blades: When to Replace and Why?
Our customer in Eastern Nebraska shared side-by-side comparisons of Valions and OEM guards on a John Deere XP 24-row and a Kinze 3000-series 16 row. The… Read More »See for Yourself: Valion Versus OEM Seed Tube Guards
Laying to rest the negativity towards Seed Firmers Struggling to get good emergence with your planter in no-till? Inadequate seed firming is often the culprit. … Read More »Set-up Your Seeds for Success: The Great Keeton Debate
Here at Exapta, we field lots of questions about closing wheels and whether they affect yields. It’s easy to start with the closing wheel when… Read More »Closing Wheels…Why Start at the Back?
Because there are several bushing kit options marketed, we field this question often, “Which bushing kit is the best fit for me, and why?” Of course,… Read More »Which Bushing Kits are Best for Your JD 50/60/90 Series Drill?
‘Tis the season many of you are making equipment upgrades and repairs. You’ve no doubt noticed the vast array of planter and drill products—all clamoring… Read More »How Do We Know?
In today’s competitive and uncertain market, maximizing margins is vital to improving your profit potential. With so many factors affecting your yields, you can’t always… Read More »Reduce Overlap and Decrease Input Costs.
Many have fall crops to harvest yet and some are still fighting the mud to wrap up fall seeding. We are facing one of the… Read More »Plant with Assurance
by Matt Hagny The Exapta crew has gotten quite a few questions from our customers as to Precision Tillage Tech’s STP/Sabre-Tooth opener blades, so we… Read More »STP ‘Saw-tooth’ Opener Blades
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.
