STRATEGY A featured segment designed to share business- critical information to seed-selling professionals. Visit SeedWorld.com to download this department and other tools. Precision from Beginning to End Seed treatment advancements aren’t limited to companies that create chemistry; it involves everything from manufacturers to testing.Joe Funk jfunk@issuesink.com SEED TECHNOLOGY and advancements in the industry were the focus of a new Seed Expo tour, hosted by the American Seed Trade Association during its annual Corn, Sorghum and Soybean Seed Research Conference in Chicago. The tour included stops with 10 exhibitors that are involved in the seed treat- ment space from beginning to end. They talked about eve- rything from the importance of eliminating dust to dust-off testing, and from safety to new chemistries coming to the marketplace. To start the seed treat- ment process, having clean seed is essential to achieving accurate application rates, minimizing treatment buildup in equipment and eliminating seed clumping that can affect plantability. “Operators need to make sure the seed is as clean as possible as it enters the seed treater,” says Jason Kaeb who serves as director of business development at KSi. He explains that they use a seed filtering system con- nected to an air system to remove dust from the seed immediately before it goes into the treater. Kaeb says this is designed to prevent the buildup of treated dust at the atomizer. He showed samples of fine dust, bees wings and other light weight material collected and removed from the seed filtering system. “Treated dust is what hangs up in the seed handling system and planter,” Kaeb says. “You can’t assume that all the dust and light materials have been removed because the seed has been processed by an air screen.” Jon Moreland, Petkus North America managing director, agrees that dust removal is a critical first step. “One of the biggest dif- ficulties I see in transitioning from conditioning to treating is lack of aspiration,” Moreland says. “Aspiration prior to treat- ment can eliminate buildup in a treater. “In a bowl treater there is heavy, dense seed toward the bottom of the bowl and then chemicals, polymers and colorants are atomized into the atmosphere above the seed. These ingredients are designed to stick, mix and cover.” Moreland explains that anywhere there isn’t move- ment in the seed treater, you usually find buildup from the seed treatment residue, which can include lightweight mate- rials such as bees’ wings, dust or chaff. Once the seed is clean and as much of the dust has been removed as can, there’s a whole host of products that can be applied on the seed, of which one is polymers. Polymer Practicality The primary function of poly- mers is to keep seed treat- ments where they belong: on the seed. Polymers added to the seed treatment slurry pro- vide the adhesion necessary to keep treatments on the seed and off of nontargets. Polymers also help reduce the drying time, so there is a shorter tack phase to prevent seed sticking and clumping during the treatment process. Along with colorants, polymers provide a polished final appearance that adds aesthetic value to the seed once delivered to the farmer. 20 / SEEDWORLD.COM JANUARY 2019 Russ Berndt serves as product manager for BASF.