As combines evolve, Seed Terminator is evolving too — helping growers stay ahead of weeds without slowing down.
Harvest has become one of the most important opportunities to tackle herbicide-resistant weeds, and today’s bigger, more capable combines are changing how it’s done.
For Seed Terminator, keeping pace hasn’t meant simply making everything bigger. It’s meant rethinking the technology from the ground up, as explained by Seed Terminator Marketing Director Kelly Ingram.
“We’ve been working on this technology for the past two and a half years,” Kelly says.
“When we had that step change into these higher-capacity combines, we had to rethink a few things. Some of the answers were actually a bit counterintuitive.”
One of those changes was making the new mills smaller rather than larger — in more ways than one.
“The new platform is more compact. Rather than simply scaling up the original design, we started from the ground up and engineered the platform, mill technology and driveline for higher-capacity headers.
“The rotors are smaller to ensure the material is closer to the optimum impact speed through each row of the mill, while running faster, enabling it to process the weeds in higher chaff loads. An added benefit is less inertia, reducing stress on the driveline each time the mill starts.”
The result is a system designed specifically for machines like the new AF9, AF10 and AF11 series with the High Hood Mount Chopper, while delivering the weed seed destruction growers have come to expect.
But it isn’t just about the latest combines. A key priority for the team has been making sure existing customers can benefit, too.
“The new technology we’ve developed is retrofittable to any of the Seed Terminators we created for the first Case IH Flagship going back to 2021, so any machine since then can upgrade and use the same mill technology we’re running in the next-generation big-capacity combines,” Kelly explains.
“We aim to keep people along for the journey and make sure they’re able to access the latest technology wherever we can.”
That future-proof approach also extends to everyday operation. On Seed Terminator Origin platforms, quick-change mill configurations allow growers to adapt the system to different crops and harvest conditions in around 10 minutes.
“We’re trying to make it easy to live with,” Kelly says.
While the engineering continues to evolve, the reason Seed Terminator exists hasn’t changed. Harvest weed seed control remains one of the most effective non-chemical tools available for managing herbicide-resistant weeds.
“The combine can capture up to 80 percent of the weed seeds that are present at harvest. Around 95 percent end up in the chaff stream, which is exactly what we’re intercepting,” Kelly explains.
“They’re the weeds that have managed to survive everything that’s been thrown at them throughout the season. The choice is whether you spread those seeds back across the paddock, or deal with them while you’ve already got them in your hands.”
Rather than replacing herbicides, the company sees the technology as another important part of an integrated weed management program.
“It’s not a silver bullet,” she says. “People still need chemical control. But having a non-chemical option at harvest really helps take pressure off those herbicide programs.”
That pressure is becoming increasingly important as resistance continues to develop and chemical options become more restricted. Growers are also asking different questions than they were five years ago.
“Capacity is a huge one,” Kelly says. “These new headers are significant investments, so growers want technology that can keep up without compromising performance.”
Although Seed Terminator continues to refine and improve its systems, Kelly believes many of the biggest leaps have already been made.
“The jump from where we were in 2016 to where we are now has been huge. I think the next 10 years will still bring improvements, but they’ll be more incremental.”
Ultimately, the company’s long-term vision reaches well beyond individual product updates.
“Our aim is that every header that comes out of the factory eventually has weed seed control on it. It just makes sense.”
As a proudly South Australian manufacturer, Seed Terminator continues to develop and build its systems in Adelaide, working closely with local growers to test new ideas in real farming conditions.
“It’s not common for agricultural machinery to be developed specifically for Australian conditions,” Kelly says.
“We’re really grateful to our South Australian growers because they’ve helped us develop and refine the technology. It means it’s been designed for the conditions they’re actually farming in.”
Now celebrating 10 years since the first commercial Seed Terminator, Kelly says the support from growers, weed scientists, agronomists and machinery dealers has been instrumental.
“We’re incredibly proud. This technology exists because growers needed another way to manage herbicide resistance, and that need isn’t going away.
“We’re not going anywhere. There’s still plenty more to come.”
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