Cereals 2026 will see HORSCH frame its cultivation and drilling line-up around one core goal: helping growers protect and rebuild soil health by reducing unnecessary disturbance. The company says the approach supports better aggregation and pore continuity, improved residue handling and a more active soil biology—key factors in resilience to weather extremes and in-season traffic.
By leaving more of the soil profile intact, HORSCH argues soils can develop stronger structure over time, supporting organic matter and earthworm populations and helping capture and manage carbon within the soil.
Wider rows: balancing crop performance with lower disturbance
HORSCH points to 25cm row spacing on the 12m Avatar as one way to reduce the proportion of soil moved at drilling while maintaining output. “The 25cm row spacing is proving popular with the very successful 12m Avatar model. Customers are reporting little to no detriment in yield in most crops, particularly in winter crops, yet lower input costs,” highlights Stephen Burcham, General Manager at Horsch UK.
Wright’s Agriculture moved to an Avatar with 25cm spacing after weighing up establishment flexibility across conditions. “We wanted a 12m drill with discs and it needed to have the flexibility to work in varied conditions. We had reservations about the 25cm row spacing compared with our 12.5cm spacing on our previous 8m drills,” says Eric Wright.
“We wanted to plant all cereal and broad-leaved crops with the drill, although the crops look widely spaced when they first emerge, you can’t tell the difference by harvest. The crops had room to grow and because we’re only disturbing half the land we were before, we needed far less herbicide.”
The Avatar 8.25 SD, 9.25 SD, 10.25 SD and 12.25 SD cover 8–12m working widths. A 6400-litre triple tank (60:10:30 split) is available, alongside a 60:40 double-tank option.
Matching opener type to soil conditions and residue
For growers looking to place seed through heavier residue or into mulch while keeping a consistent sowing horizon, HORSCH also offers the Sprinter 12.25 SC tine drill. Hydraulically pre-stressed tines provide up to 180kg coulter pressure and can be retracted for transport, while high clearance between the frame and the surface helps maintain flow in trashy conditions. Tines are individually depth-controlled with a press wheel; the 3‑bar tine section and 25cm spacing are intended to leave a straw-free, clod-free band for seed placement.
Mounted flexibility and a pathway to mechanical weed control
Trailed Avatar and Sprinter models also have 6m mounted equivalents when paired with a Partner FT front tank, combining manoeuvrability with low-disturbance establishment. On the Avatar SL, 25cm or 30cm row spacing is designed to reduce tillage to a minimum in mulch conditions while leaving scope for mechanical weed control between rows.
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