Local Tinkerer Levels Up to Inventor of Set-N-Seed

By Travis Volz

Blake Patton of Nashville calls himself a tinkerer, and that tinkering resulted in a new device to help farmers with planting.

Patton conceived of, designed, built and patented the Set-N-Seed, a device that ensures uniformity in planting depth with planters.

“A few years ago I was trying to set planter depth with 4×4 blocks on a 31-row planter,” Patton said. “It occurred to me that there has to be a better way of doing this.”

Setting proper planting depth was a cumbersome but necessary process. “A quarter-inch or half-inch could cost a couple of bushels due to uneven moisture levels,” he said.

Patton credits his grandfather Arlan White, an inveterate tinkerer, for helping him develop the skills that led to the Set-N-Seed.

“He always had things around his garage that he built to make jobs easier,” Patton explained.

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