Today's corn planter is not your grandfather's corn planter. It's not even your father's corn planter. Heck, it might not even be your corn planter of five years ago. Technology is changing the corn planter arguably faster than any other implement in farming.

Here are five hot trends we have seen appearing in fields this spring.

Say good-bye to crowded end rows: The farmer farming this field two years ago switched to automatic row shut-offs after seeing scenes like this in his field. Not only did he waste seed, but he hurt yields on end rows, and end rows make up a significant part of the field today.

1.. Row-shut-offs of one form or another: If you're still using ground or hydraulic drive and not electric drive for row units, odds are you've installed a system to cut-off seed drop when a planter unit crosses an area already planted. It's been a hot trend, and is on its way to becoming the standard practice. First some thought it was only for saving seed on point rows, but what's saved on end rows helps two ways. It lowers seed costs and prevents yield loss from overcrowding. University of Kentucky Extension ag economists say pay-off for this investment alone can be well under two years.

2. Electric drive units are gaining interest fast. Electric drive units for planters eliminate the need for sprockets and chains and many of the headaches of routine maintenance with planters. Available from short-line companies now, major manufacturers appear to gearing up to introduce them on factory models, some even by next year. Whether you switch to electric drives may not be a question of if, but when.

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3. Downforce control: The Air Force-type control appears ready to give way to hydraulic downforce control. We've seen it on several planters this spring. The system is more money upfront, but once installed, downforce on individual row units is controlled automatically. That's a long way from the mechanical spring with four manual setting notches still common on many Deere planters still in use today.

4.  Multi-hybrid planting is real. There aren't tons of farmers using it yet, but there are some who have used it within the past week. Jason Webster of Beck's Hybrids, based in Illinois, a pioneer in multi-hybrid planting, says now that the cost has been established, around an extra investment of $30,000, he expects more farmers will consider it next time they trade up.

5. Speed tubes are here. Use is limited this first year, but one of the farmers at the Farm Progress Show site near Decatur, Ill., planted with speed tubes on his planter. The theory is you can plant up to 10 miles an hour and still achieve picket-fence like stands.