Downforce control allows planters to maintain gauge wheel load across a range of soil resistance within a field. Downforce control is typically set for a target seed depth and either set to manually or automatically control the gauge wheel load. This technology uses load cells to actively regulate downforce on individual row units by monitoring target load on the gauge wheels. However, no studies have been conducted to evaluate the variability in gauge wheel load observed during planter operation under real-world field conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to 1) evaluate real-time gauge wheel load variability across planter rows given a target gauge wheel load for a planter equipped with downforce control and 2) compare and contrast gauge wheel load measurements across differing rows to intercept downforce control diagnostics. A 12-row planter equipped with hydraulic downforce control was utilized for planting three fields. The planter was segregated into four sections, each with independent downforce control via two bending beam load cells to record gauge wheel load. Control-section 1 and 3 comprised 3 rows units each on the left and right side of the planter bar. Control section 2 involved 4 row units following the tire tracks and section 4 was two rows in the middle. The downforce system utilized four hydraulic blocks each controlling downforce to maintain target gauge wheel load for the respective row units. The planter was set to plant at 5.2 cm depth and the target gauge wheel load was set at 91 kgf. A data acquisition system recorded real-time GPS, planting speed, load cells output, and planting status at 10 Hz. Data was analyzed to compute average gauge wheel load across each of the 8-row units with load cells, and average gauge wheel pressure for each of four sections. Average required downforce variability across control sections and percent area planted with beyond ± 20% of target gauge wheel load were computed. Results suggested that more than 50% of the field was planted with gauge wheel load beyond ± 20% of target. There was also significant difference in actual gauge wheel load across the four control sections. Future studies will be designed to understand conditions impacting variability in gauge wheel load and ability of the modern downforce system to seeding depth under real-world conditions.