For the last 3 years, the trend lines for tractor sales all followed the same basic pattern. So far, for 2009, that's been true, with one major exception: The line looks the same, only it's a ways lower on the chart.

Tractor sales have dropped this year, a sign, some say, of the tough economic times. According to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), year-to-date sales for 2009 are around a quarter lower than they were a year ago. For the month of May, a total of 17,782 tractors have been sold, AEM data shows, compared to 24,068 at the same time a year ago. That's a 26.1% sales decline. Those numbers contribute to a 66,676 figure for total tractor sales for the year so far, down 22.6% from last year's 86,091 figure at this point.

But, a look at combine sales paints a totally different picture. In May, farmers bought 739 combines nationwide, compared to 513 for the same month a year ago. That's an almost 44% increase. And, year-to-date, 2,928 combines have sold compared to 2,206 by this time a year ago.

The economic downturn has clearly reached into the farm machinery market, but that doesn't mean it's standing between you and new iron, farmers say. While it may seem too heavy a lift to bring new equipment onto your farm, it all depends on how you do it, says Agriculture Online Machinery Talk member rrustydawg.

"I think the key is to not trade up in one giant step," he says. "$100K to $150K will buy some excellent used iron, and you can use it for 3 or 4 years and probably only drop the resale/trade-in value by 25%. Then, if you want to get some newer paint, you just bump up again.

"Personally, I love low-hour used iron. Great value as long as you are willing to do the extra maintenance."
Others say the economic downturn that's thought to be the culprit of lower sales actually could entice more sales. It's all about how you write off equipment depreciation, says Machinery Talk member Pupdaddy.

"In this economic environment, we have what may be possibly the best time to buy new farm equipment that we've ever experienced. If you buy something, you can depreciate virtually all of it against your income in the first year," he says. "On top of the Section 179 deduction that you can take this year on either new or used is another 50% reduction against your income if the machinery is new.
"I'd run a pencil over those figures this year, and I'm thinking I might be buying a few necessary long-term usage items even if I have to finance them."
And, if that latter point becomes a reality for you, talk to your dealer, adds another Machinery Talk member. They may be just as hungry to sell the machinery as you are to buy it right now.

Every day, whether on the phone in the office, responding to e-mails, or when I'm out on the road covering machinery auctions around the country, folks ask me this same question. Inquiring minds want to know.
My answer has been the same the last 4 years, "things are selling very well, prices are up." But just my saying it never does it justice. I always want to show folks exactly what I'm talking about, that over the last four years used farm equipment values are indeed up. I like to provide hard proof and let the sale price data tell the tale.

So I'm going to do this today. I'm going to show you hard evidence of how used equipment values have gone up. Ok, now what examples should I show you? Hmm, we track sale price data on over 70 different categories of farm equipment, so lots of different directions I go here. AUGER values have been zooming higher. Same with GRAIN CARTS and GRAIN TRAILERS for sure. With the late, wet harvest last year values on used tillage items like DISKS and DISK CHISELS have been going through the roof.
But I think I'll stick to TRACTORS today, the universal category most everyone is interested in. Let's narrow it down and just focus on tractors in the 150 horsepower range. What I'll do is show you auction sale prices from now vs. five years ago, back in the year 2005.
The comparison just might knock your socks off.

Let's start with JD 7810s. Deere made 7810s from 1997-2003, so we're talking 7-13 year old tractors as we sit here today. First I'll show you what the nicest 7810s were selling for at auction back in 2005. Here you go:

See how the highest auction sale price on a JD 7810 tractor back in 2005 was $78,000? Now look closer. See the last 7810 in the table above? Yes it sold for $78,000, but it was a 2003 model making it only two years old at the time, had mechanical front-wheel drive and sold with a JD 741 loader.

Now compare that to the 2000 model 7810, 2-wheel drive, with 840 hours, no loader, sold last month on a sale in east-central Iowa for $76,000. So this 7810 had no mechanical front-wheel drive, no loader and was 10 years old, yet sold for almost the same money.
See what I'm talking about now when I say used equipment values are up?
Here's more proof, a list of the nicest JD 7810s sold at auction the last couple years:

Look at all those sale prices I've highlighted, all at or above what the nicest JD 7810s were selling for at auction back in 2005. Older, but selling for more money. Proof of what I'm talking about when I say used values have been going up.

Let's move on to other older model Deere tractors in this 150 horsepower range. JD 7800s were made from 1993-96. Let's do the same then vs. now comparison:

JD 4455s? Wow. Back in 2005 the highest auction sale price I saw all year on a 4455 was $49,000. Last Saturday (March 20th) on a consignment sale in southeast Iowa, I shot video of a 1991 model 4455 mechanical front-wheel drive with 6,450 hours, very nice but no spring chicken, selling for $46,000.

You may recall the 4455 I wrote about last October? No, don't remember? I'll refresh your memory. A 1991 4455 mechanical front-wheel drive with 1,423 hours (1 owner, immaculate condition) sold with a JD 280 loader for $94,500. Yep, $94,500. There was also the 1991 4455 with 5,456 hours, mechanical front-wheel drive sold in March 2009 on a sale in east-central North Dakota for $69,000.

More proof, used values have been going up.
Same with red tractors in this 150 horsepower range. Case IH made 7120s from 1987-83. The highest auction price I saw on Case IH 7120s back in 2005? $44,500 for the 1988 7120, mechanical front, with 1,967 1-owner hours, sold in east-central Illinois. Now compare to a few of the nicest 7120s I've seen sold the last couple years:

Same trend, older but worth more.
Exactly the same thing I see with Case IH 7220s:

I guess the lesson here is that used farm equipment values aren't static, they fluctuate up and down. Yes, they can go down friends. I've seen it happen before. Used values were way up back in 1996 and 1997, then fell pretty hard from 1998 through 2001.
Will they fall again after the run up here the last couple years?

Factors working hard against a drop in the value of good condition used equipment currently are the ever rising price of new equipment, controlled production of new equipment and also the scarcity of machinery auctions.

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“As always, exhibitors will be showing a variety of products and services of interest to farm owners and operators,” says Rob Juneau, WPS Farm Show manager. “This includes tractors and field machinery and parts; feed, livestock and manure-handling equipment; ventilation systems; lighting; milking and barn equipment and supplies; financial, insurance and real estate services; and seed, feed and fertilizer.”

Juneau adds that the show is “going green” this year by purchasing its electricity through WPS’s NatureWise program. NatureWise offers renewable energy from wind and biomass resources in northeast Wisconsin.
Admission to the farm show is free, and parking is $3 per vehicle. Gates are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday.

“The show comes at the time of year when farmers are anticipating the upcoming planting and haying seasons,” Juneau notes. “That’s why this event has become known as a ‘buying’ show because they’re ready to invest in new equipment and try new methods.”
Among the highlights of this year’s show are the following:
• over 430 vendors throughout the EAA grounds
• more than 800 indoor and outdoor booths covering the 10-acre site
• free motorized scooters for attendees who need mobility assistance
• seminars on energy efficiency, sand separation, ventilation, building integrated photovaltaics
• silent auctions to benefit the Wisconsin FFA Foundation each day
• routine medical screenings provided by University of Wisconsin-
• Oshkosh Health on Tuesday and Thursday only: blood pressure screenings are free, blood sugar screenings cost $5, cholesterol tests cost $10
• centrally located food tent offering a wide selection of food from nonprofit commodity groups
• on-site agricultural consultants from Wisconsin Public Service to answer energy management questions.

How to get to the show
Directions from north of Oshkosh: Take Hwy. 41 south to Ripon Road/Hwy. 44 East (Exit 116). Turn left onto Ripon Road/Hwy. 44 East. Turn right onto Knapp Street. Bear right onto Poberezny Road. Turn left onto Waukau Avenue.
Directions from south of Oshkosh: Take Hwy. 41 north to Ripon Road/Hwy. 44 East (Exit 116). Turn right onto Ripon Road/Hwy. 44 East. Turn right onto Knapp Street. Bear right onto Poberezny Road. Turn left onto Waukau Avenue.
Alternate directions from south of Oshkosh: Take Hwy. 41 north to Hwy. 26/County Road N East (Exit 113). Turn right onto Hwy. 26. Turn left onto Poberezny Road. Turn right onto Waukau Avenue.

Politicians from rural states often extol the virtues of the family farm.
But what is it? And what can be done to save what sometimes seems like another endangered species?

Chuck Hassebrook, the executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs laid out a five-step plan for doing both when he delivered a keynote speech Friday at the MOSES conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

MOSES, or Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service, drew some 2,800 farmers and supporters of organic agriculture to its annual meeting to hear Hassebrook and attend 60 workshops on February 25 through February 27.
Hassebrook, who grew up on a hog and grain farm near Platte Center, Nebraska, said his nonprofit organization is based in Lyons, Nebraska, a town of 900.

"We don't just talk about rural issues. We live these issues," he said.
Hassebrook, who is also in his second elected term as a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, said that in spite of technology that has brought many benefits to agricultural production, there is a sense of unease in rural America about declining rural population as farms grow ever larger.

Numerous studies by sociologists have shown that small towns surrounded by only a few very large farms tend to have a wealthy elite and no middle class.

"That, my friends, is not progress. It's social decay," Hassebrook said.
Hassebrook mentioned the public's support for locally grown food, more access to nature and "a yearning for greater authenticity and genuineness in America." All of these trends have contributed to the growth in demand for the organic foods grown by some in the MOSES audience. Yet, he said, he s not certain how much public sentiment alone will do to keep family farms in business.
"At the end of the day, it is up to us to take responsibility for our own destiny and to take control of our future," he said.
Hassebrook offered 5 ways to do that:

1. "We need to protect our authenticity," he said. Consumers may not know when they pay double the normal price for natural beef that it comes from a 50,000-head feedlot, he said. And he praised the work of activists who ve pressured USDA to enforce organic standards that require dairy cows to have access to pasture. Besides organic standards, "I think we need to build a family farm standard," he said. A family farm ought to mean that one that owns the means of production, makes management decisions and provides most of the labor, he said.

2. "We need to be entrepreneurial," he said, adding that small towns aren't going to be saved by recruiting large companies to locate there. Economic development in rural America has to be home-grown. And the organic and sustainable agriculture community needs good business models. "There's a lot of failures," he said, but two success stories are Organic Valley, the farmer-owned dairy foods co-op based in La Farge, Wisconsin, and Niman Ranch Pork, managed out of Thornton, Iowa.

3. "We all need to contribute to our community. Our farms have a symbiotic relationship to our community," he said. In Lyons, Nebraska, Hassebrook has worked to get buildings on its main street in the National Register of Historic Places, for example.

4. "We need to protect access to good germplasm," Hassebrook said. That means more than organic farmers having access to elite seed varieties that aren't genetically mondified, he said. It means more competition in the seed industry for conventional farmers. He said that he opposed the University of Nebraska's licensing of dicamba-resistant soybeans to Monsanto but was unable to stop it.

5. The bias toward large farms in federal farm policy needs to be reversed, he said. "We need to simply stop subsidizing the megafarms that are driving [family farms] out of business," he said. The Obama administration could have done that with a tighter USDA standard that requires active management of a farm to qualify for commodity program payments.
"It's very disappointing that the Obama administration that made this the centerpiece of farm policy in Iowa (before Iowa's presidential caucuses), they ve abandoned that," Hassebrook said.

Hassebrook said that the Center for Rural Affairs has begun a web-based campaign to urge the President and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to keep that campaign promise to have tougher farm program payment limits. Click here for more information.

While some may say the recession is over, jobs are still scarce and many still feel the pinch. If you’re looking for extra income, an interesting hobby or a new business, why not try farming? The New Jersey Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-NJ) can help. They are holding two new classes this month on how to start up or expand agricultural businesses.
“Farming” often brings to mind images of fields spreading out far and wide, cavernous barns full of cows, and tractors with giant tires. But farming is actually quite diverse. Even small properties can support a surprising array of agricultural products.

As NOFA-NJ points out, there are niche markets for everything from goat cheese to fresh flowers and heirloom tomatoes. Maybe your favorite restaurant is importing specialty herbs that YOU could raise and sell. Or maybe your town has a farmers market where you could set up a booth on weekends.

And don’t forget that organic products grown close to home are increasingly popular in the Garden State. Health-conscious consumers are seeking out foods grown without pesticides or fertilizers, and many New Jersey residents are looking to buy local.
“Exploring The Small Farm Dream” is NOFA-NJ’s four-week class designed to help answer the question, “Is starting an agricultural business right for me?” If you have ever thought about using your green thumb to earn some greenbacks, this course may be the perfect starting point. You will learn about small-scale farming opportunities, how to assess personal and financial resources, conduct market research and develop a business plan.

If the seeds of an agricultural business have already been planted in your mind, check out NOFA-NJ’s more comprehensive course titled, “Tilling the Soil of Opportunity.” This course is geared toward farmers looking for innovative ideas and enhanced marketing opportunities. Topics include equipment, legal issues, management and communication, risk management, marketing, budgeting and accounting, financing, succession planning, and how to evaluate resources, among others.

Both classes begin in mid-February and will be held at Duke Farms in Hillsborough.

You can register for either course by calling (908) 722-3700 any day between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. For more information contact NOFA-NJ at (908) 371-1111 or download a brochure under the ‘Events’ link at www.nofanj.org.

Many small farmers are moving toward a more environmentally conscious model of agriculture. For the small farmer, this move comes with economic risks. By purchasing, fixing and maintaining used farm tractors, the farmer can mitigate his economic risk while creating a new way of sustainable agriculture on his own farm.

Most small family farmers are self-taught experts in many fields. They have to be. For them, maintaining and fixing their own equipment is imperative to their economic survival. Therefore, most used farm tractors are in good shape or in easily fixable shape. As their needs change, farmers frequently sell their used equipment. Finding these tractors and other equipment is easy. Most farm bureaus, online farm community sites, farm cooperative publications and old-fashioned word-of-mouth are all good places to start when looking for previously owned tractors.

By maintaining their used farm tractors, farmers are keeping this equipment from entering the junkyard. Because equipment is older, it is far more affordable for the small farmer who has decided to make the economic and philosophical change toward a more sustainable type of agriculture. Used farm tractors can serve as a solid economic incentive to the small farmer.

Obtaining used farm tractors can also be a learning experience for the entire farm family. Working on and maintaining equipment can be a great way for a farm family to learn mechanics together. Retrofitting used farm equipment for a more environmentally friendly use is another step in this learning process.

Many small farm families are moving toward sustainability. Every year, more consumers are becoming increasingly conscientious about purchasing more local, more organic food. In order to fill this need and to be able to compete with factory farms, the small family farmer is turning toward the environmentally friendly sustainable agriculture model. They can find their niche and strive for economic viability. Used farm tractors are one step in this process.

Used farm tractors are a positive step toward sustainable agriculture for the small family farmer. The farm family can move forward without the added worry of expensive, new equipment. Re-purposing older machines is an essential component to this greener future.
Finding a good deal can be difficult, check out my website Used Farm Tractors for more information and great deals. Also if you are looking for farm tractors for sale click here.

Green is the theme at this year's Tulsa Farm Show — and not just because dozens of John Deere tractors are on display.

Environmental buzzwords such as sustainable, energy-efficient and organic dot the booths of exhibitors throughout the QuikTrip Center.

Thursday was the first day of the three-day show, with more than 300 exhibitors selling the newest in farm implements, technologies and entertainment.

Of course, farmers may have been some of the world's first conservationists as they fought and negotiated for scarce water and land resources.

Murray Thibodeaux of U-Do Biodiesel is attending the show for the second year as an exhibitor, displaying a system for turning cooking oil into diesel fuel.

"Farmers use diesel more than anyone else for their trucks and tractors," he said.

Thibodeaux said he makes about 40 gallons of diesel fuel a month for a cost of about 55 cents a gallon. He gets most of his used cooking oil from restaurants, who are glad to give up the waste, he said.

Thibodeaux said he makes it a point to come to the farm show because the agriculture industry is always looking for ways to improve efficiency and the bottom line.

Do-it-yourself diesel isn't the only green technology on display at the show. Irrigation system manufacturers are pushing efficient sprinklers, some that even use GPS technologies. Seemingly nongreen products, such as livestock feeders, also have "energy efficient" stickers.

John Sampson, said farmers have taken the economic downturn as an opportunity to make their operations more efficient.

"Everybody who's in the agriculture service industry is working at maximizing their investment, whether it be machinery or stand-alone equipment," Sampson said.

Several exhibitors also are pitching "organic" products, a part of the industry that has less to do with efficiency and more to do with capturing a growing segment of the consumer market.

Pat Buhr came to the farm show to sell an organic fertilizer that she and her husband make out of seawater from the Pacific Ocean.

"It's really becoming quite popular," she said.

The fertilizer, sold by Sea Minerals FA out of Siloam Springs, Ark., uses minerals from ocean water to give nutrients to crops. Buhr said the product is popular among organic farmers because it doesn't contain manufactured chemicals or pesticides.

Tulsa Farm Show
Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 4 pm. Quiktrip Center at Expo Square
Admission: Free

Here are the facts: it WILL take all of a day for one man to do a thorough job cleaning a combine and prepping it for storage. The good news is that all the time and effort is not wasted. From my experience, a combine that is stored direct from the field will cost its owner an extra $200 to $500 before or during the next harvest. Much of that expense is related to corrosion/rust/water damage from rotting crop debris in or on the machine.

Some of that damage takes a long time to show up. I spent $1000 of a customer's money last week chasing gremlins through the electrical system on his combine. The pricey diagnostics eventually found a corroded electrical connector buried in three or four year's worth of rotting crop debris. Simply cleaning the combine before storage each year could have saved that guy $1000.

Cleaning combines is simple but boring and time-consuming. At a minimum, the same day harvest is finished, remove the sump covers for grain tank unloading augers and clean out rotten grain so precipitation won't accumulate in the grain tank. Open and clean the rock trap. Open the lower access doors on clean grain and tailing elevators. Use a high-pressure air hose to blow off loose, dry debris.

Some farmers avoid pressure washing their combine, due to concerns about forcing water into bearings, computer boxes and water-sensitive components. My attitude is that pressure washing does a great job of cleaning a combine with minimal risk--as long as the person running the spray wand has an I.Q. higher than a chimpanzee. Don't direct high-pressure water directly at bearings or computerized components and things will be fine.

If you're going to do maintenance and repairs on the machine within the next month, leave chains dry or spray them with WD-40, JB-80 or some other lightweight lubricant. If you won't touch the machine till next harvest, lube the chains with chain lube. The same applies to greaseable bearings and pivot/wear points.

Final step before walking away from the machine is to toss lots of mouse and rat poison into and on the machine. Clean machines are less prone to vermin damage than machines with lots of tasty crop debris on them, but even clean machines can suffer mouse and rat damage--the darned critters like to gnaw on the coatings of wires, which leads to short circuits and expensive repairs down the road.

As for problems with raccoons, 'possums and other large critters--if there's no straw or debris in a stored combine, those varmints are less apt to set up housekeeping and build a nest in a radiator shroud or deep within the separator. And if you think that having those critters nesting in a combine isn't a big problem---try cleaning up the results after you start the combine next summer and wrap a 20-pound 'coon around the clean grain auger or bust off all the engine fan blades on a 'possum that was snoozing in the radiator shroud.

Jeff Caldwell, Agriculture.com Multimedia Editor

Does the wet weather have your combine parked? The delays in harvest thus far in the Corn Belt are adding a greater premium to those dry days when you will be able to get the wheels turning again.
But, once the weather dries up, don't get in such a hurry that you lose bushels because your machine's not properly adjusted, says Iowa State University ag and biosystems engineer Mark Hanna. Taking the time to make sure your combine is ready for the conditions you'll face in the field will pay off.

"In average-to-good crop conditions when the crop is standing well, field losses attributable to the combine should be one bushel per acre or less. Two corn kernels or 4 soybeans on the ground per square foot equals one bushel per acre loss," he says. "Larger areas should be checked for dropped ears as a single dropped ear represents several hundred kernels. One three-fourth pound whole ear per one-hundredth acre (436 square feet) equals a one bushel per acre loss."

The first step to avoid such losses doesn't start with the combine; rather, look first to the landscape itself, Hanna advises. Make sure you get a good idea of the field conditions you'll face when you roll the combine into the field. If you already did that before rains began to fall, however, you might want to do it again.

"Everone, regardless of field conditions, should take time to check field losses this fall and make appropriate combine adjustments," Hanna says. "Gullies and rills may have been created by intense late summer rainfall and hail-damaged areas. Areas affected by adverse weather should be scouted before harvest for the size and condition of ears as well as gullies or holes that may have formed. Fields with wetter corn may have delayed harvest; scout and consider stalk strength before making the decision to delay."

Once you know what kind of conditions you'll be running the combine over, turn your attention to the iron. While it all starts with your machine's owner's manual, Hanna advises these steps:
• Start with rotor/cylinder speed at the lower end of acceptable range, then increase speed only as required to keep threshing losses acceptable
• Concave clearance should start near the wider end of the range, then be adjusted narrower only enough for acceptable threshing and material flow (Plants that have been hail-damaged are more likely to have grain that is brittle and susceptible to breakage if threshing is not gentle).
• In the cleaning shoe, begin with suggested sieve settings and start with fan speed near the higher end of the acceptable range. The objective of fan airflow is to fluidize the material mat on the sieves. Fan speed should be lowered only enough to avoid grain loss. If corn is lighter test weight due to hail or other field conditions, fan speed will need to be reduced somewhat to avoid significant grain being blown from the combine.
• Knife sections should be sharp and in register, and flexible cutterbar and header height control in good working order. These adjustments will have even more importance if soybeans are lodged or many low-hanging pods are present. A second, lower hanging ear seems to be more prevalent in some corn fields this year. If harvestable grain is present on the lower ear, adjust cornhead height appropriately.
• The gap between deck plates above snapping rolls should be adjusted narrow enough to avoid shelling of butt kernels on snapping rolls, but wide enough to avoid excessive stalk breakage. A one and one-fourth inch gap is typical, but this gap should be adjusted as necessary for field conditions.
Once you have made all the adjustments and your machine is ready to roll, make sure you take time to address any safety concerns, too, Hanna adds.

"Harvest can be a stressful time, particularly during adverse weather or field conditions," he says. "Review precautions and take time to ensure safety. In addition to replacing shields, avoiding clearing snapping rolls with power engaged, and making sure the head is blocked before working underneath it, also consider hazards of falling from the combine, fire prevention and lighting and marking issues."

Jeff Caldwell, Agriculture.com Multimedia Editor

It may seem like fall harvest might never end in some parts of the country.
But, even when you do pull that combine into the machine shed for the winter, that may not be the end of the to-do list before you batten down the hatches for winter. Those fall tillage chores you weren't able to get done on time are still waiting for you. But, even though it's late, you can still get the job done right by keeping a few things on top of mind, specialists say.

Agronomists Jodi DeJong-Hughes and Jeff Coulter of the University of Minnesota said in a report this week that there are 4 strategies to put into motion when you go to tackle that fall tillage in what will likely still be damp fields. Those are:
• Fill in ruts
• Keep tillage shallow
• Properly prepare equipment
• Plan ahead for spring

"Soil compaction and smearing is a distinct concern when pulling implements through or driving on wet soil. Residue management is another concern," according to DeJong-Hughes and Coulter. "We want the fields to dry out quickly next spring for quick planting."
When it comes to filling in ruts, don't follow what's typically your first instinct: To fill them in completely. Instead, remember the destructive tendency of tillage and take a lighter approach to those ruts, even if it takes an extra pass or 2 in the field.
"Soil structure is your soil's number one defense against future soil compaction, and tillage destroys structure. To maintain the structure your soil has, just fill in the ruts with light tillage by running equipment at an angle," the Minnesota agronomists say. "You may need 2-3 passes to accomplish this. These areas will not yield as well as the non-rutted area, but there is not much you can do to change this."

And, don't go too deep with your weather-delayed fall tillage. That can create clods and leave the soil in rough condition for when you return to the field for spring planting. Run shallow or switch to narrower points if you're using a chisel plow or disk ripper, DeJong-Hughes and Coulter advise.

"Clods in themselves are not bad going into winter. Next spring they will leave more surface area for water infiltration," they say. "However, fields with clods will likely need an extra tillage pass in the spring to create an adequate seedbed for good seed-to-soil contact."

Since cool and damp conditions foster additional compaction, keep your iron kept up and do what you can to limit compaction. That includes limiting axle loads to under 10 tons each and keeping tires filled with adequate pressure.
"Not only does this help the soil, but it will help your tractor run more efficiently and with less slippage. On wet soils, use the lightest tractor that can still get the job done," according to DeJong-Hughes and Coulter. "There isn't much you can do to reduce the weight of combines. If possible, unload before the grain hopper is full to limit axle loads. Control the wheel traffic from grain carts by running in the previous combine tracks and don't cross the field at a diagonal. Eighty percent of the compaction happens on the first pass; use it to your advantage."

Finally, the tough circumstances surrounding this fall's harvest may end up translating to management changes for the '10 crop. Take field conditions into consideration when making your 2010 planting decisions, both in terms of soil compaction and the amount of residue left in the field.

"Planting soybeans may be the best option in fields with heavy residue. They are very adaptive to higher residue levels, are not as soil temperature sensitive as corn, and grow well in no-till situations. If trying no-till beans, set the corn header of the combine as high as possible to reduce the amount of residue matted onto the soil surface," add DeJong-Hughes and Coulter. "Corn on corn has more residue to manage and needs additional nitrogen fertilizer than corn following soybean. Row cleaners are a must for corn following corn in order to obtain uniform seeding depth and facilitate warming of the soil over the seed. For corn following corn where high quantities of surface residue are present, consider a starter fertilizer."