Green themes crop up at Tulsa Farm Show
Written by admin on December 11, 2009 – 9:55 pm -By KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer 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... more
Tags: Farm Economy, Tractors
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Spend Quality Time With Your Combine after the Harvest
Written by admin on December 6, 2009 – 1:21 pm -By the end of harvest most farmers are sick and tired of being around their combine. Their first impulse is to park it, forget it and move on to fall tillage, hauling grain, and the hundreds of other chores that piled up during harvest. The idea of spending a day cleaning a combine before putting it away for the winter doesn't sound like much fun and often gets delayed till mid-winter or the second week of Never. 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... more
Tags: Farm Economy
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Make sure your combine's ready
Written by admin on November 19, 2009 – 6:53 pm -Adjusting machinery now can help avoid losses once the weather breaks 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... more
Tags: Farm Economy
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Fall tillage strategies
Written by admin on November 19, 2009 – 6:41 pm -Plan now to preserve soil conditions for 2010 planting, agronomists say 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... more
Tags: Farm Economy
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Guessing the price on a unique tractor in an online auction
Written by admin on November 12, 2009 – 3:40 pm -Greg Peterson Machinerypete.com Central Kentucky farmer Terry Waldridge could be fiddling a happy tune next Wednesday. Waldridge is the owner of a 1969 John Deere 4000 tractor up for sale on eBay currently. No big deal there, right? Lots of Deere tractors for sale on eBay as well as other websites. But Terry's Deere tractor is special. Turns out the 1969 JD 4000 he's owned for the last 15 or 16 years was the very first model 4000 ever made by Deere, serial number 211422. Waldridge, a native of the Blue Grass state who also happens to play in a bluegrass band, only recently discovered his 4000 was the first to roll off the Deere assembly line 40 years ago. "I paid $8,500 for it back when I bought it from a local machinery guy," said Waldridge.... more
Tags: Farm Economy, Tractors, Used Tractors
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Reducing expenses when drying grain
Written by admin on October 29, 2009 – 1:52 pm -Depending on the method you use, it costs between 11 and 30 cents a bushel to dry grain. Ken Hellevang, North Dakota State University Extension service agricultural engineer, and Tom Dorn, Extension educator with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, describe four ways that can help you cut costs. Management is important You have control of how you operate your bins, and Hellevang says this is a big potential money-saver. Most bins are operated between 210 and 220 degrees Fahrenheit, says Hellevang. "Some operators turn the temperature down to save money by not burning as many gallons of fuel per hour," he explains. "The unfortunate thing about not burning as many gallons of fuel is that it isn't doing as much drying either." Hellevang emphasizes... more
Tags: Farm Economy
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Future Farming Is Here Now: Self-Steered Tractors and UAVs
Written by admin on October 20, 2009 – 6:23 pm -It was 1903 when Robert Blair’s great-grandfather began farming the dry ridge overlooking the Clearwater River near Lewiston, Idaho. In 2001, when Blair took the reins, the farm’s books were still kept by hand. Now, he has deployed a set of Darpa-like technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles and self-steering tractors. “In six years, I went from just having a cell phone to my tractor driving itself, and having a small airplane flying and landing itself on a farm,” Blair said. The new precision farmers are hacking together a way of making food in which the virtual and physical worlds are so tightly bound that having his tractor steered by GPS-guidance with inch-level accuracy is ho-hum. Autosteering of farm machinery has exploded... more
Tags: Farm Economy, Tractors, Used Tractors
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USDA, farmers report varied harvest progress
Written by admin on October 15, 2009 – 2:50 pm -Jeff Caldwell Agriculture.com Multimedia Editor Whether the crops are ready or not, the freezing temps that have slid through corn and soybean country in the last few days have slammed the book on the growing season in most of the Midwest. So, what's that mean? About a quarter of the country's corn will leave the field immature. As of this past weekend, about 3/4 of the nation's corn crop is fully matured, according to Tuesday's USDA Crop Progress report. That's almost 20% more than a week ago, but still almost 20% below the previous 5-year average. Corn harvest is at a similar pace: 13% of the corn crop's out of the field, versus the previous 5-year average of 35%. Only 3% of the corn crop was harvested in the last week, according to Tuesday's... more
Tags: Farm Economy
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Efficiency helps farmers cope with shortage
Written by admin on October 6, 2009 – 7:38 pm -By Kate Campbell Assistant Editor Soil expert Dave Goorahoo of California State University, Fresno, left, reviews operating programs on a satellite-guided tractor with Chuck Dees, irrigation manager for Stamoules Produce Co. The Mendota-based vegetable farm is a leader in deploying innovative irrigation technology. Farmers talk about "crop for drop" to gauge the efficiency of food production compared to the amount of water applied. And Chuck Dees, irrigation manager for Stamoules Produce Co. in Mendota, likes to talk about "smart water." With 14,000 acres of vegetable crops—corn, melons, peppers and broccoli—using water wisely is more than just a good idea. These days, with a three-year drought and delivery restrictions cutting federal... more
Tags: Farm Economy, tractor fuel efficiency, Tractors
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Save on taxes on farm equipment
Written by admin on September 18, 2009 – 7:24 pm -Accelerated depreciation for farm equipment Tax time will be here before you know it – and certainly before most of us want it to be. But it is inevitable. Hopefully I can ease its arrival of some farmers by reminding you of the benefits of accelerated depreciation for farm equipment. Farmers have until December 31, 2009, to take advantage of the accelerated depreciation schedule for most farm equipment. The bonus depreciation measure (which reduced the depreciation schedule for most agricultural equipment from seven to five years) was extended until the end of 2009 under the economic stimulus package passed this year. There is no guarantee the accelerated depreciation schedule will be extended again, says Paul Kindinger, president and CEO,... more
Tags: Farm Economy, Tractors
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