Harvest is finally here...

[300 H and H]

About 5 days late however..

I traded combines, and the newer one came today, days late. I suppose it was partially my fault as the thought process of coming to the point of trading
took over a week, and another week was lost to the farm progress show, a national show that tied up salespeople and a massive fleet of low boy semi's used to transport machinery to and from the 3 day show..
.
It all started with a conversation with a group of people in bean field a month ago to look at the possibility of using cover crops in the off season. There is a triad of women who influence me, or torment me, depending on how one looks at it lol. One is a professional agronomist with a photographic memory and a Masters Degree. The second is a woman who owns some land that I farm for her family. She is the statistician, number cruncher, and data miner for the Iowa soybean association. The third is my youngest daughter who has developed a taste for the lifestyle, and now the business end production Agriculture as well.

long story short I mentioned to the two fellows from the Soybean association, on a scale of one to ten how important is it to have a combine
that can build digital yield maps. Not one word came from them but in a magical unison the three women all said "10!" and I knew my goose was cooked.
Another long story short was that by trading into a newer machine, it cost only a fraction to add the mapping capability to the newer model. When you considered all involved a trade made sense.

When the Cat dealer did an inspection and maintenance, they discovered a few issues with the used machine I traded for that needed addressed. That was on Monday...

Today it finally came, and I loaded a semi with it before I got home. 3 screens, to look at, the one for the mechanicals of the combine, one for the auto steering, and the new one showing a map of the field that paints itself with colors that represent the yield as the machine harvests. The machine screen is different than what I have been used to in the two previous machines I have owned. The learning curve has to be pretty fast as I am already a few days behind where I would have been.

So now the farm is data driven. Overlay soil type maps, with a fertility map, and a yield map of the same field and you can see what had been invisible.
Or so they say. It should help find the area in a field that has issues, and perhaps the cause. It will tell where tile drainage might be needed, and the poor area's you should put less inputs on. I don't know, I just pay the bills.

But the women in the operation are quite happy with me for now any way!

 

[Cidertom]

So did you hear the country song where they guy's self driving tractor left him.... Tradeoffs. losing the ability to field repair many systems, vs increased yeilds. With today's margins yields seems to take the lead. Out here in Western Oregon huge swaths of cropland are now in hazelnuts. Be interesting to see how that p(l)ays out.

 

[FrancSevin]

"This ole' farm it aint't what it used to be, ain't what it used to be ain't what it used to be,"

 

[Melensdad]

From everything I can see the farms are all becoming computer/data driven. But that seems like a great thing because it should, as Kirk points out, will help identify lower yield acres within fields that may be do to poor drainage, excess drainage or other factors. There are so many variables that modern farming helps identify through technology and can help ease some food shortages. American and European farms are on the cutting edge of production technology. As the developing world catches up the will rapidly be able to reduce famine.

 

[FrancSevin]

From the beginning of agriculture as a source of income, farms have been "factories." They usually had 7 or more building clustered near the house that included a shop, Sometimes a blacksmithing shop, granaries and processing mills. Milking shed and whatever was needed for the crops and animal products produced. And, of course, a barn for horse, mules, oxen and one for storing hay and one for equipment not in use, out of the weather.

In 1940's-'50's, my grandfather's dairy farm had most of these. He had fields growing feeds for the draft animals as well as the product producers. But, by the 60's, the horses and mules were gone as was the forge and equipment storage sheds. After all, a tractor or plow could now stand the weather outside.

Grandpa fertilized fields basically by guessing what it needed based on personal experience. These factors are now quantified so computers and equipment can do it automatically from data inputs.

Grandpa had little trouble with modernity, but these technologies would be completely foreign to him. He relied on smell and feel of a soil in his hands to determine needs.