MachineryLink

My List: Top 5 Farm Machinery Trends Today

Russ Quinn
By  Russ Quinn , DTN Staff Reporter
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The guy who writes about fertilizer for us choose fertilizer placement equipment as one of the Top 5 Farm Machinery Trends. (DTN/The Progressive Farmer photo by Bob Elbert)

What is with all these lists? It seems like everyone in the media has lists now.

Just the other day I saw someone's list of the worst National Football League top draft picks of all time. Then I saw a list of the top ten states to retire in. I actually live in no. 9, although at this rate I will never be able to retire.

All these lists got me thinking: What list could I put together which would be interesting enough for someone to read? What do I know about?

Then it finally came to me. I should write a list of the top five trends I see in farm machinery today.

Now mind you these are just my opinions. I am no expert when it comes to farm machinery trends, although I do have some knowledge after attending farm equipment shows for over a decade now.

No. 5: New Stalk Destroying Equipment.

Corn plants have been bred to produce stalks sturdier than small trees, with the downside being damage to tires. And as someone who had to purchase a pair of new 18.4-38 tractor tires recently, I feel your financial pain.

From my trip this year to the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky., I noticed there were several different companies producing stalk-destroying equipment. Attached to the front of the tractor or under the corn head, these will smash the stalk into the ground before tires are damaged.

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These designs looked very lightweight to do their job without adding more weight to already heavy farm machinery. I don't know if they work, but you are beginning to see them on machinery as you drive through the countryside.

No. 4: Plenty of Utility Vehicles

I will openly admit this -- a utility vehicle is probably the thing I covet most for our small farm. We have an ATV, but a UV with a bed to store tools and materials would come in very handy when fixing fence.

You have a wide selection of UVs to choose from if you are in the market. There are even companies producing after-market products for UVs. A couple years ago I wrote about a small vegetable farmer in Ohio who came up with the idea to add a three-point hitch system (he had a two-row planter) to UVs to make them even more useful.

Nothing like farmer-made innovations.

No. 3: Large/Small Equipment

The trend towards larger/smaller equipment is really striking when you go to a farm equipment show like NFMS. You will see huge tractors, grain carts, etc. on display along with utility tractors with two-digit horsepower ratings and tiny little implements like diminutive manure spreaders.

Of course this is no new trend; it has been in place for many years now. Many farms are either getting larger by running more acres or adding more livestock while the mid-sized farm is disappearing with more "lifestyle" farms emerging, especially in areas around population centers.

No. 2: High-Tech Toys

Again, this is not a new trend, but there is some interesting, high-tech equipment farmers have at their disposal today. A good example would be Spectrum Technologies, Inc. FieldScout GreenIndex+ Nitrogen Management tool I first saw on display at NFMS this year.

The tool is an app for SmartPhones which allows the user to have an instant (and affordable) reading of how much nitrogen a field has available to its plant by taking a photo of the greenness of a leaf. If N is lacking, corrective actions can be taken to assure plants have the nutrients they need to produce.

That is pretty cool gadget if you really just stop and think about it. I had never seen anything like this before.

No. 1: Loads of Fertilizer Application Equipment

Surprise, surprise! Who would have thought the person who writes about fertilizer for DTN/The Progressive Farmer would select some equipment trend dealing with fertilizer application as his top trend in farm machinery today. If I am anything, I am predictable.

If you could go back in time to 2003 and go to a farm equipment show you would find basic fertilizer application equipment. There would be anhydrous applicators and dry fertilizer carts and of course sprayers to apply liquid fertilizer.

But you would find very little side-dressing equipment, and if you did it would probably be just for anhydrous. Today, there are many manufacturers producing side-dressing equipment for liquid fertilizer as the split application of nitrogen trend sweeps across the Corn Belt.

So there you have my list of the top 5 farm machinery trends today. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know!

Russ can be reached at russ.quinn@telventdtn.com

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5/27/2013 | 12:35 PM CDT
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