This soybean grower from Missouri doesn’t plant corn with the machine he’s standing next too. No way. But he does power it with a biodiesel blend and compete in tractor pulls across the United States. He’s Dennis Shramek and one of the competitors in this weekend’s NTPA Midwest Extreme Truck and Tractor Pull. Thank you to the United Soybean Board for inviting me out.
I met him early Friday evening long before his class was set to compete. Dennis grows soybeans and corn in central Missouri. He says they do a lot of no-till. Besides growing crops he’s got this AGCO DT225 which he competes with for points. He says they run over 3,000 horsepower! They blend their own biodiesel and jug it up and bring it along to the event. He gets better lubrication with biodiesel than pure low sulfur diesel. He says they’ve been competing with this tractor for about 6 years and they’ll compete at least 16 to 18 times a season.
Dennis is sure that the biodiesel industry will grow since it’s a clean fuel and helps the U.S. economy and helps reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
You can listen to my interview with Dennis below: