Heads up farm podcasters and agribloggers. The new media game just ramped up a notch. So you’ve got your iPhone and have mastered tweeting photos right? How about streaming live audio/video from it? Now you can thanks to the new Ustream.tv app. I’ve already tried it and it works great. It uses either your 3G signal or wifi. It also …
The Movement to Mechanized Sugarcane Harvesting in Brazil
I recently had the opportunity to go to Brazil to learn more about the sugarcane ethanol industry. While there, I also learned about several agricultural initiatives, including the country’s move to mechanized sugarcane harvesting. In the past, the sugarcane was harvested through what is widely known as slash and burn. Not only is this harmful to the environment, but not …
What’s New From CaseIH
Tom Dean is the Marketing Manager for high horsepower tractors at Case IH (seen here in his NAFB Trade Talk booth). He says those are classified as 100+ horsepower. He says what’s new is the Magnum CVT Line. CVT stands for Continuously Variable Transmission. He says the tractors are just now shipping this month. They’re very simple to operate for …
One Pass Biomass From AGCO
AGCO is one of the companies working on a prototype biomass harvest/transport system. At POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day they demonstrated a pulled behind baler system to harvest corn cobs and stover. Dean Morrell, Product Marketing Manager for Hay and Forage Harvesting, was on site and talked with me about their system. He says it’s a one pass system which …
Biomass Harvesting From Case IH
One of the companies exhibiting their developmental corn cob harvest/collection equipment at the POET Project LIBERTY Field Day was Case IH. Representing them again this year was Sam Acker, pictured sitting in their booth during the speeches. I spoke to him to find out what’s new with Case IH in this area this year. Sam says they’re demonstrating an Axial-Flow …
Harvesting Corn Cobs With Green Equipment
There were 16 different equipment manufacturers involved with POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day. One of them was John Deere, represented by Dean Acheson, Manager, Solutions Development. Dean says that what they’re working on is completely customer based. He says they don’t want to be slowed down during harvest and they want to keep up a high level of productivity. The …
Cob Harvesting Equipment In Action Today
Driving to Emmetsburg, IA last night I saw a growing number of these lights the further north I got. This combine was working right near the POET plant in Emmetsburg. Well, it’s daytime now and I’m hoping it will warm up from the 25 degrees we had when I got up. POET is describing today’s event as “The largest gathering …
Vermeer Rolls Out the Rancher
Vermeer had cow-calf producers in mind when they designed the new Rancher 665 round baler. According to Vermeer Forage Marketing Manager Dan Belzer, the new Rancher 665 baler design fills a niche many cow-calf producers have been asking for – basically, the ability to produce bigger bales with a “right-sized” baler that requires less horsepower. “Now, with a minimum 60 …
The KIOTI MECHRON
KIOTI has just introduced a new utility vehicle – The MECHRON. Sounds kind of like a character in Transformers. But a couple of different versions were on display at Sunbelt Ag Expo. Now just about everyone has a utility vehicle in their product lineup. I spoke to Ron Parrish in the KIOTI exhibit about their new offering. This Ultimate Transport …
Farm Podcaster Tool From Apple
The iPod Nano just became a farm podcaster tool. Now you can not only record audio with a built in microphone but video as well. It also has a built in speaker so you can listen to your recording right away. If you still listen to terrestrial radio the new Nano now does FM. Say you need to take a …