Did you remember to turn over your calendar this morning? February is a month that signals we’re getting at least a little closer to spring. Today also is the kickoff of our Field of Deals sales event. Now is a great time to see your dealer about equipment that will help you Be Ready to meet the challenges of your livestock, dairy or other farm operation.
To Be Ready for the future, you need all the best tools at your disposal: the best equipment, the best technology and the best seed, among other things. Reports of possible seed shortages for the coming season have created discussion in agriculture circles. Are the reports real, or are they exaggerated? What do you think? (more…)
Today’s guest blogger is Mitch Kaiser, the Marketing Manager for Steiger® tractors. He’s been with the company for 37 years, with a third of these in Product Development, so he knows a thing or two about cab evolution. You can see Mitch in this short video of a Steiger Cab walkaround, shot during the 2011 Farm Progress show. Take a look at how we’re maximizing creature comforts in the Steiger cab, and let us know what you think. What’s the best cab design innovation so far? What technology have you adopted that you can’t live without? What do you think will be the next big thing?
Tax season is just around the corner, and you might be thinking of trying to squeeze in an equipment purchase before the new year. Two popular tax incentives for equipment purchasers are set to be reduced or even eliminated after December 31, 2011.
How have these changes impacted your year-end equipment purchase decision? Leave a comment and let us know.
Created in the Tax Relief/Job Creation Act of 2010, the incentives include two provisions intended to encourage equipment purchases. Big changes will occur in 2012, and the deduction on qualifying new and used equipment purchases is scheduled to be reduced from $500,000 to $125,000 with a maximum investment limit of $500,000 – down from the $2 million in previous years.
As harvest comes to an end, many producers are getting ready to put away the combine for the year. Taking small steps and making sure the combine is clean, well-maintained and adjusted can provide big benefits for next fall. Our guest blogger is Kevin Breneman, who leads our combine technical services group. Kevin has been with Case IH for 13 years. He and his team of 10 provide crop production, harvesting and precision farming support to dealers across the U.S. and Canada. He grew up north of Madison, Wis. and has always been drawn to equipment and agricultural engineering.
Is your combine ready for winter storage? Here is a checklist to ensure your combine is ready to go next fall.
As harvest comes to a close, we’re reminded once again of nature’s power. The drought in Texas that devastated crops and livestock. The excessive spring moisture that prevented 30 percent of Manitoba from even being seeded.
Yet something else also stands out in the 2011 harvest reports from throughout North America. And that is, thanks to continuous innovations in big iron, farmers are increasingly able to work around Mother Nature. Obviously we’ll never defeat her completely, but we’re definitely winning more battles.
If you were in Decatur for the Farm Progress Show, you probably noted the Case IH presence. We admit it – Case IH was hard to miss. But if you weren’t able to join us we invite you to take a look at the video recap of opening day.
We also hope nobody missed a chance to tweet their response to the question, “What does Efficient Power mean to me?” Here’s how it worked: Everyone was invited to describe what Efficient Power meant to them personally. There weren’t many rules- you had to include a #EfficientPower hashtag to identify your tweet, and of course you had to observe the Twitter 140-character limit. Other than that, the topic was wide open.
Check out this video walk-around with Mark Burns, Case IH Marketing Manager for Application Equipment. Mark is at Farm Progress Show showing off just a few of the features of the all-new Case IH Patriot® 4430 sprayer. The Patriot 4430 is an industry-leading performer that makes an excellent addition to the Case IH Efficient Power family, delivering more horsepower in a more fuel-efficient package with its 8.7L engine equipped with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology. It offers the most advanced spray technology available, and its improved Surveyor™ cab design makes the days – and acres – fly by in comfort.
Keep watching the BE READY blog and our YouTube channel to see more of the new Case IH products announced for the 2012 model year from Case IH.
Here’s a quick follow-up to our “Did You Hear? U.S. DOT Seeking Public Comment” blog post from back in July. At that time, we noted that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), an agency operating within the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), had issued a request for public comment on proposed regulations for farmers’ use of public roads. Among other things, the DOT was seeking comments on whether or not to require tractor and agriculture equipment drivers to have a commercial driver’s license (CDL) to operate machinery on the road.
According to the Associated Press, agriculture organizations and lawmakers from farm states flooded Washington with letters opposed to the idea, which would have limited agricultural commercial drivers’ license (CDL) exemptions, and expanded the definition of “implements of husbandry or off-road farm equipment” to bring more vehicles and implements under jurisdiction of DOT.
In the end, regulators took these comments into consideration when they weighed their decision, and reached what seems to most in agriculture to be a sensible conclusion:
U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said that the FMCSA does not intend to propose any new regulations governing the transport of agricultural products, and that the agency has released guidance to states so they clearly understand exemptions “to allow farmers, their employees and their families to accomplish their day-to-day work and transport their products to market.”
Here’s a clear case where the voices of stakeholders were heeded, in this instance leading to a common-sense decision that lets America’s farm families keep doing what they do best.
The future leaders of production agriculture met in Des Moines, Iowa, the last week in July for the National FFA Organization New Century Farmer Conference. Forty-nine young people from across the U.S. participated in personal and professional development workshops, while networking with agriculture industry professionals.
In our quest to prepare this new generation of farmers “Be Ready” and embrace agriculture’s challenges and opportunities, Case IH helped sponsor the event. We hosted a dinner for the participants at the Case IH Training Center in Nevada, Iowa, and presented on new and technologies in farm machinery.
