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?
Harvest is progressing well in the North Central region, thanks to dry weather throughout the harvest season. It never rained during soybean harvest. And according to guest blogger Mike King, the Case IH combine product specialist for Minnesota and Central Iowa, the only thing slowing down the corn harvest is some down corn in a few areas. A member of the combine team (which he calls “the best job in the company”) since 2006, King has been with Case IH for 23 years.
There’s good news and bad news in the harvest reports coming out of the Southern Plains. Severe drought in Texas and Oklahoma has obviously taken a toll on yields in 2011. The good news is: Prices for some crops are twice what they were in 2010, and harvest is ahead of schedule, says this week’s harvest blogger, Dan Renaud (“the guy with the suspenders”). Renaud is the Case IH combine product specialist responsible for Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. With the company for 31 years, Renaud has spent the last 16 years as a Case IH product specialist, and the last decade focusing solely on combines. Like all Case IH product specialists, Renaud is based in the field, where he can most efficiently support Case IH customers and dealers.
It’s one thing when we say it, but we understand when you hear it from a farmer it’s a whole different story. We’re talking about the importance of Efficient Power to a modern operation, and how power, fuel economy, maximum uptime and operator comfort all can help make the most out of every hour of every day.
Today’s video features Brad Ramp of McLean, Illinois, who tells us that when you’re trying to plant “a large amount of acres with a limited amount of equipment,” you can’t afford downtime or operator fatigue. Brad’s 2011 Tier 4 Magnum tractor delivers is efficient, responsive, nonstop power that works as hard as he does. As Brad says, “When it’s time to plant, we’ll run 24 hours a day.”
In the days to come, we’ll have more videos from the field to tell more of the Efficient Power story. To see more right now, visit CaseIH.com/EfficientPower or our YouTube channel.
When it comes to operating Case IH Axial-Flow combines during harvest, we’re going to leave it to our customers to tell the story. Here’s another video featuring Case IH customers talking about their Axial-Flow rotary combines and what makes them stand out from the crowd. The Autoguidance system on the combines is an important feature to farmers, especially for those who are in the combines harvesting around the clock. With easy-to-use controls and excellent visibility, Case IH Axial-Flow combines make harvest simple, like it should be.
Next week, Case IH customers will be talking about Tier 4 and the impact it has on their efficiency and ultimately, saving them money.
If you’re interested in learning more about Axial-Flow combines, the best place to start is by visiting your local Case IH dealer or checking us out online at: http://www.caseih.com/en_us/Products/Harvesting/Pages/caseih-combines.aspx. To see more Case IH videos, visit our YouTube channel.
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.
With two-thirds of the Case IH workforce based in the field, we truly do talk to farmers every day, so we know what a challenging growing season it has been so far.
That’s why we couldn’t resist sharing some good news!
According to this article, “USDA Chief Economist: Strong, Volatile Crop Prices Ahead” in TopProducer, USDA’s Joseph Glauber forecasts an optimistic outlook for agriculture over the next few years, thanks to record-level exports. (more…)
Thanks to the invention of Smart Phones, farmers are conducting business where the real action is happening – in the field!
Today’s cell phones double as a farmer’s personal secretary, weather center and crop manager. You may already be aware of the convenience of receiving email and accessing the internet through your phone, but with the development of Smart Phone applications, the sky is the limit for what you can achieve from your tractor seat!
We’ve heard a lot about some resourceful Smart Phone applications that we wanted to share with you. Take a look at what we found and let us know if you use any of these applications or if you have discovered other useful “apps.”
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Check out Case IH’s latest “From the Field” video post on The Weather Channel titled, “How can farmers maximize every acre?”. This video post highlights how Precision Farming technologies, such as autoguidance systems and software, increase planting, seeding, and spraying efficiency.
Learn more about Case IH Advanced Farming Systems.
How have precision farming technologies been helpful to you?
It’s a valid question asked by many producers on a regular basis, and one that Case IH can answer.
Diesel engines have evolved into more powerful and fuel-efficient engines since their invention more than a century ago. While this evolution is good for productivity in the fields, it’s bad for emissions.
Check out Case IH’s latest “From the Field” video post on The Weather Channel titled, “How can our farmers meet emissions standards?”. This video post discusses how Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology not only helps Case IH high-horsepower tractors meet Tier 4 emissions regulations, but also how it creates cleaner oil, less maintenance, and the power producers need to get the job done.
To learn more about SCR technology, check out Case IH’s blog post, “School of Hard NOx: SCR Primer.”
