How agriculture works thread

[Cycledude]

Steptoe Butte will be closed this summer for road construction

Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site | Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission

Steptoe Butte State Park is a 150-acre, 3,612-foot-tall natural monument. Thimble-shaped, the quartzite butte looms in bald grandeur over the prevailing flat lands.

parks.state.wa.us

 

[oosik]

Good Morning Cougsfan. As Cycledude has posted - the road to the top of Steptoe is due for improvements this summer. I've made two trips to the top in the last month. Probably the last until this fall.

Just like the spring wheat - the windmills from Rosalia to the south - sprouting up on every ridge top. Where five years ago there were none. Now there are hundreds. I just wonder how far south of Dodge they go......

 

[Hay Dude]

The basic reason tracked tractors are so popular on the Palouse is that the tracks have a much larger footprint on the ground compared to even the 8 wheeled tractors. This gives them superior traction and pulling power, particularly on soft, hilly and/or wet ground. And they don't compact the soil as much which helps crop yields. They can also turn a tighter corner. From what I hear, tracks ride better on soft ground but ride rougher on hard ground (i.e. a dried plowed clay field). Tracks have their downside too. The mains one being you can't cruise down the road between fields as fast and they cost more.

Out East, they are a rare sight. We have smaller 400 year old fields chopped up by paved roads. The cost to move tracked machines would be impractical for the benefit.
In fact, we are going the opposite direction. What you see out here are “road speed” tractors, generally that will do 24-35+ MPH.
3 of my tractors are road speed units as we have 10-12 fields and 400 +/- acres to go between at any given time. 2 came from Europe.
I would think with the price of fuel likely to be double last years levels (we are already 50% higher in just 5 months), fuel consumption will be a one of the key factors for farmers to determine the future of tracks versus tires. Wheel slippage causes fuel loss.

 

[ArlyA]

Here is our friends to the north in Alberta operating a 500+hp tractor towing a 60ft wide press seeding wheat. This is a big machine, larger than what I'm used to... What you see with these is whats called minim tillage. Lots of big farm operations up in Canada.

 

[mx1alex]

We grow soft red winter wheat here in MO. Used for pastries, flat breads, cookies, cakes etc. Not as much gluten as what's in the hard red wheats. Quite a bit went in last fall. Most folks here will double crop their wheat and plant beans after they harvest it.

 

[ArlyA]

Hard red up in the northern plains. High protein bread wheat.

From our NDSU. U.S. Wheat Production - NDSU Wheat Quality & Carbohydrate Research, Dr. Senay Simsek
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U.S. Wheat Production​

Wheat is grown in most of the 50 states of the United States. The kind and quantity of wheat grown varies widely from one region to another

• Hard Red Winter – Grown in the Great Plains and California, and shipped via the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific ports. Hard red winter wheat is an important, versatile bread wheat with excellent milling and baking characteristics. It has medium to high protein (10.0 to 13.0 percent), medium hard endosperm, red bran, medium gluten content, and mellow gluten. It is used in pan breads, Asian noodles, hard rolls, flat breads, and general purpose flour.
• Hard Red Spring – Grown primarily in the North Central region of the United States and shipped via the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Great Lakes ports. Hard red spring wheat is an important bread wheat with excellent milling and baking characteristics. It has high protein (12.0 to 15.0 percent), hard endosperm, red bran, strong gluten, and high water absorption. It is used in pan breads, hearth breads, rolls, croissants, bagels, hamburger buns, pizza crust, and for blending.
• Soft Red Winter – Grown in the eastern third of the United States and shipped via Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic, and Great Lakes ports. Soft red winter wheat is a high-yielding wheat with low protein (8.5 - 10.5%), soft endosperm, red bran, and weak gluten. It is used in pastries, cakes, cookies, crackers, pretzels, flat breads, and for blending flours.
• Soft White – Grown primarily in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and shipped via Pacific ports. Soft white wheat has low protein (8.5 to 10.5 percent) and low moisture, and provides excellent milling results. It is used in flat breads, cakes, biscuits, pastries, crackers, Asian-style noodles, and snack foods.
• Durum – Grown primarily in the North Central and desert Southwest regions of the United States and shipped via Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, and Pacific ports. Durum wheat is the hardest of all wheat classes with a high protein content (12.0 to 15.0 percent), yellow endosperm, and white bran. It is used in pasta, couscous, and some Mediterranean breads.
• Hard White – The newest class of U.S. wheat, grown in California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Washington, and when available for export, shipped via Pacific and Gulf of Mexico ports. Hard white wheat has a hard endosperm, white bran, and a medium to high protein content (10.0 to 14.0 percent). It is used in Asian noodles, whole wheat or high extraction flour applications, pan breads, and flat breads.

 

[ArlyA]

The big bud working in the wheat fields of Montana. This 1,100 hp 16V-747 powered tractor working on fall tillage with an 80ft wide FRIGGSTAD D7-80 chisel plow . This video takes viewers out in a 3,000 acre Montana field so that they can see and hear this monster tractor at work. Viewers ride in tractor to see the operators perspective of plowing an acre a minute. The video shares the 16V-747's specifications, production history and original price tag. Watch for a Big Bud 440 tractor working side by side with the 16V-747 seeding 86ft of wheat with a MORRIS Contour Drill.

 

[ArlyA]

Any interest in this thread??

 

[Xfaxman]

Looks like there is.
458 views so far:

 

[Coboco]

Yea this is an interesting thread. Big tractors and monocropping are certainly one way of agriculture, should other ways be posted here too? Like, smaller scale farming? I happen to work on a 1.5 acre garden among a 12 acre farm that primarily uses a 2 wheel walk-behind tractor and produces I'd estimate well over 30 different types of all certified organic veggies for a CSA delivery and 2 farmer's markets...it's great! They even let me use my tractor for land improvement projects outside the garden deer fencing!!