How agriculture works thread

[sixdogs]

Not my picture, but thought it might be interesting for some people. I remember being pretty young, 15-16? pitching in to help get wheat processed and running a combine on some pretty steep hillsides around Walla Walla area. You slide down while you are cutting but try to pick a line that will get the most width.

Wow, what a slope to combine on. I never knew that was possible.

 

[cqaigy2]

It's really interesting when the mechanism that keeps it level, malfunctions when you are on a hillside. All of a sudden you start to go over to the down hill side and think you are rolling over. Shut everything down and then you pop the downhill side door and drop what feels like 15 feet and try not to continue rolling down the hillside. Pro Tip, don't just twist the wires back together, fix it the right way.

 

[ArlyA]

Spraying crops in Ortonville MN. Gee, I know people there. Kind of neat how the spray boom height stays adjusted. Looking at there soil reminds me this is out of the Red river valley.

 

[JasperFrank]

My grandfather and all of his friends, at some point told me to never be a farmer and follow the farming history of our family. They said to do anything else. I thought it odd that they would say this. Now I understand it. No one really wants local food. They want the mega corps to make all the food, using economy of scale, that is so much cheaper.

 

[ArlyA]

My grandfather and all of his friends, at some point told me to never be a farmer and follow the farming history of our family. They said to do anything else. I thought it odd that they would say this. Now I understand it. No one really wants local food. They want the mega corps to make all the food, using economy of scale, that is so much cheaper.

It is normal for industries to consolidate over time. There was 100's steel mills at the turn of the century, in 1960 there was something like 60 snowmobile manufacturers. Railroads and farmers do the same. You might be shocked to see the acreage my family members farm, yet that property was homesteaded in tiny 160 partials.

 

[Torvy]

Spraying crops in Ortonville MN. Gee, I know people there. Kind of neat how the spray boom height stays adjusted. Looking at there soil reminds me this is out of the Red river valley.

Those are my old stomping grounds. They used to have a skating rink in Ortonville that teens from miles around would frequent.

We are driving up north right now on US81 and have seen a lot of sprayers on the road and in fields in Nebraska. Most of the corn seems to be tasseling. Lots of burning today too. Rare day with little wind.

For those unfamiliar...central Nebraska grows a lot of corn and soybeans...some alfalfa, too.

 

[Torvy]

Next year y'all can go to Cornfest.

Ortonville Cornfest 2022, an Event in Ortonville, Minnesota

Lakeside Park, Ortonville, MN 56278. Join us for fun, food, entertainment, fireworks, free hot buttered sweet corn. Weekend of excitement and family fun at the…

festivalnet.com

 

[ArlyA]

Nice video of 9 series JD combines in western Kentucky harvesting wheat with track kits on them. They are running 40ft drapper heads on them.

 

[Jstpssng]

My grandfather and all of his friends, at some point told me to never be a farmer and follow the farming history of our family. They said to do anything else. I thought it odd that they would say this. Now I understand it. No one really wants local food. They want the mega corps to make all the food, using economy of scale, that is so much cheaper.

The more necessary things are for life the more we take it for granted without wanting to pay for it. Look at the current price of gas, or the water crisis out west. Yet nobody complains much about the price of beer, wine, whiskey or cigarettes.

 

[Jstpssng]

There was 100's steel mills at the turn of the century, in 1960 there was something like 60 snowmobile manufacturers.

Most of those are just gone though, not consolidated. (You might also want to check the year on your snowmobiles... in 1960 sleds were just being developed.)