Among many equipment manufacturers at the Farm Progress Show, one of the major pieces of new technology they have in common is Tier-4 engine technology. It makes for fewer emissions from diesel engines and less fuel consumption. But there are some new aspects to the new technology with which operators should become familiar. Case IH Commercial Product Trainer David Stark calls the new technology “a radical change,” for high-horsepower tractor buyers.

AUDIO: David Stark (5 min. MP3)

The drawback of owning a 500 hp Challenger tractor is that it’s hard to pile enough on the drawbar to get the machine to break a sweat. AGCO has come up with equipment to make all that pulling power efficient. The Sunflower 1550 disk doesn’t cause much worry for the Challenger, but at 50 feet wide, it’ll cover an acre of ground in short order. Larry Kuster (pronounced like the famous general), explains that it was no small engineering feat to build a disk that size and still be able to get it safely down the road. The same engineers made sure the machine follows the contours of the field to do a good job of tillage.

AUDIO: Larry Kuster (5 min. MP3)

When Case IH Tillage Sales and Marketing Manager Rob Zemenchik shows off the new Nutri-Placer 940, don’t get in his way. He’s likely to use his yard stick to tap on the commercial grade materials used to build the 940 applicator, and in comparison, he’ll tap on the competitor’s lighter gauge materials so that the difference in quality can be heard. It that’s not enough, maybe the 940’s 65-foot swath is. Rob makes a compelling argument about coulter-based anhydrous application technology versus knife-based (the 940’s technology). Iowa State University found that there’s less nitrogen loss when the fertilizer is knifed in.

AUDIO: Rob Zemenchik (5 min. MP3)

Among all the sites where Internet surfers browse, a quarter million visitors are searching online for farm machinery on Iron Search. Marketing Director Lisa Bocklage compares it to sites such as Craig’s List, except Iron Search is much more specialized and “with a lot more bells and whistles to be able to know what you’re looking for.” Most noticeable are the tabs on the front page for new or used machinery. Because they handle all colors, Iron Search is conducting its Producer’s Choice Award from among the top 25 makes and models of machinery on the site. They’ll take entries through the end of the year and announce a winner in January.

AUDIO: Lisa Bocklage (4 min. MP3)

It’s easy for Kevin Bien to speak about AGCO Gleaner’s ‘S’ series combines. He explains that the company worked four years to design and develop a machine with greater capacity than their ‘R’ series combines. What they came up with met customers’ wishes for more capacity without more complexity and weight to compact soil. The result, says Bien, is a machine two tons lighter than its competition. That, he says, will cut down on compaction and on fuel consumption. Two models of ‘S’ series combines are equipped with Tier-4 engines that set records for fuel consumption.

AUDIO: Kevin Bien (9 min. MP3)

ADM, One of the country’s largest ethanol makers, is holding out hope that the EPA will give its nod to a 15 percent ethanol blend for car gasoline. While waiting for an announcement one way or the other, some, including ADM, have suggested an immediate interim allowance of 12 percent while a more permanent solution is being hammered out. “We are very much strong advocates that E15 is a good place for us to go,” said ADM’s vice president of state government relations, “but we’ve offered this E12 as an interim option.” Doing so, says Webb, would create demand for an additional 2 billion gallons of ethanol.

AUDIO: Greg Webb (5 min. MP3)

It appears as if the necessary refuge – the corn without insect control planted among corn containing the Bt trait – will be available in a single bag by 2012. It’s been the stewardship practice to plant 20 percent non-Bt strips within Bt corn fields. Chism Craig, Monsanto’s technology development manager for corn traits, says the company’s research indicated that 5 percent refuge in the bag will maintain stewardship of the technology and will be “a good, solid product for growers.” It’s taken Monsanto more than a decade of trying to get the product ready to put on the market. The result is RIB, Refuge in the Bag.

AUDIO: Chism Craig (4 min. MP3)