Farm Economy

[Bruce Day]

Full tilt for sure. Out here its harvest time and farmers and ranchers take a day off, bring the family, and attend Husker Days in Grand Island, Nebraska. They talk about new equipment, some bring their bankers in tow and make deals on the spot. John Deere's new biggest and best is now about a quarter mil, or the price of five new Mercedes, and there is plenty of new disease resistant hybrid corn from from Monsanto and Dupont. Folks come down from the Dakotas, up from Kansas and over from Iowa and Colorado. Pickup trucks, boots and western hats, talk about the price of corn and the upcoming hunting season.

And Pheasants Forever has a show area to encourage a little set aside for the birds.

1. On horseback, directing parking. Almost all pick ups and full size SUV's.

2. Farm conveyors.

3. Go big red. An articulated, front and back tracked tractor. Just the thing for pulling a 40 ft wide through heavy, wet bottom land soils along the Platte River valley.

4. A 40 ft wide planter.

5. The new JD tractor. Now you fellows with the little acreages who till a few acres for food plots, you need this. I know I do to rip out some brush. I could pull a mower and cut the grass in 5 minutes. And your neighbors, in their little riding mowers, they would be looking up to you. This has autosteering and a mapping and guidance system coupled to GPS.


I'm pretty fortunate to get out to these things as part of my work. And get invitations to come on out come pheasant season.