Farm Progress Show 2000 Preview

Three days of exhibits and entertainment at Logan County’s back door

[SEPT. 22, 2000]  A city is under construction where corn and soybeans once stood.

Next week in rural Cantrall, Ill., the Farm Progress Show 2000 will open its gates to thousands of guests from across the Midwest. More than 400 exhibits featuring the newest agricultural technology and slices of rural life will offer a little something for everyone, even if you’re not from a farm.

 


[Exhibitors shine up their equipment for thousands of Farm Progress guests next week]

Until recently Power Farms was covered with corn, soybeans and alfalfa. Harvest crews have been working hard to clear the land that will be used for parking, camping and tillage demonstrations.

"Not much was here a week ago," said Farm Progress Show Director Mark Randal. "And there is still a lot to be done."

Yesterday 60 colorful tents had been erected and many more were waiting to go up. Two hundred semi loads of wood chips blanketed the exhibit sites, and 5,600 feet of waterlines were poised to be buried. By the time the show opens next Tuesday morning, colorful mums will decorate all the street corners, while trash cans and porta-potties will be strategically placed around the site.

 

Hosting a Farm Progress Show, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the Midwest, is a highly coordinated effort between the farmers, bank managers, chambers of commerce and the Farm Progress Company. The Greater Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee began looking for potential farm sites for the 2000 show back in 1995. A Logan County man, Dennis Stoll of Chestnut, was instrumental in securing one of the farms he manages for Bank One as the show site. Stoll has managed Power Farms for its owners the past 19 years and knew that tenants Wayne Heissinger and Kent Weatherby would be cooperative hosts. Both the owners and tenants of Power Farms were eager to host the show and help bring an economic boost to the Springfield area.

 

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For the past couple years, Stoll has been the link in communications between the Farm Progress Company and farmers Heissinger and Weatherby. "Two years ago we started matching up crop rotations with what Farm Progress wanted as the layout for the site," explained Stoll. Recently, 70 percent of Stoll’s day-to-day activity as a bank farm manager has dealt with the Farm Progress Show. He will likely be at the show site daily until it ends.

Power Farms could be a stage for more than just the newest ag technology next week. One or both of the presidential candidates could possibly make a stop at the show. "We are in daily contact and know that there is strong interest in both camps to attend the Farm Progress Show," said Randal. "We might not know until Monday if they will show up the next three days."

 


[Harvest has been in full swing at Power Farms to clear space for parking areas.]

 

To get to the Farm Progress Show from Lincoln, just head south on Interstate 55 to the Williamsville exit and drive west along an avenue of chemical and seed plot signs. You won’t be able to miss the city of tents. Exhibit field hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week. Free parking is available, and admission is $5 for adults 18 and over and $2 for ages 13 to 17.

If you would prefer not to drive and be delivered right at the front gate, the Aid Association for Lutherans is sponsoring a bus to the show on Tuesday. There are still 23 seats available. The bus will leave Tuesday morning at 7:30 from the Zion church parking lot on Logan Street. To reserve a spot for $5, call Eleanor Gunderman at 732-9020 and be sure to leave your phone number. The cost does not include entrance into the show.

(Tomorrow: Neat things to do at the Farm Progress Show)

[Marty Ahrends]


Logan County harvest 2000 –

A bushel full of ups and downs

[SEPT. 18, 2000]  A bright blue sky set the backdrop for dried corn leaves and stalks that twirled about in a late summer wind. With almost half of this year’s corn crop out of the field, Logan County is in the midst of harvest. And, by most accounts things are going well.

But if you talked to Lincoln farmer Bill Sahs around noon on Friday, things were not going well for him. The shaft bearing that runs the gathering chain on one of the outside rows of his corn header had broken. Sahs could have chosen to finish combining the field along Nicholson Road just five rows at a time. But, since he wasn’t pressed for time, he decided to swap corn headers with Schmidt-Marcotte while they replaced the shaft bearing.

 

Breakdowns during harvest are par for the course for all farmers. That keeps local equipment companies on their toes.

Despite his current frustration, Sahs remarked that he "really has nothing to complain about this year. This year’s crop is better than my 10-year average," said Sahs who has been harvesting yields ranging from 170-190 bushels per acre.

"Normally I wouldn’t have been shelling corn on Sept. 15, but this year I have just a few fields of corn to go."

"And the crop has been dry," Sahs added.

Much of the corn coming out of the field has tested from 15.6 to 20 percent moisture. On one particularly hot day, Sahs’ corn harvested in the afternoon was two points drier than that harvested earlier in the day. Nature’s assistance in the drying process will save farmers a lot of money this year, since elevators typically charge 2.5 cents per bushel to dry down corn a point of moisture. Corn must be no more than 14 percent moisture to store and 15 percent moisture to sell.

But just as nature has given farmers some fringe benefits, it has also taken away. The Logan County yield average has been running around 170-180 bushels per acre. This isn’t bad, but had there been more rain in the latter part of the season, yields could have been 20-30 bushels better.

 

"At one point in time we had a much higher yield potential, but disease and drought has taken its toll," Sahs noted as he broke open an ear of corn resting in the disabled header. Early planting and timely rains helped the young corn plant build an ear with 18 rows of kernels around on a relatively long cob. Unfortunately dry weather after pollination limited the water intake by plants trying to fill kernels. As a backup measure, the ear pulled nutrients from the stalk. Those recent events left the kernels small and lightweight, and the stalks brittle and susceptible to wind.

 

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After four hours of downtime waiting for a different corn header, Sahs was happy to be running again. He had been able to drive 5 mph with the six-row corn header in the morning. But in the afternoon, he had to drive a little slower with a larger corn head. He wasn’t complaining about having to drive only 4 mph. Using an eight-row corn header meant he would be able to harvest four more rows each round.

Neighbor Jack Schutz was waiting with a ton truck for Bill to unload the combine hopper. After about three rounds, Sahs had harvested enough corn to fill the truck, and Jack took off for the elevator.

"I’ve had about a hundred different emotions today," said Sahs of all the ups and downs of harvesting. "The length of time to get going after the breakdown was very frustrating, but when I see the progress I’m making in the fields, I can’t really complain."

 


[Bill Sahs waits out a lull in harvest caused by this broken bearing.]

Sahs says he was elated when he received a call on his mobile phone earlier in the day letting him know that he had been granted additional farm ground for next year. "That will double the acres I farm, and it sits right in the middle of my other ground. It’s something I’ve been working on for a long time."

Picking up more ground is any farmer’s dream come true, as it takes more and more acres to justify production expenses in this farm economy. With today’s turn of events, Sahs is well-positioned to survive the ups and downs of a vicious farm economy.

[Marty Ahrends]

 


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