Updated
figures available
for cost of farm operations
[MAY
22, 2000]
The
long-awaited updates to the "Machinery Cost Estimates:
Operation Costs" are now available from University of Illinois
Extension. These figures are commonly referred to as "custom
rates," but are not actually custom rates, since those are
usually based on surveys of people doing field operations for cash.
The U of I has instead developed a system of actual costs of
operations based on depreciation, interest, insurance, housing,
repairs, fuel and labor.
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Where
applicable, machinery sizes used in the cost of operations are
typical of those used on an 800-acre grain farm for field
operations, and about 100 hours per year for hay equipment. Other
factors used in calculating costs are these: purchase price is 85
percent of the list price; interest rates of eight percent of
remaining value; insurance and housing costs of one percent of
remaining value; a diesel fuel cost of $1.00 per gallon (yes, I know
the pump price is higher, but no taxes are paid on fuel used
off-road); lubrication costs of 10 percent of the fuel costs; about
175 hours of use per year except hay equipment; about 10 years of
life; labor costs of $12.50 per hour; and labor time of 110 percent
of hours in that operation.
![](../images/ads/gcs/GCS.jpg)
Some
samples of commonly used rates are as follows: $5.00 per acre for a
field cultivator, $8.80 per acre for a no-till planter, $27.70 per
acre to combine corn, and $23.10 per acre to combine soybeans or
small grains. Here is a sample of the way rates would be calculated,
using the field cultivator as an example: $2.00 per acre for tractor
overhead, $1.30 per acre for implement overhead, $.70 per acre for
fuel and lubrication, and $1.00 per acre for labor.
![](../images/ads/xamis%20ford/xamisford_2x3_00126.jpg)
There
are also rates for tractor rentals of different sizes. An example
would be a 185-horsepower tractor costing $59.45 per hour to
operate. Many people not associated with farming may not realize
that this tractor would have a list price of $107,100. Other tractor
hourly costs would be 65-horsepower at $30.55, $39.55 for a
105-horsepower tractor, $73.65 for a 235-horsepower
front-wheel-assist tractor, and $82.15 for a 360-horsepower
four-wheel-drive tractor.
(To
top of second column)
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An
interesting item to note is that even though the equipment increases
in list price, it is lasting longer. This means cost of operation
rates have remained relatively flat over the last 15 years, or even
decreased. When attempting to establish a true "custom
rate," the addition of five to 15 percent may be appropriate,
according to the authors.
Authors
of the publication this time around were Gary Schnitkey and Dale
Lattz, farm management specialists at the University of Illinois,
and John Siemens, agricultural engineer emeritus.
![](../images/ads/statebank/statebank.jpg)
Copies
of FBM 0203 are available from the University of Illinois Extension
Office, currently located in the Farm Bureau Building at 122 S.
McLean St. For those who don’t get to Lincoln very often, you may
call 732-8289 to have a copy mailed to you. This and other
publications are also available on the Web at http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/farm.doc.
[John
Fulton]
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Downtown renovations are progressing
[MAY
19, 2000]
"You
can always go, downtown." If you remember the first Volkswagen
Beetle and the Beatles, you may also remember this line from a
Petula Clark song. Downtown in the 60s was still a destination on a
Saturday night. You were certain to see your neighbor on the way to
a movie, for dinner, shopping or just strolling and enjoying a
summer evening.
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Then,
as the 60s swung into the 70s, newly "liberated" women
sped off to work each morning, the computer became king, and super
shopping malls popped up to make life more convenient. In an effort
to compete, downtown businesses updated with aluminum slipcovers or
fieldstone face-lifts. In some cases, like Jacksonville, Ill., they
closed off the streets to try to make the downtown more like a mall.
Now,
as we enter the 21st century, the tide is slowly shifting
again, only this time away from the sterile and anonymous mall. How
many empty spots have you seen in any strip mall lately? A savvy
shopper knows that one Gap looks like the next Gap, and the
merchandise is no different in Illinois than it is in California. If
you want something unique, something special, then you search for
the shop that doesn’t have a hundred twin brothers in various
cities. Where do you find that place? More often than not –
downtown.
![](../images/ads/statebank/statebank.jpg)
Fortunately,
Lincoln is leaping ahead. If you haven’t discovered downtown
lately, then you are behind the times. Several long-awaited and
highly anticipated activities are coming together, virtually all at
once, and the area has literally become a construction zone.
The
most visible work is the Facade Renovation Program funded by a grant
through the Illinois Department of Transportation and coordinated by
the city of Lincoln. The grant picks up 80 percent of the cost,
while the building owner puts in the other 20. If you’ve lived in
Lincoln very long, you know this project has had more than its share
of problems, but the bottom line is that 18 buildings are scheduled
for face-lifts over the summer. All of these buildings are in the
nationally registered historic district and when finished will make
a dramatic difference in the appearance of the area.
![](../images/ads/gcs/GCS.jpg)
As
the scaffolding for this project appeared this spring, it seemed to
entice other business owners, not affiliated with the project, to
also put on a fresh face. Red Barn Antiques on Chicago Street got a
new coat of barn red, two of the Steffens’ family buildings on
Sangamon now glow in shades of teal and plum, and several buildings
on Clinton Street took on new trim color last week.
Though
not affiliated with the IDOT program, the Logan County Farm Bureau
building is scheduled to begin renovation early this summer too.
Plans for the highly visible building include new windows across the
front and a more traditional facade.
And
no, the city is not planning a downtown swimming pool for that large
hole on the corner of Clinton and Kickapoo; that’s the foundation
for the new Edward Jones investments office. The office will sit
adjacent to the newly completed Don Shay Memorial Parking Plaza, a
project which has progressed in stages over the last two years. In
the last two months, the historically accurate lights have been
installed, and trees, shrubs and flowers were planted thanks to the
LCHS National Honor Society.
(To
top of second column in this article)
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![](../images/ads/MErealty/me_realty.jpg)
Across
from the parking lot lies Scully Park, undergoing some very visible
changes. The centerpiece of this project is the reinstallation of
the fountain. P & W Pool Supply has been contracted to do the
fountain work, and Bode Welding built and installed the 36-inch
fence surrounding the water. Bode also designed and installed the
impressive new Scully Park sign over the main entry on Clinton
Street. Four new single-globe lights similar to the other
historic-style lights will replace the contemporary ones around the
fountain. Eight picnic tables and four trash receptacles will also
be added, making the park a destination for the lunch crowd and for
families on a Sunday afternoon. Main Street Lincoln has coordinated
this project with financial support from the Logan County Board, the
Logan County Parks and Trails Foundation and another anonymous
charitable foundation. The official rededication of the park will be
at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 27. Seven members of the Scully family plan
to attend.
Currently,
if you stand beneath the new Scully Park sign and look to the north,
your view is somewhat obstructed by two very large power poles
carrying the lines across the street. These poles are being taken
down, with the lines run underground. This will give a clear view
through the Arcade to the south side of the lawn, where another
long-awaited project will soon find a new home. The Indian maiden
statue on the west side of the courthouse is scheduled for repair
later this summer. When the work is complete, the Logan County Board
has decided to place the maiden in a more prominent position on the
south side of the courthouse.
The
statue was a gift to the city from the Lincoln Woman’s Club in
1906. Sculpted of Tennessee pink marble by Charles Mulligan, it was
displayed at the Illinois State Fair that year before being placed
on the courthouse grounds. Mulligan is a well-known sculptor with
works in Grant Park in Chicago and the Illinois Civil War Memorial
in Vicksburg, as well as statues of Abraham Lincoln in Quincy and
Pana. The maiden has lost her hand over the years and is in dire
need of conservation efforts if she is to last another century. Main
Street Lincoln is also coordinating this project. The cost for
repair by a trained conservation technician and the addition of a
storyboard is $10,000. Half of that is due before the statue is
removed for repair. Contributions may be made to the "Save the
Statue" account at the State Bank of Lincoln. Contributions of
$100 or more will be permanently noted on a plaque by the statue.
![](../images/ads/neal_tire/neal_tire-NEW.gif)
The
energy and excitement these projects have created have attracted new
business to the downtown area as well. The Computer Connection has
opened on Kickapoo, and the Other Side of the Fence has moved next
door to them from the former location on Sangamon Street. Grapes and
Grounds has opened next to Eckert’s Restaurant, and Wibben’s
Computers opened in the former Painter’s Art and Frames building
on Kickapoo. The Rubber Roost has moved to Clinton Street and made
way for the opening of the Restaurant at the Depot.
Congratulations
and thank yous are in order for all of the businesses and entities
who are moving forward in downtown Lincoln. Now it’s up to us to
support them and remember, …"there’s a place we can go –
downtown."
[Wendy
Bell, Main Street Lincoln program manager]
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The future of publishing?
[MAY
17, 2000]
The
invention of paper made an incredible impact on the world. Prior to
paper, most writing was done on animal hides (lambs and sheep).
These materials, vellum and parchment, were too expensive, too heavy
and too bulky to allow for lengthy manuscripts, and too difficult to
handle to give rise to what we currently know as books, newspapers
and magazines. With the invention of the printing press came the
discovery of the Chinese principles of papermaking, and voila,
widespread publishing became possible. The world since has had this
ongoing romance with the printed word.
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Technology
continues to explore alternative ways to do everything. The advent
of the computer, and the onset of the internet has given rise to a
whole new generation of publishing called e-publications. E-books,
e-zines, and e-news(papers) are popping up everywhere. The internet
is replete with volumes of books on the web (check out www.gutenberg.net), electronic magazines covering every different
human interest, and major newspapers are all experimenting with
electronic publishing.
Why
this current trend toward electronic publishing when the world at
large is in love with the printed word on paper?
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Three
reasons have emerged:
First,
we realize the need to conserve natural resources and preserve the
environment. Last year the United States produced 100 million tons
of paper – a record production year. According to projections from
the American Forest and Paper Associations, production this year
will top that of last year. Each time we read a newspaper printed on
paper, we are more and more convicted of the fact that we are
consuming and disposing of a resource that is quickly being
swallowed up. Prior to the advent of e-publishing, we had nothing to
replace the printed word on paper.
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Second,
distribution of the written word on the internet is perfect and is
economically more practical than the printed word on paper. The
written word can travel across continents, under oceans, and even
into space at the speed of the electron, and at a fraction of a
fraction of the cost of distributing the printed word on paper. It
doesn’t weigh anything, can be composed at a fraction of the cost
and in much less time, and can be sent and received in a timely
fashion.
Third,
the internet has spawned an entirely new economy. This economy seems
to provide news and the published word free to the reader, charging
the entire cost of publication to the advertiser. The word
"FREE" has become synonymous with the word
"Internet." And people seem to like free.
In
mid-March, according to an article in the June 2000 issue of Yahoo
Internet Life (published on paper, of course), Stephen King,
arguably the world’s most popular writer, published and
distributed a novelette called "Riding the Bullet" on the
internet for free. The result was that within the first 24 hours
over 400,000 people downloaded the text, and at the height of the
rush, the traffic was so great that it crashed many servers,
preventing untold thousands from partaking in this groundbreaking
event.
![](../images/ads/MErealty/me_realty.jpg)
The
success of "Riding the Bullet" signaled to many that the
world was ready for e-publishing and ready for the non-printed word.
(To
top of second column in this article)
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![](../images/ads/neal_tire/neal_tire-NEW.gif)
While
the computer seems to be perfect for the process of writing the
news, and the internet seem to be perfect for the distribution of
the news, the printed-word-on-paper hasn’t vanished. It seems that
while people like to publish stuff online, they don’t (yet) like
to read stuff online. Online publishers like their readers to keep
their articles short and punchy because readers don’t finish
reading articles more than three typewritten pages in length on the
web. A recent Xerox study said that three out of four e-mail users
print out every message that is longer than half a page. Web editors
have reported that links at the top of web pages are clicked more
often than links at the bottom of web pages (seeming to indicate
that people are not reading to the bottom of the page). And most
computer users report that by the end of the day their eyes feel
like bouncing ping-pong balls from looking at the computer screen.
Users report that they want to sit down comfortably in an armchair
and read a paper newspaper, or a book or a poem. And then there is
the dilemma of lugging a computer into the bathroom for reading, or
into bed at night to bring up your favorite volumes.
The
answer, it seems, may be in the development of new technology which
weds the ease of publication and distribution via the computer and
internet with a simulation of the romance and portability of the
printed-word-on paper. Companies are racing ahead to develop
electronic paper which will have the look and feel of ordinary
paper, but will use new technology to temporarily display published
images (e-ink on e-paper). The result may be that a reader will
download the text into a plastic-like medium, to be displayed, read
and then reused by the reader (currently under development by
Xerox). Others report that the reader will hold a tube and draw a
page out of that tube. The page will then be displayed, read and
then will be drawn back into the tube like a window shade, to
receive new text and images.
![](../images/ads/xamis%20ford/xamisford_2x3_00126.jpg)
In
the near future, books may be electronically published in what looks
and feels like a real book, with a leather or canvas cover and what
feel like real paper pages. The difference would be that there would
be advanced circuitry in the cover and the spine of the book which
would electronically display the text and pictures on the pages.
When you are done with the e-book, slip in a new memory-module, the
new novel is displayed, and you are ready for more nighttime or
anytime reading pleasure.
E-publishing
is making more inroads every day. More and more documents are coming
to the web, more and more newspapers are publishing online, and more
and more magazines are experimenting with electronic publishing. And
technology firms around the world are racing to develop the device
which will be accepted as the next evolutionary step beyond paper.
Stay tuned.
[Jim
Youngquist]
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