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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]
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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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