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Southeast Washington | IHC 1470 we share similar values. We emphasize efficiency in our growth. We used to run 5 tractors on a third the amount of acres. Now we only run 3 instead of 15 doing it the proven old way. Our acreage provides for 4 families running newer equipment instead of each trying to maintain older equipment and more of it to do less. For the 4 families we are running less than average acres for an average family farm.
Our hills require twice the hp tractors to pull the same size equipment than flat country does so that is a cost. We run one air drill to cover all the acres and it needs to be stout and reliable. I think everyone who can keep their farm alive is successful. There is a lot of stress. I lost a neighbor recently that took his life due to the stress. It affects us all.
Our volcanic dust and hillside conditions tear up our combines keeping them from living a long productive life.
As we upgrade we have usually stayed with used equipment to see how it works. Figure out what we are trying to do and then do a technology upgrade with the next piece of equipment. With changing of varieties due to the fluctuations of crop history and elevation and rainfall changes we can't efficiently keep a 30 foot box drill reffing full width as we can a 50 foot air drill.
The modern technology has allowed us to improve quality of our product and two years has made us six figure premiums over the current market price. That paid for a lot of things. In our area with our wisely varying conditions I tell fellow farmers the most important technology that most overlook is the combine yields monitor. It actually follows soil types and shows an 80 acre field is far from all averaging the same yield. No use to seed and fertilize it all at the same rate when it isn't producing the same yield. Anyway record your yield monitor info for a few years to see the trends of a field before you start making some major changes. The combine will record an entire field far better than just a visual observation.
We are active in our community and help fund several non profit and government requests in our local area.
Anyway there are reasons why every farm operates as they do and I applaud all that are making their effort to farm their plan.
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Why our rural communities are shrinking.
