Agri-Tech Blog

For 33 years, Husker Harvest Days has been the go-to place for farmers to see the latest in agricultural technology and equipment.

This year is no exception as nearly 1,000 farmers gathered on Tuesday at Husker Harvest Days for the first of three days of corn combining demonstrations. The demonstrations begin at 11 a.m. and run through 1 p.m. each day at the show west of Grand Island.

This year, Husker Harvest Days organizers planted 230 acres of 30-inch, twin-row corn for the demonstrations, which feature the top farm equipment manufacturers in the world, such as Grand Island’s Case IH.

Tyson Schimmer, who supervises the corn combining demonstrations, said they include five farm equipment manufacturers and three specialty combine heads with unique features, such as the ability to chop up corn stalks. With growing emphasis on corn for ethanol fuel, one of the combine heads had a corn cob collector, which allows farmers to sell the stover biomass for making alternative fuel.

“This is cutting-edge technology,” Schimmer said.

Husker Harvest Days is one of the few farm shows that allow field demonstrations by competing farm equipment manufacturers, he said.

One of the onlookers at the demonstration was Brian Quackenbush, who has a farm near Dewitt.

Quackenbush, who has been attending Husker Harvest Days off and on for years, said he is just “floored” by the technological advances added to the combines each year.

“Every year, there are so many changes that you just can’t believe it as a farmer,” Quackenbush said.

He said being able to see each of the farm equipment manufacturers doing field demonstrations with its equipment helps him make purchasing decisions when the time comes for buying a combine.

“There’s a comparison that you see in the field demonstrations, and I think it is very beneficial for a farmer to see that on all of these new machines at one place,” Quackenbush said.

One of the big pluses for attending the demonstration, Quackenbush said, is the educational aspect. But some of these marvels of technological advancement can cost upwards to a quarter of a million dollars. Quackenbush said he’s a smaller-scale farmer and usually purchases used equipment.

While he is usually the “second owner” of the equipment he buys, attending the show gives him a good idea “because you figure you are going to be the one using those machines when they come up for trade in one or two years,” he said. “That’s not too far down the line.”

Another farmer at the demonstration was Virgil Ottun, who farms in the Sargent area. He said the demonstrations do influence how he purchases equipment.

Ottun said he has been attending Husker Harvest Days for nearly 15 years, and the equipment has not only had a load of new gadgets, but it’s also bigger and more expensive.

“It’s nice to see the new developments that they have each year,” he said. “Each year, there are new options that were not available the year before.”

September 17th, 2010 | Tags: equipment, technology | Category: Agriculture Technology | Comments (2)

Husker Harvest Days has gained an international reputation over the last 33 years for being “the place” for the latest in cutting-edge agricultural technology and equipment.

Renewable energy has become a buzz phrase in rural America, and Husker Harvest Days is fast becoming a showcase for those developing technologies.

And Nebraska is the perfect place to showcase renewable energies because Nebraska is one of the nation’s top five states in wind energy potential, top 10 in solar energy and the nation’s second-largest ethanol-producing state, at about 2 billion gallons annually.

This year’s Husker Harvest Days featured four companies selling wind energy technology.

It was PRAMAC’s first year at Husker Harvest Days. The Kearney-based company featured its new wind turbine, RevolutionAir. The small wind turbine utilizes wind energy to produce clean, emissions-free power for individual homes, farms and small businesses.

Husker Harvest Days visitors’ reaction to PRAMAC’s new wind turbine had been “great so far,” J.D. McClary of PRAMAC said on Thursday. The company has been in Kearney for two years.

“We have had a lot of interest in the wind turbine, our portable generators and the other products we have,” McClary said.

Along with farmers, he said, small manufacturer are also expressing interest in wind power generation as a supplemental source of energy.

He said there’s a lot of enthusiasm developing in Nebraska for wind energy, especially on a small scale as a source of supplemental power.

“We have had a lot of great feedback here about our wind turbines,” McClary said.

For eight years, the American Corn Growers and the Nebraska Farmers Union have been touting the many benefits of wind energy at Husker Harvest Days, according to Dan McGuire, who is the facilitator for the Winds for Schools Program for the National Renewable Energy Lab and the Wind Power for America Program.

McGuire said it’s very pleasing to see how Nebraska has embraced its wind energy potential. That enthusiasm is evident with the crowds at Husker Harvest Days and the questions McGuire gets about wind energy.

“There’s a great deal of interest in wind energy,” he said. “The public is very supportive of it and we have a lot of interest from the people stopping by the booth. Everybody knows it’s not the total answer, but it’s part of our energy sustainability.”

Along with wind energy, Husker Harvest Days is also a place where ag commodity groups, such as the Nebraska Corn Growers Association, tout the benefits of Nebraska’s ethanol industry.

At the NCGA booth at Husker Harvest Days, more than 1,000 signatures from the public attending the event have been gathered to show their support for Congress to extend the ethanol blenders tax credit, which is set to expire at the end of the year, said Mat Habrock of the NCGA.

The booth, which is shared by the Nebraska Corn Board, also has a replica of the ethanol blenders pump. It sells a variety of ethanol/gasoline blends from E10 to E85. There are five fuel stations in Nebraska that have ethanol blenders pumps, including one in Grand Island.

“This provides more options for ethanol in the marketplace,” Habrock said.

Also on display at the Nebraska Power booth at Husker Harvest Days was a solar panel that powered a pump to provide water for livestock.

The Grand Island-based company began carrying solar panels for both farm and residential use in June, according to John Niedfelt of Nebraska Power. The company also sells small-scale wind power generators.

Niedfelt said interest in the solar power panels at Husker Harvest Days has been strong.

“There’s a lot of interest in solar,” he said. “A lot of people who are looking at renewables are looking at how to reduce their energy bill. Not everyone has a good location for wind, so there’s an equal amount of interest in solar.”

September 17th, 2010 | Tags: renewable energy | Category: Agriculture Technology | Leave a comment

Everytime I visit the Kaohsiung, the prefecture in southern Taiwan, my first impulse is to enjoy the fruits in season. In fact, my father-in-law is always ready with a few pieces, especially with my favorite Taiwan orange – Liu Ding, which is available almost all year round except for the winter months, and lately, their very juicy am, sweet makopa. This last Christmas break was no different.

Taiwan is now well-known the world over for its tasty fruits. Not imported but all locally-grown. My son, Julius, enjoyed the sweet Indian Jujube, juicy Gem Makopa and Carambola offered by Dr. Kan-Shu Chen, director of the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch, during our recent visit. All these were developed through research and years of field improvement in production management technique and postharvest handling procedures. The Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch is one of;two principal research stations among eleven of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI).

HISTORY AND MANDATE
A developed agricultural foundation, an island-wide educational system and the railway system are what the Taiwanese are thankful for to the Japanese colonizers of 50 years. Towards the end of its occupation, the Japanese established the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Station in 1940. Initially the improvement of pineapple and vegetable production were its primary mandates. In 1981, the station was reorganized according to the Scientific Technology Development Plan issued by the Executive Yuan (equivalent to our Executive Department). The research sections were restructured into four departments, namely: tropical fruit trees, vegetable crops, plant protection, and management, and utilization department. Since then, it has become an important research center under the TARI.

The Fengshan branch conducts both basic and applied research in breeding and genetics, crop physiology, tissue culture and biotechnology, soil science and plant nutrition, disease and pest control, and agricultural machinery to improve production and marketing of tropical fruit, vegetable and flower crops in Taiwan.

The facility includes 64 hectares of experimental and demonstration fields, 2.2 hectares of greenhouses and screen-houses, with laboratories, administrative offices, library, and conference rooms in 5,000 square meters spread all over its sprawling ground. It had a 2009 budget of P180M aside from grants and other incomes. It has more than 80 full-time staff with 30 scientists conducting a wide range of research activities. With its wide span of greeneries in the midst of urban developments, the center has become a favorite “pasyalan” for urbanites in their early morning and late afternoon jogging and walking with friends and family. The center warmly welcomes them with open gates.

PROGRAMS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The Fengshan branch’s research and development activities are multi-disciplinary under four technical departments. These include varietal development, disease resistance screening, characterization, and field evaluation of improved germplasm. The technical development of unique production methods to dtimize yield and quality, and the development of postharvest handling and processing techniques to maintain freshness, nutrient content, or other qualitative aspects of horticultural products are all intertwined functions of the “team approach” in conducting research. This has resulted in many successful cultivars, bringing in more profits for the farmers.

DEPARTMENT OF TROPICAL FRUIT TREES
This department conducts research to improve the genetic potential of papaya, mango, lychee, guava, wax apple (makopa), passion fruit, carambola (balimbing), Indian jujube, pineapple and sugar apple (atis). Another aspect of research is to modify the micro-environment in which the fruit crops are grown to simplify and improve farm management, improve their taste and texture to create better demand, and increase yield. There are about 328 accessions of fruit . crops that have been documented and characterized.

Research outputs have resulted in correcting boron deficiency in papaya as well as come up with more tolerant varieties against Papaya Ring Spot Virus (PRSV). The use of net house in papaya production was found effective to prevent PRSV diseases as well as oriental fruit fly and bird damage in Indian jujube. Mechanical pruning of Yu-Her-Pau lychee variety has made possible dwarf cultivation for adjusting flowering time to increase pollination and lowering labor cost in maintenance and harvesting. Controlled flooding, root pruning, trunk girdling and/or black net shading are effective techniques to obtain early maturing and quality makopa. Induced flowering technique has made year-round production of pineapple possible. Branch training technique has effectively increased quality guava fruits production.

The pruning technique of two-year old mango trees every six months to induce the growth of new branches, which in turn attain commercial fruiting on the third year after transplanting grafted seedlings and close planting every three meters apart result in early returns on investment, better management and. higher productivity. (This will be dealt with in another article).

DEPARTMENT OF VEGETABLE CROPS
This department has addressed its research on heat tolerance and virus resistance of mustard and radish, and fusarium-wilt resistance of ampalaya. It is responsible for the improved production technologies for onion and garlic, seedling management for cucurbits, simplified hydroponics for leafy vegetables and muskmelons, tissue culture and mass propagation of tropical flowers.

The improved production techniques developed has converted Taiwan into an onion exporting country. New breeding technologies also placed Taiwan in the world map as seed producer of high-quality varieties of hybrid tomato, sweet pepper, cucumber and watermelon. Vegetable varieties to suit the seasonal weather conditions and consumer preferences for leafy vegetables, cauliflower and seedless watermelon were developed for the benefit of the farmers and consumers. Research on new breed of flowers is also conducted.

DEPARTMENT OF PLANT PROTECTION
This department is involved in disease epidemiology and population dynamics of insect pests of horticultural crops, improving disease and insect diagnoses, and developing integrated pest management and disease control on tuberose, mango, Indian jujube, pineapple, balimbing and guava. A continuing evaluation on the impact of environmental pollutants on horticultural crops production is also undertaken.

The department’s scientists were first to report the mealybug as the primary vector for pineapple wilt disease and its control. For mango, hot water treatment to control anthracnose and boron spray to correct boron deficiency for higher marketable yield. Publication of List of Thrips and their host plants in Taiwan and Atlas and identification of important Thrips of Taiwan by the Department gave a clear guidance to farmers.

Use of bagging for balimbing, ampalaya and mango fruits was introduced to the farmers; use of Lacewing to control other pests like papaya red spider mite; use of cross protection technique in muskmelon virus disease control and the use of sticky yellow paper to monitor the population density of seasonal insect infestation are some of the concrete technology interventions being adopted by farmers which the department promoted.

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT AND UTILIZATION
This department specializes in farm and production management of different crops, including farm mechanization, postharvest handling and processing. Research and application of appropriate machineries for seedling preparation, transplanting, fertilization, pruning, harvesting and processing are conducted extensively in cooperation with the private sector. Sustainable management of natural resources like water and soil resource conservation, and the optimum use of farm inputs are important aspects of its research activities. Farming techniques developed, like contour farming, for mango, pineapple, lychee and citrus orchard to conserve water have produced great benefits for the farmers.

Processing of produce like canning for pineapple, balimbing, lychee, papaya and melon, juice making for pineapple, papaya, passion fruit and tomato; dehydrated fruits like pineapple, melon, papaya, mango, balimbing and Indian jujube; paste making for melon and pickling for mango and melon were developed. Most of the above processing techniques have been successfully transferred to the agri-food industry and have become profit makers.

PROSPECTS
The achievements of the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Research Branch of TART have a significant impact on the income of farmers, and better nutrition and quality of life of the Taiwanese. It has proven itself to be an effective research institution which delivers full measure for each dollar invested by the government.

The research center is gearing itself for the challenges of the new millennium for both the domestic and the international markets by enhancing its role as the germplasm, knowledge and technology center of excellence for the humid tropical horticultural crops. The center must work on current and future problems and demands in agriculture. It will address itself on developing better varieties and production systems that will help farmers maximize profits, not just yields, under sustainable conditions. “We must be prepared to demonstrate how to grow and market most profitably horticultural crops with the least labor, least chemicals, water, space and time, and the least damage to the environment and the satisfaction of consumer dietary preferences.” Thus is the summary of what the center stands for into the future.

A CHRISTMAS WISH
It was really a fruitful Christmas agritour for me, my wife, Juni, and my son, Julius around the breeding farms of southern Taiwan as well as a guided tour around the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch of TART. We were indeed very lucky to have Dr. San-Tai Wang as our tour guide. He is in charge of the Department of Vegetable Crops and a very experienced horticulturist specializing in vegetable breeding and field trials. He is directly involved in the varietal trials of lettuce, radish, mustard, ampalaya, cauliflower, broccoli, hydroponics system for leafy vegetables and 50 varieties of Kangkong! He is really a superman for vegetable research and farming systems. Dr. Wang visited the Philippines late November with two colleagues, Dr. Sheng-Chung Huang, director of TART’s division of Plant Germplasm, and Dr. A-Shiarn Hwang, expert on citrus at the Chia-Yi Agricultural Experiment Station of TARI. Our return visit is a continuing cultivation of the friendship that, hopefully, will bear much fruits in the near future. It was also a second visit to Dr. Kan-Shu Chen. The first was with the Philippine Seed Industry Association (PSIA) tour last May, ably arranged by Atty. Roque L. Mamon, Jr., program officer of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei.

My wish is that there will be more technology exchanges between Taiwan and the Philippines to develop the full potential of joint efforts between Taiwanese and Filipino farmers. Their synergy will indeed be beneficial to all.

August 27th, 2010 | Tags: Farm | Category: Agricultural Science, Agriculture Technology | Leave a comment

A multi-awarded agricultural engineer at the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) has developed a state-of-the art but low-cost computer vision system (CVS) for analyzing the quality of milled rice.

He is Dr. Manolito C. Bulaong. In his CVS, an ordinary scanner serves as the “eye” of the system. It replaces the expensive digital cameras used in the conventional CVS for image acquisition. The image processing software, on one hand, extracts the shape and color patterns from each grain image.

The artificial neutral network (ANN) meanwhile acts as the “brain” of the system. It recognizes the shape and color patterns from each grain and learns the quality category it belongs.

This CVS can compute the percentage by weight of good quality grains and defective grains—such as broken grains, brewer’s grains, damaged, chalky, discolored, immature, and red kernels—present in a sample. It can also count the number of palay and measure the grain length and output of the grade of milled rice according to the specification of the National Grains Standard. And it can do a complete analysis of a 100-gram sample in less than 30 minutes.

The conventional milled rice quality analysis however, is a tedious, slow and expensive process. The analysis per sample takes more than an hour, and complete analysis costs P550.

The result is also subjective as it is affected by the skill and physical condition of the classifier, lighting, and other working conditions.

At the National Food Authority (NFA), trained classifiers visually inspect each milled rice grain based on size and color; each grain is classified according to quality category it belongs.

“The development of the low-cost CVS for milled rice quality analysis will ensure objective, accurate and fast results, and will modernize the method used by the grain industry,” Bulaong said.

“As our country gears up for globalization, grains standardization is one of the strategies for modernizing the agriculture sector, particularly improving the efficiency and global competitiveness of the grains industry,” he added.

With him in this project “Quality Analysis of Milled Rice Using Computer Vision” are Engr. Ruben E. Manalabe and Jayson T. Carbonel of the Postharvest Engineering Department of BPRE and Dr. Oliver C. Agustin of Vera Equinox Technologies. It was funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development in collaboration with NFA.

August 27th, 2010 | Tags: CVS, Milled Rice | Category: Agricultural Science | Leave a comment

As The New York Times reporter William Neuman and Andrew Pollack reported on May 4th ,2010 The US farmers are faced with the threaten of super weed. Agriculture experts say,the spread of the super weeds will lead to low production and high cost of crops which makes the food prices rise and will produce more land and water pollution.

Since 15 years ago Tennessee farmer Eddie Anderson has insist on carrying out “no-till agriculture” . This new technology can be free from tillage to prevent soil erosion, without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides which would   cause environmental pollution because of overflow of them. Unexpectedly situation changed.This spring, he prepared to grow soybeans in 3,000 acres , one third of the farmland needs  ploughing and weeding .The weedicide   should be mixed in the soil to suppress the growth of super-weeds. “We have gone back to 20 years ago,” he told reporters, ”he’s trying to make every attempt to solve the problem.”

Where do super weeds come from? In 2000, the farmers found the first herbicide-resistant weed in Delaware Soybean Fields. Until now, in 22 states this kind of weeds have reached 10 kinds.They were extending to millions of acres of cotton and corn and soybean field. One of them is commonly known as Pigweed,which’s specially tenaciou.They can grow three inche each day and to more than seven feet. It can make the crops die and they have strong vigor and are even strong enough to damage the harvester.

Super weed can be traced back to the Monsanto Corporation. The company is known for its transgenic technology. Monsanto invented a kind of weedicide called “Roundup”
 with low toxicity which could effectively kill hundreds of harmful weeds. To conform to the technology ,Monsanto developed the seeds of genetically modified soybean 
and cotton that have the  harm-resistant from the Roundup.With the two products,they were  called “Roundup” product series.Since the 90’s of 20th century , Monsanto has been aggressively promoting. The farmers are exempt from ploughing and weeding and removing weeds manually with the help of the “Roundup” products .They could save manpower and resources to reduce costs, reduce soil erosion, and avoid using highly toxic pesticides and also  help protect the environment.Despite the high prices of genetically modified seeds,
 they are still very popular in farmers. This method of plough based on the”Roundup” herbicides and genetically modified seeds  was named “Roundup” agricultural evolution.Currently 90% of U.S. soybeans, 70% of the corn and cotton  are based on the genetically modified seeds that are also be used and extended to other countries.Farmers and consumers benefit from this a lot.For example environmental pollution has has been degraded; Monsanto also has a rich profit;the profit seems to be bilateral.

Unfortunately, the situation did not last long! Weed took revenge. Everything has two sides which also complies to the situation. Under the domination of the survival of the fittest evolutionary law , the  grasses which are less strong toward the weediside have been eliminated;some  grasses struggled to live and be the strongest in the pigweeed  which lead to the spread of the super weeds and brought trouble to many farmers.

Recently a leader argued  ”The problem is very serious, but we are still capable to deal with it.”Although by saying these words,The Monsanto Corporation is subsidizing farmers to purchase competitor’s productsis when they have lost  markets and profits .And their competitors are going to match the “Roundup”inadequacy.

August 24th, 2010 | Tags: genetically modified, roundup, super weed | Category: Agriculture Technology | Leave a comment

As in the United States more than 10 states outbreak of salmonella involving egg contamination.Some people got the sympton of enteritis after eating the contaminated eggs.The U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention announced on the 18th, in California raging epidemic of Salmonella is spreading to  the other states rapidly.Meanwhile  the number of the problem eggs recalled which has triggered this round of salmonella outbreak has increased to 380 million.

It is reported that most of the patients reflected that they were infected sfter eating eggs of a food company in State Iowa.

Two days ago, after the company received the epidemic report from the U.S.  Disease Control and Prevention Center ,it announced an emergency recall of more than 200 million pieces of eggs. Initially,eggs recalled only involved several supermarkets in home State.

With the rapid spread of the epidemic, on 18th the company issued a recall order again, expanding the scope of the recall.The  total number of The eggs recalled has risen to 380 million eggs.

 The Iowa’s manufacturer said that, “Concerned of the consumers’ health, we will carry out other voluntary recall which conform to the permitment we promised to customers and it is also our responsibility.”

 As the initial investigations revealed ,these eggs may be contaminated by Salmonella and after people eat them they were infected.For the time being ,more than several hundreds of people who are infected  .However, CDC officials said they have not yet received a death report.

Generally, thorough cooking salmonella in eggs can be killed thoroughly. However, U.S. health officials suggested that residents could choose to throw away “problem eggs” or return them to the manufacture.

August 20th, 2010 | Tags: America, problem eggs, recall | Category: Agriculture Technology | Comments (1)

On Agust 17th Nikola ,Minister of Agricultural Policy Department of Ukraine,said at the meeting that the Ukrainian government is considering about deciding the export quotas as to the wheat and 2.5 million tons of barley . The saud quota will last until the end of the year.

Ukraine’s government had previously disclosed that because of the drought, it’s predicted that grain harvest has declined from 4600 to 48,000,000 tons down to 4200 to 43,000,000 tons.In this context, in order to insure the country to have enough food,to implement  export quotas is necessary. Last week, Ukrainian Grain Association assessed that the probable export quota would  reach five million tons. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Tigipko also pointed out  that  it’s also ok not to implement export quotas ,but through providing subsidies to those bread manufacturers to control the food prices.

Ukraine’s independent news agency quoted Prisyazhnyuk’s saying like that, “The Government proposes: except (already exported) 270 tons of food ,about  1 million tons of foods are allowed to be exported which are present in the port.Additionally, another 25 million tons of food quotas will be given before the New Year.Among these corn are not included, because we do not implement quota on the corns. ”

He pointed out that the abouve figures have been in consensus with the food distributors. According to Prisyazhnyuk claiming,the issue of grain export quotas will be put on the table on August 18, Wednesday’s government meeting for auditting.

He further disclosed that during July 1st to August 16th, Ukraine has exported 2.69 million tons of grain, among which are 1.1 million tons of wheat and 1.2 million tons of barley. As Prisyazhnyuk said, according to a balance of import and export, “according to the most optimistic estimate, Ukraine could export 2.422 million tons of barley and 600 tons of wheat.” Speaking of corn, he stated that he believes that if we can harvest 12.5 million tons of maize, we can export 6 million tons.

August 19th, 2010 | Tags: 25 million tons, export quotas, Ukraine, wheat and barely | Category: Agriculture Tips | Leave a comment