Featured Stories
Check out Case IH’s behind-the-scenes interview with Tom Buis of Growth Energy
In his comments during the Case IH Be Ready VIP Discussion at Ag Connect Expo, Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, contributed his insights on a range of topics influencing farmers’ decision-making, including public policy, global market influences, and the future of ethanol. Buis made note of ethanol’s importance as an economic driver for farms and rural America: “The development of ethanol has been the greatest single economic development for rural America in my lifetime. It created new demand – domestic demand. It allowed farmers to collect together …to add value to an otherwise surplus commodity.”
Before your days fill up with fieldwork, I invite you to visit one of Case IH’s three state-of-the-art agricultural equipment manufacturing facilities located throughout the Midwest for a behind-the-scenes look of what it takes to breathe life into your favorite Case IH equipment.
Plant tours are free and each facility offers something different on the assembly line. Visit the Case IH Plant Tours section for more information about each plant and scheduling tours, but in the meantime, here is a quick preview of what you’ll find at each facility:
Check out Case IH’s one-on-one, behind-the-scenes interview with Rep. Jim Nussle
As a panelist for the Case IH Be Ready VIP Discussion at Ag Connect Expo, Jim Nussle, former U.S. House of Representatives, contributed his insights on a range of topics influencing farmers’ decision-making, including public policy, global market influences, and the future of ethanol. In his comments, Nussle emphasized the importance of farmers connecting with policy makers to explain how long-term policies will impact agriculture operations and their bottom lines: “Engagement in the process is probably the most important factor that producers can take advantage of now more than ever before.”
Case IH high-horsepower diesel engines feature the world-class design innovation of Fiat Powertrain Technologies, a global company that makes more than 2.6 million engines every year and is a sister company of Case IH.
In last week’s blog post, “Engine Ed: What’s the 4-1-1 on Case IH’s 2011 Lineup?” David Stark walked us through some key features of the new Case IH engines and explained how they work together to provide Case IH’s 2011 lineup of Steiger®, Magnum™, and Puma™ tractors with the power, performance, and fuel efficiency you need to get the job done.
With that said, I know many of you are curious about Case IH’s partnership with Fiat Powertrain Technologies (FPT), so I wanted to provide some background about this partnership and what it means for you.
Dan Basse, together with Tom Dorr, headlined the BE READY Discussion on Global Markets in the Case IH booth at Ag Connect Expo. Basse is President of AgResource Company, a domestic and international agricultural research firm that forecasts domestic and world agricultural price trends. In his remarks, he expressed the need for farmers to understand how political concerns and food safety issues, both in the U.S. and abroad, influence trade relationships, in order to make sound marketing decisions and control how agricultural commodities compete in the global marketplace. “All of a sudden you all have to be embroiled in this world market and understand relationships of grain prices, not only at your local elevator, but what they’re trading in Dalian, Australia, Europe, and Russia,” Basse explained. “These are all big factors that will drive your profitability.”
General Wesley K. Clark drew a record crowd in the Case IH booth at Ag Connect Expo. General Clark’s comments focused on the national security implications of the United States’ foreign oil dependence and agriculture’s role for providing alternative energy sources, such as ethanol. “In the agricultural business, you are the most productive sector of America. You’re the sector that made America great,” he declared. “Now we’ve got to take that productivity out of agriculture and move it to the next level. And that is to produce a liquid fuel that will free us from dependence on imported oil in the near term.”
Engine Ed: What’s the 4-1-1 on Case IH’s 2011 Lineup? (Series 1 of 2)
Categories: Equipment Technology
I’m excited to introduce David Stark as this week’s Case IH expert blogger. David is a Case IH commercial product trainer, responsible for training dealers on Case IH engines and tractors. I’ve invited him to walk us through the updated Case IH high-horsepower diesel engines , which feature the world-class design innovations of FPT Powertrain Technologies, that you will find in the 2011 Steiger, Magnum, and Puma tractor models. He grew up on a farm in central Illinois and enjoys using his farming experiences and Case IH knowledge to show you how you can make the most of Case IH equipment on your operations.
While talking about Case IH high-horsepower engines at the Ag Connect Expo in Atlanta, Ga., a farmer commented to me that he, like most farmers, puts a lot of hours on his tractors. He wanted to know if our new Tier 4A Case IH engines are built to last. (more…)
While tractor manufacturers like us are constantly measuring our performance in the field, there continues to be a need for third-party, unbiased data agricultural producers can rely on. In the United States, that need is met by the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory.
According to the Lab’s web site:
“The University of Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory is the officially designated tractor testing station for the United States and tests tractors according to the codes of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) . Twenty-nine countries adhere to the tractor test codes (including non-OECD members: China, India, the Russian Federation, and Serbia), with active tractor test stations in approximately 25 of those countries. The OECD codes require that tractors be tested in the country of manufacture. Reciprocity agreements with the codes require that once an OECD test report is officially approved, it must be accepted by all participating countries.”
The Nebraska Test Lab is a neutral organization that does not endorse any tractor or manufacturer. It is housed at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, affiliated with OECD, administered through the Nebraska Tractor Test Board and funded by U.S. tractor manufacturers. According to Roger Hoy, director of the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory, “Our mission is to provide useful, unbiased data in the form of test reports on all tractors that we test.”
The Nebraska Tractor Tests first began in 1920 with legislation initiated by Nebraska farmer W.F. Crozier and State Senator Charles Warner. Crozier had purchased a tractor that did not live up to its advertised claims, so he wished to protect fellow farmers from such misleading claims. In 1980, the original lab building was declared an American Society of Agricultural Engineers historic landmark.
Preliminary Nebraska Tractor Test results reported by Case IH indicate that Tier4A-compliant, 2011 model year Case IH Steiger and Magnum tractors utilizing Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology have set industry records for fuel-efficient power.
Those preliminary results are awaiting final signature from the Nebraska Tractor Test Board of Engineers and will then be posted for FREE download at tractortestlab.unl.edu. We expect this posting to be finalized shortly.
As part of Case IH’s commitment to help farmers embrace the everyday challenges and opportunities of agriculture and encourage involvement and leadership within the industry, we presented brand new Farmall tractors to four American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Young Farmer & Rancher 2011 Achievement Awards finalists.
The four finalists include:
- Steven and Richelle Bach, Mount Sterling, Ky.
- Matt and Kim DeBlock, Aledo, Ill.
- Brian Flowers, Lynnville, Tenn.
- Brent and Susan Leggett, Nashville, N.C.
With today’s farmers facing new challenges and opportunities – from feeding an expanding global population while meeting strict new emissions requirements, to producing more food on fewer acres while minimizing their environmental footprint, Case IH is committed to helping farmers meet those challenges.
Case IH took it to the streets at the Ag Connect Expo in Atlanta, Ga., January 8-10, and asked farmers in the Case IH booth to reflect on their experiences at Ag Connect and what they learned while visiting the Case IH booth. Check out what these farmers had to say.
Speaking of learning…Case IH wants to hear from our faithful blog followers! Tell us what you’ve learned from visiting the Be Ready blog.
