If you use any of Victor Technologies' gas or plasma cutting equipment, you could get your picture into their 2014 corporate calendar and win some new tools in the process. Victor Tech. has just announced two contests as part of the celebrations of it's 100th year as a company.

Take a picture of yourself using any Victor Tech. tool you own and supply a 75 word caption describing how those tools help you in the workshop and you're well on your way to entering. There are full contest rules and examples of winners of previous similar contests on the company's website: www.victortechnologies.com/victor100.

This is how the company announced the two contests:

“Victor Technologies today (May 10) launched two contests as part of its celebration of the 100^th anniversary of its Victor brand of cutting and gas control equipment.

“The A Cut Above contest is open to students in cutting, welding and related programs 
at secondary and post-secondary schools and will award more than $30,000 in equipment and 
cash prizes. Beginner students will write a 500-word essay supporting the contest theme, while advanced students will submit a team metal fabrication project that incorporates an oxy-fuel, 
 air-fuel or plasma cutting process.

“The Show Us Your Innovations 2014 calendar contest will award 12 Victor Medalist 250 Cutting Outfits and — a Victor Thermal Dynamics CUTMASTER 42 plasma cutter as 
the Grand Prize — for the best photos and associated captions of the entrant using any Victor or Victor Thermal Dynamics cutting equipment.

“'These contests celebrate the spirit of our end users who have used Victor equipment 
for over the past 100 years. Winners will demonstrate innovation, craftsmanship and an appreciation for quality tools that enable them to shape their world,' says Martin Quinn, CEO, Victor Technologies.

“Both contests start today and run through September, with winners announced at the 
Victor Technologies booth at FABTECH 2013 Expo in Chicago. Contests are open to individuals with a passion for cutting and welding who are residents of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec).”

Good luck,

Scott

But according to manufacturers of cell phone signal boosters, there is something we can do to help improve that situation. And it doesn't involve just waiting for telephone companies to install more cellular towers in rural areas. Using a cell phone signal booster can, they say, significantly improve your chances of getting good service from your phone. So in true Grainews fashion, we decided to put that claim to the test and see for ourselves.

In the May 6 print issue of Grainews (www.agcanada.com/issue) you can find the lowdown on our test of a Wilson Electronics “Sleek” model cellular signal booster kit installed in a pickup truck. But here's a little bit of behind-the-scenes information on how that came about.

Early this spring I contacted Wilson Electronics of Utah to ask them about the boosters they market. It turns out that company is the dominant manufacturer of these systems in North America. For anyone who was around during the CB radio craze of the 1970s, you probably remember them as a major manufacturer of CB radio antennas. And they are still involved in that, too.

When I spoke with Blake Seese at Wilson, he explained that cell phones must not only receive a signal from a tower they must transmit one back, and the booster is designed to increase the strength of both. When he offered to send us a couple of systems to try for ourselves, we were pleased to have an opportunity put them to the test.

Wilson sent us a Sleek system designed to mount in a vehicle, or any other farm machine, along with a conversion kit that will allow it to be mounted inside a building. The company also sent us a DB Pro kit which is ideal for installation on something like a metal-clad farm workshop. Watch for our report on that one in Grainews later this summer.

But to kick things off we started with a look at the Sleek. Installing it is simple, and it doesn't require any tools. For a closer look at the installation process check out the video under the E-Quip TV heading that will be up on the Grainews website within the next couple of days at www.grainews.ca/videos.

It was easy to measure the impact the Sleek had on our android-based cell phone by using the phone's own signal strength indicator. It provides a numeric readout on the strength of signal the phone receives. After installing the kit and putting the phone in it (the phone must be placed in the Sleek's cradle to get a boosted signal), we drove the truck to several different locations to see what kind of difference it made.

To get a boosted signal, the cell phone must be placed in the Sleek's cradle, which we mounted on the truck's dash

In places where we knew the unaided cell phone had hit-and-miss reception, the Sleek improved that significantly. Boosted calls made from those locations were clear and weren't dropped. To really challenge the Sleek we parked the truck at the bottom of the Pipestone valley where we previously couldn't get any reception at all. Using the booster, the phone registered three bars of signal strength and we had pretty good service. That test result impressed me.

So overall we saw a marked improvement using Wilson's booster. The Sleek is available from a variety of retailers in Canada. Futureshop.ca had one listed for about $100 last time I checked.

Have you tried a booster? Did you get the same results we did? Let us know.

Scott

One of the main planks in Claas' marketing strategy is its emphasis on service. And while it isn't clear why the company is dumping its present dealer—or if it's dumping Claas—the manufacturer clearly feels company employees working at corporate outlets are the way to go to meet the level of service it wants to offer customers.

Assuming the report is true and Claas does move ahead as reported (I couldn't find any press releases on the brand's website confirming this), having its own corporate dealerships will make that company pretty unique in the farm machinery marketplace.

Back in the late 1980s, Massey Combines Corp, which was splintered off from Massey Ferguson during its severe financial crisis, toyed with the concept of company-owned dealerships, opening one near Wichita, Kansas, and it had plans for another before collapsing into bankruptcy. But there really aren't any other recent examples to cite—at least that I'm aware of.

So, is the move by Claas the cutting edge of a new trend? Will other companies look more seriously at this option based on whether or not that brand makes a success of their stores?

With the new breed of independent dealership chains showing excellent profits, it poses this question: why wouldn't brands want to generate additional revenue by retailing their own machines?

Four of five years ago I put that question to an executive at New Holland. His response at the time was manufacturing and retailing are two entirely different businesses, and NH—then—wasn't interested in doing both.

Now, however, the relationship between some manufacturers and their dealers may be changing with the growth in size of retail chains. Very large dealers now have more leverage in the manufacturer-dealer relationship. Will brands that have allowed the creation of very large dealer chains remain content with this new arrangement in the future, particularly if dealers continue to grow in size and influence?

But the Claas situation might be better described as an example of a brand having to make a repair to its dealer network rather than trying to restructure it (in the absence of public details on the Claas situation, I'm speculating here). And if that is the case, in today's world of multi-chain outlets the company's options are limited. Setting up corporate stores may be one of the few choices it has. Here's why.

A few decades ago when machinery retailing was done primarily through single-store dealerships, the unexpected closure of one wasn't nearly as great a disruption as it would be in today's world of chains, like the 19-store one ending its relationship with Claas. The unexpected or sudden termination of a dealer network would now affect a very large region and a lot of customers. The potential loss in sales and reputation for the brand could be pretty significant.

Dealerships can fail, even in good times, for any number of reasons, and business arrangements in any industry don't always go as planned. If the worst happens, how does a brand compensate for losing a chain the size of the one Claas is losing? The capital and effort required for an outside firm to establish, staff and begin operations in a territory that large would be enormous, making it unlikely the manufacturer could find a suitable replacement in the short term. Claas may have had little choice but to move in on its own and establish corporate dealerships to salvage the situation and protect its market share in the region. The stores could always be sold later.

As time goes by, it seems almost inevitable that other brands will face a situation like this as well. And their options will likely be just a limited. It will be interesting to see how others deal with similar problems when they occur—as they no doubt will.

Scott

That said, the most interesting alternative-fuels news now seems to be coming from the most unexpected places. For instance, Ferrari recently displayed its gasoline-electric hybrid, the LaFerrari, at the International Geneva Motor Show in early March. A hybrid Ferrari? That seems like an unlikely combination of words. But in true Ferrari fashion it is reported to have 963 horsepower and needs a speedometer with numbers that go north of 350 KPH to keep the needle from bending.

In all likelihood, you'll be able to count the number of hybrid Ferraris traveling North American roads over the next decade on one hand. So this car won't make any significant impact on existing fuel use patterns.

But recently, there has been some important news relating to a potential spike in the use of natural gas. In December, Vancouver-based Westport announced its natural gas engines are now available as original equipment in F-250 through F-550 Ford trucks. And natural gas engines are now becoming available in several brands of heavy trucks. There are serious efforts underway in the trucking industry toward adopting that fuel, albeit for as-yet restricted uses.

As important as that may be, possibly the most profound adoption of natural gas use on this continent may be about to take place elsewhere, and it isn't even on roads. It could occur on railway tracks in the U.S. The BNSF Railroad—which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett—is set to start trials on natural gas-powered locomotives this fall. The company's Chief Executive is reported to have suggested this could lead to a wholesale change in fuel use within the railroad industry, similar in scale to the previous switch from steam to diesel.

The large reserves of natural gas in North America and improved technology to get at it have caused the price to fall and made it a potentially reliable and cheap fuel source. If all railroads begin adopting it, natural gas may take an enormous bite out of a large market previously dominated by diesel. Add the increased use of that fuel by the trucking industry to the mix and the fuel-use picture in Canada and the U.S. begins to look a lot different than it does now.

Industry experts still don't see much if any change in fuel types on farms in the foreseeable future, though. Diesel is likely to remain king there for a long time. So, the question all that poses for farmers is this: if natural gas takes over a sizeable share of what was previously the exclusive domain of diesel fuel, what if any affect will that have on the future supply and price of diesel. Will it be good, bad or indifferent when it comes to price and availability?

We've seen intermittent diesel fuel shortages in the past. Would those end if demand for diesel falls? Or, would that mean fewer refineries will be cranking out smaller volumes of diesel and the Western Canada supply would be even more vulnerable to unexpected disruptions in production? Will the price of diesel fall because of lower demand, or will it rise because there may be fewer suppliers?

All things considered, it's hard to know what to cheer for.

Scott

But because there is so much diversity in agriculture across the world, it might be a good thing for farmers, themselves, to take a renewed look at their own industry, too. There is such a variety of potential problems faced by producers growing different crops in different regions of the world that it's hard to imagine them all. Attending farm shows all across Canada and the U.S. along with Europe has certainly driven home that fact for me.

A new website, TheEdgeOfFarming.com, looks at the challenges faced by farmers across the U.S. Farming varies just as much from region to region south of the 49^th as it does here. In a series of short video segments on the site producers discuss their unique problems and what motivates them to stay on the farm.

I've watched several clips, and I think the videos will be just as interesting for farmers as they may be for city residents who want to know more about the industry. They're pretty well done. More segments are released each week that tell a little more about each of the operations highlighted.

The website's producers intend to expand the series and explore as many different regions of North America as possible. They're even hoping to include a series or two on Canadian farmers for next year, so they're now looking to make contact with the right producers to begin the process of documenting the challenges we face in the Great White North. That means there may be an opportunity for you to tell your story.

You'll find information on the website about how to enter a contest and win a $1,000 Cabela's gift certificate. If you're an aspiring Alfred Hitchcock, you can create your own video and upload it to YouTube. Then, submit an online entry form through the website. If your video is one of those picked it will be featured on the website's YouTube and Facebook pages. If they really like your flick, you may be asked to be one of the farmers featured on the site's featured video series.

A screen shot of TheEdgeOfFarming.com

That means having a professional camera crew document your operation, that's an opportunity not many people get. And you'll be helping tell the rest of the world how we do things in Canada.

There is one thing, though. TheEdgeOfFarming.com is sponsored by AGCO's Challenger equipment brand, so they're hoping to find producers that not only want to tell their story, but are using at least some AGCO equipment in their fleet.

If this sounds like you and you'd be willing to participate, you can enter the contest I described earlier, by submitting your own video. But if you're not that handy with a camera, think you'd like to be the focus of a feature series and would prefer to contact them another way, just send me an email at scott.garvey@fbcpublishing.com and I'll pass your name along to the right person at AGCO's PR firm.

They'll ask me a bit about the size and kind of operation you have (ie. grain, cattle, mixed, etc.) and what AGCO equipment you use. So if you email me, include a couple of sentences answering those questions that I can pass along to them.

Good luck.

This was only the third time this show has been held, and it started off on a pretty small scale—at least in terms of attendance. But from the start, this event has had some pretty impressive sponsors. All the major equipment brands are behind it. And it's becoming known as the “manufacturer's show”.

Ag Connect still isn't operating on the scale of the major events, such as the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, or Canada's Farm Progress Show in Regina, but it's growing. The 11,000 attendance number this year was nearly double the 5,800 that made the trip to Atlanta for the last show in 2011. And there were 400 exhibitors on hand to vie for their attention this time.

Ag Connect is held every second year; the next one will be in Indianapolis, Indiana, in January of 2015.

Just because this show doesn't rival others in terms of its size or attendance numbers, don't assume there isn't anything to see. Ag Connect takes a very different approach than any other North American event. You won't find brands taking up acres of space to parade their full machinery line ups, but you will find an ample helping of concept machines and interesting innovations from companies large and small.

Arguably, there is even more to hear than there is to see. Modeled loosely after Germany's Agritechnica, Ag Connect has a strong focus on the exchange of ag information of all types, which is what makes this event unique. If you're wondering what other successful producers are focusing on in their operations, Ag Connect is a great place to find out.

“Centre Stage” at Ag Connect Expo hosts a virtually non-stop list of panel discussions involving people from nearly every ag sector.

The show incorporates a long list of panel discussions, involving people from all aspects of agriculture. If you're curious about what is going on at the machinery companies, Ag Connect is the right place to find that out, too. There aren't many places where you can bump into the senior executives from all the major equipment brands wandering the aisles, listen to them discuss their company's approach to a variety of topics or ask them a question. But you can at Ag Connect.

An example of the equipment on display is Hagie's nutrient applicator bar for an SP sprayer.

If you're in the mood to attend a farm show that offers a little different kind of environment, Ag Connect might be for you. For more information on the next event, check out www.agconnect.com.  

Scott

This latest acquisition brings the number of dealerships in the Rocky network, which are primarily Case IH outlets, to an impressive 39. Its chain of stores now stretchs from the Peace region of Alberta to Southern Manitoba.

Rocky’s CEO, Matt Campbell, commented on this acquisition by saying, “Rocky continues to ensure that we have the products and services our agriculture customers need. By acquiring these stores, Rocky is expanding the availability of key product lines to our customers, and complementing the existing Case IH dealers we operate in the region. We look forward to offering these products and services to new and existing customers.”

In an interview I had with Garrett Ganden, Rocky's COO, late last year, he said the company was also working on standardizing the look of its stores and upgrading existing facilities. It is also ending its past practice of allowing some of the stores it purchased to continue trading under their previous business names. Very soon all of Rocky's outlets with have a standard marquee above the door. (For more on that interview see the November, 2012, issue of Country Guide.)

Rocky hopes to have all its outlets sport a standard look in the future.

It seems consolidation and growth are key factors in every aspect of North American agriculture these days. In the Canadian ag machinery retail sector, Rocky has taken growth much farther than any other chain, and its rate of growth has been rapid, to say the least.

But even with 39 stores across the west, it's far from the largest equipment retailer in North America. That title belongs to North Dakota-based Titan, whose U.S. outlets now number an astonishing 104. And Titan recently announced it has branched into Eastern Europe. It now operates 12 other stores in Bulgaria and Romania.

Ganden said Rocky has no immediate plans to look at dealership acquisitions in other countries. But he didn't rule out the possibility of eventually looking farther east across this country.

The face of farm machinery retailers in North America is much different than it was a couple of decades ago. It will be interesting to see what it will look like two decades into the future.

Scott

On the farm, the workshop is a pretty close equivalent to the office workspace. Farm shops often seem to be kind of a command post—especially if you operate older machinery. And toward the end of a hectic growing season, my shop tends to look a little like hurricane Sandy breezed through it. Tools hastily pulled from the roller cabinet for a field repair never seem to make it back to their proper home. Broken parts along with as-yet uninstalled replacements still clutter the workbench.

And as the cold weather moves in, restoration projects get crowded off to the side in order to make room for tractors moved inside for winter storage. The floor, which gets littered with dirt and debris from repair jobs, could use a good sweeping.

The result of all that untidy clutter is my motivation to be in the shop and work on one of my restoration projects fades away when I walk through the door into that mechanical disaster area. A clean workspace may be the sign of a sick mind, but standing amid dirt and disorganization can suck the creativity and motivation out of you like a vacuum cleaner.

So with some downtime over the holiday season giving me an opportunity to get away from my office desk—which is now reasonably tidy—I decided to tackle the job of reorganizing the shop. Armed with a push broom and a box full of garbage bags it got to it.

That week's worth of effort has paid some unexpected dividends. Aside from the fact the floors are now clean and tidy and things are organized, I was able to do an inventory of my tools. Over the course of the last few years I've picked up numerous things to stuff into my roller cabinet. Snapping up a few things on sale at the big-box stores and adding the odd auction sale buy have left me with duplicates, triplicates and even quadruplicate items.

By sorting everything out, I realized I had enough extra tools to fill a couple of portable tool boxes, making ready-to-go, emergency field repair kits. No longer will I have to raid the roller chest on those occasions. Having all those bargain and lower-quality items in my new field repair tool box is an ideal use for them. I even found I had an extra tool box to replace the one I accidentally ran over with my swather in the field last summer—that's what happens when you're in a rush to get back to work after making a repair.

With my best tools neatly rearranged in the roller chest, I can now see where I legitimately need to add a few things. If only I'd had that information before Christmas, my letter to Santa would have had a few extra “wants” on it.

Now the shop is clean and organized, so I can get back to work on those restoration projects in a much more pleasant, neat and orderly environment. There's even a spot to put that old, leather recliner my wife deemed no longer suitable for the decor inside the house, which will make a comfortable place to take coffee breaks. I wonder if there's room for a beer fridge to go with it?

Although that kind of damage is inevitable, events of last week reminded me that if more drivers exercised a little common sense on the road, our trucks and cars wouldn't suffer as much abuse as they do. I'm beginning to think it may be time to add a few lessons on gravel road etiquette to the provincial driver training curriculum.

A few extra questions on the Saskatchewan driver's exam about how to drive on gravel roads wouldn't go amiss. I'm thinking of something like this: “How hard does a rock thrown from the tire of a speeding pickup strike the windshield of an oncoming vehicle?”

To calculate that, students would need to use the force = mass x velocity formula. But I suggest the examiner could accept a more practical answer. Something simple like, hard enough to ruin it.

In the last few years, stones thrown from speeding pickup trucks have taken a toll on the windshields of my vehicles. Even with insurance, it has cost me a lot of money. I know I'm not the only one in that boat.

On one occasion, a speeding half ton pulling an empty flatdeck trailer raced over the crest of a hill toward me. The trailer was fishtailing wildly. I braked hard to try and save the windshield in my F-250, but to no avail. The trailer threw a rock that knocked a fist size chunk off the inner layer of glass. When I arrived at my destination, I had to brush windshield fragments off my lap.

Just two weeks after I replaced that windshield—at my own expense—I met a lifted four-by-four pickup that had to be travelling about 130 K.P.H. His oversized tires fired a fastball that struck the bottom edge of the new windshield, which caused the usual rosebud, But within 20 minutes the rosebud sprouted a 10-inch crack, making a glass repair impossible. Since then, the battered windshield on the F-250 has amassed an impressive collection of wounds. Sooner rather than later I'll have to replace it again.

But if you don't have a windshield in front of you, meeting a vehicle that is travelling at high speeds on a gravel road can be even more nerve racking. This fall I was bringing my pull-type swather back home hitched behind my open-station tractor. A large truck went by me without slowing down. The road had just been gravelled and the surface had a deep layer of loose stones. The tires flung a hail of rocks past me on both sides as I covered my face with both arms. Fortunately, none of them hit me.

Getting back to last week, I was on my way home in my brand new vehicle, which had less than 400 kilometres on the odometer. As I came over a rise there it was: another lifted four-by-four pickup coming toward me. It was under the control of a driver who appeared to be trying to set a gravel-road speed record. And he was doing it shortly after the municipality had covered the road with a lot of loose gravel because freezing rain had left a layer of ice on the surface.

I was down to less than 40 K.P.H. When he went past me, but I could see the rock coming. It hit my pristine windshield squarely in front of my eyes leaving a four-inch circle of damage, ruining my eight-day-old glass.

The frustrating part of all of this is drivers could easily help reduce the problem, and keep my glass repair costs down, by implementing two apparently uncommon practices: first, apply a little common sense when behind the wheel. And second, show a little common courtesy to others on the road. The windshields they save may be their own.

Scott

While countries all around the globe face economies that are limping along caused in large part by unemployment and low consumer demand for goods. Agriculture is one of the few sectors that has soldiered on with barely bump on its economic road, and the Big Three ag equipment manufacturers are among those reaping the benefits of that.

In its third-quarter financial statement released on October 31, AGCO claimed things in its accounting department were looking pretty rosy. Overall sales for that part of the year amounted to $2.3 billion. That's a jump for that company of 9.3 percent over the same period last year.

Sales here in North America have given Martin Richenhagen, AGCO's CEO, and his crew particular reason to celebrate. “Regional organic sales growth” here amounted to an almost 21 percent gain over last year, according to their investors' report. That may be due in large part to AGCO's stepped-up marketing efforts as it tries to increase its market share on this continent, an historically weak spot for the company. The AGCO products that saw the largest jump in sales here are sprayers, haying equipment and high-horsepower tractors.

Over at John Deere, things are reportedly good there, too. It just reached its fiscal year end and has been tallying up the numbers. The final report, released a few days ago in November, puts overall 2012 sales up an impressive 13 percent over last year to more than $36 billion. That is yet another record-setting year for the company that has owned top spot in the ag equipment market for a long time.

At CNH Global, the parent company of Case IH and New Holland, the news is good as well. Sales of ag equipment in its third quarter climbed 12 percent over the same time period last year. Even with a decline in sales of its construction equipment, the ag division has come to the rescue and given the company an overall increase in sales revenue for the year so far.

Will all of this good news continue into 2013? No one can say for sure, and projections range from modest, continued growth to flat sales numbers. But even flat sales figures don't seem to be very bad news, especially considering the numbers the Big Three posted this year.

Those loaded wagons remind me a little of one of the Federal Conservative Government's omnibus bills. There's all manner of things thrown in and it's tough to see just what's at the bottom.

When the bidding on the wagon load of tools actually gets underway, no one really wants to stray very far away from it in case some tool suffers from a lack of buyer interest and that increasingly rare phenomenon occurs: a used tool sold cheaply. The trouble is, cheap tools at farm auctions seem to have become an extinct species, at least in my experience.

There was a time during that period of low commodity prices a decade or more ago when farmers seemed to keep their hands in their pockets at auctions. As I remember it, there were lots of bargains to be had at almost any sale back then. Now, however, farmers seem to have money to spend and the price of used tools at farm auctions has skyrocketed because of it. Almost unbelievably, it's not unusual to see old tools sell for more than comparable new ones. Guys seem to become stricken with a kind of fever that keeps them bidding, even when the price hits the stratosphere.

I'm not sure why so many people lose their self control when an auctioneer holds up a fist full of greasy wrenches. And farm auctions aren't the only place where I've noticed that feverish impulse to bid take hold of normally sane people. Last week I stumbled across some used shop tools advertised on the Federal Government's surplus website. It looked like a good opportunity to pick up a few useful items at a decent price.

So, I grabbed the Craftsman and Princess Auto catalogues and priced out equivalent new items. Then, I placed my online bid accordingly. Maybe it's the Scottish part of my heritage influencing me, but if I'm going to buy something used, even if it's a handy shop tool, I want it to be priced accordingly. Otherwise, I might as well go get a shiny new one with a warranty.

With my research complete and my bids placed, I waited for the online sale to close. I was reasonably optimistic I would get at least one or two of the things I bid on. I offered 50 per cent of new prices, which I think is fair money for any piece of common shop equipment that looks to be more than a decade old.

When I saw the results posted on the website after bidding had closed and winners were declared, it was deja vu. It felt like I was once again standing at a farm auction surrounded by bidders suffering from a feverish desire to own those greasy tools no matter what. I didn't get a single item. Some things sold for about 125 percent of what I could order brand new ones for.

I wonder if there will ever be some kind of vaccination against used-tool fever? If one is ever developed, I'm sure a lot of farm wives will be dragging their husbands down to the clinic to get one.

Scott

It all started with an invitation to attend the grand opening of Fendt's new tractor assembly plant in Marktoberdorf, a picturesque town near the Alps. But if I was going to fly all the way to Europe for that one event, it made sense to look around and see if there were some other machinery stories I could develop during the trip. Of course, there were.

Sometimes I need to pinch myself to believe I have a job that lets my fly around the world to get first-hand looks at new tractor models and the state-of-the-art assembly plants where they're built. But I'm willing to sacrifice myself and do that so I can bring the information back for you to read in the pages of Grainews!

While I was on the other side of the Atlantic, I also met with the people at DLG, the German Agricultural Society, who organize Agritechnica, the world's largest farm machinery show. You may have read my daily show reports in this blog during last year's event. The next biannual show isn't until November 2013, but planning for it is already underway at the DLG head office. I managed to get an exclusive look at the preparations for 2013 and hear first hand what it takes to put this show together. Look for a report on it in an upcoming issue of Country Guide.

The day after I spent time with the Agritechnica staff, Malene Conlong, DLG's international media and communications manager, and I took a train out to a small community south of Frankfurt to see the organization's equipment test centre, which is Germany's equivalent of the Nebraska Tractor Test Lab. But this facility does a whole lot more.

After a thorough look around the test centre, we took in a traditional German meal with a couple of the staff members. From there it was back to the train station to head south to Bavaria to make it to the Fendt factory.

This 300 Series model waits in the final inspection station at the end of the state-of-the-art assembly line at Fendt's new Marktoberdorf Germany tractor assembly plant.

And did I mention Fendt blended the opening of its new factory with the launch of a new tractor series, the 500? These models were launched for the European market last week. Reid Hamre, Fendt's product marketing manager for North America, says the tractor will eventually be available here. But it will take some time to get a dedicated North American model ready. There is more to introducing the same model on two continents than you might think.

European engineering standards are a little different than the ASABE (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers) standardized specifications North American tractors conform to. So, companies need to create two versions of the same tractor. That doesn't happen overnight.

It will be “at least several months” before North American farmers can even think about ordering one, Reid says, but we'll give you a preview in the pages of Grainews of what you can expect when the tractor finally does become available here.

So keep an eye out for the November and December issues of Grainews. There's a lot to see.

Scott

Getting from Pearson airport out to Woodstock where the show is held wasn't a problem, because I was able to travel around with my friend Ray Bianchi who operates Classic Farm Photos and lives in Nearby Milton. We teamed up and hit the show together. But for anyone new to the region, it's not hard to get to Woodstock. It's only about 1 ½ hours by car from the airport.

Just like Canada's Farm Progress Show in Regina, most of the exhibits are outdoors, which means you need to be prepared to do some walking and have the sunscreen handy. But unlike the Regina show, this one is held in the countryside and that means there is ample room for show organizers to plan some infield demonstrations.

This year ploughing and dry manure spreading demos were held each afternoon through the course of the three-day event. For a prairie boy, seeing ploughs working in the field was almost a first. It's a rare event out west. Even though very few westerners would even consider adding a plough to their fleet, it was useful to see them in action and get a feel for why they can—or possibly can't—typically help with field management on the prairie.

And while talk of ploughing may cause a few to dismiss the outdoor show as an event that just appeals to southern Ontario producers, that isn't necessarily so. When Doug Wagner, the show's president, sat down with me for an interview, he commented that the show is gaining popularity with farmers from all across the country.

The reason, he says, is because organizers strive to seek out a wide range of new ag technologies and ensure they're represented at the event. Along with that, there are now arguably more similarities in regional equipment demands than there are differences. Wagner believes that even if visitors from western Canada are inclined to walk past implement displays featuring ploughs, they'll still be rewarded with a first-hand look at machines they do find familiar and useful.

There is also one other benefit to attending a farm show outside your home region: you find yourself asking company reps how some of the unfamiliar machines fit into different farming practices and just what each one can achieve, which means you start evaluating your own practices from another perspective. And pretty soon you start to wonder whether or not it's possible to do things differently—and better—than you do now.

Even if you come to the conclusion none of those unfamiliar implements can do the job better than the machines you use now, analyzing your operation and objectives from a fresh perspective certainly helps you to better understand your business. And that can help make you a better farm manager.

Scott

Leading off the Report on Business section in the paper was this headline, “Auto workers threaten triple strike”. A strike by CAW workers against all of the Detroit Three automakers at once would be unprecedented. The cooperative approach both labour and management took a couple of years ago to survive the depth of the current economic difficulties seems to be well and truly over.

As I read the article, I couldn't help but think about the stark difference between this conflict and what I saw at the various farm equipment manufacturing plants I walked through this summer. In contrast to the vehicle assembly plants in southern Ontario and the U.S., all the farm equipment factories I was at were, surprisingly, non union shops. (Although, there are unionized ag equipment assembly plants, too. I just wasn't in any of them this year.)

The workers on the shop floors of those I toured this summer were usually smiling and seemed to content with their jobs; Although, I admit you can't really get a full feel for labour relations in a one-hour walkabout. However, things felt the same in all the plants, which unlike the big auto assembly centres were located in smaller, rural communities. Many of the workers on the production lines were weekend farmers, themselves, and they seemed to feel a strong tie to the machines they were building.

Overall, there are a lot of differences in the way way things are done in an ag equipment plant and an auto facility. First, ag workers build significantly fewer machines in a shift. The AGCO factory in Jackson, MN, for example, builds only about a dozen tractors in a day. Big auto plants turn out hundreds of vehicles in the same time period.

On auto assembly lines, workers perform a few, specialized tasks on each vehicle. In contrast, those building ag machines need to know how to perform a variety of jobs because machines stop at fewer stations for longer periods. And there is a wider variety of machine types coming down the same lines. Each worker in an ag plant plays a much bigger part in building machines than is common in the auto sector.

Don't leap to conclusions here. I'm not making the case for union or non-union shops. And I'm not saying farm equipment companies haven't had their labour troubles over the years, either. The strike at International Harvester in the 1980s that lasted more than a year and brought the company to its financial knees is a prime example.

But you can't help but wonder, despite all the differences between the two industries, if the automakers shouldn't take a close look at those plants building ag equipment today. Finding out why so many farm equipment factories have relatively happy and eager workers on the shop floor might help the automakers ease their own labour strife.

Scott