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The Plow

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PT7
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The Plow

Post by PT7 » Wed Nov 09, 2016 9:06 pm

I read a Kiplinger report today about 10 things that will "disappear" soon from use.
This one was kind of sad to see/read as our American ag landscape changes.
[NOTE: I checked the Kiplinger link on their Electronic Distribution Permissions, but the URL went nowhere. So I'm giving credit to the web site at Kiplinger.com].

Things That Will Soon Disappear Forever: The Plow

"Few things are as symbolic of farming as the moldboard plow, but the truth is, the practice of “turning the soil” is dying off.
Modern farmers have little use for it. It provides a deep tillage that turns up too much soil, encouraging erosion because the plow leaves no plant material on the surface to stop wind and rain water from carrying the soil away. It also requires a huge amount of diesel fuel to plow, compared with other tillage methods, cutting into farmers' profits. The final straw: It releases more carbon dioxide into the air than other tillage methods.
Deep plowing is winding down its days on small, poor farms that can't afford new machinery. Most U.S. cropland is now managed as "no-till" or minimum-till, relying on herbicides and implements such as seed drills that work the ground with very little disturbance. Even organic farmers have found ways to minimize tillage, using cover crops rather than herbicides to cut down on weeds. Firms like John Deere offer a range of sophisticated devices for these techniques."

The Plow.jpg
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Henry88
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Re: The Plow

Post by Henry88 » Thu Nov 10, 2016 2:24 am

Interesting, PT7
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daytime dave
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Re: The Plow

Post by daytime dave » Thu Nov 10, 2016 6:32 am

That seems to be true of the big operations PT. I plan to keep my plows and use them behind my compact tractors and garden tractors. I don't have to turn a profit, only the soil. I'm already loosing money.

A very interesting read though.
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