Maquinaria agrícola para cultivos en hileras
Between planting and scouting, testing and harvesting, conserving and managing, the work on a row crop farm is endless. On this family farm in Iowa, two Polaris RANGERs and a Sportsman 850 are essential tools for everyday chores.
It’s harvest season near Boone, Iowa, and Sean Blomgren drives his RANGER 1000 out to a cornfield and pulls a sample from a stalk. He flips down the RANGER’s tailgate to set up a makeshift field lab with testing equipment that he hauls in the cargo box. He peels the husk off the ear of corn, breaks off a pile of kernels, and pours them into a tester to evaluate moisture. Then he catalogs the results to analyze the information.
It’s an example of how technology has made row crop farms like his faster and more data-driven, and for Blomgren, 37, two Polaris RANGER 1000s and a Sportsman 850 are vital parts of the business equation. “They’re an important part of what we do,” says Blomgren, who, along with his uncle, aunt, and cousin, grows both corn and soybeans on his family’s 150-year-old farm that now comprises 3,000 acres. He also operates a commercial seed business and a conservation business that does prairie installation, seeding, and management. “From field testing to getting us from point A to B, the RANGERs and the Sportsman help us finish our jobs quicker. They are fast, easy to hop in and out of, and far more nimble than a truck or a tractor. We’ve relied on them even more as our business has grown. They’re our go-to tools."
Tipos de maquinaria agrícola
El tener tres negocios diferentes funcionando al mismo tiempo exige contar con equipos agrícolas eficientes y confiables.
Los RANGER ayudan a Blomgren con la logística de mantener cada operación funcionando sin problemas. “Reparamos equipos, como cambiar los discos de barrido en una sembradora o la hoz de un cabezal de combinación que corta la soya. Guardamos las llaves de ajuste y otras herramientas en la caja de carga”, explica.
Vehículos multiuso
Another day, a crew might be spraying weeds around the property with a 60-gallon tank loaded in the cargo box of the RANGER. The features of the RANGER 1000 are essential to the crop farm’s efficiency. In addition to the 1,000-pound hauling capacity, the in-cab storage is important. “We have gloves, goggles, and different accessories that we’ll need in case we lose a nozzle or need to replace something in the field.”
A crew might be maintaining the timber in the conservation land. “The 6,000-pound winch makes quick work of moving trees or brush out of the way,” he says.
“These vehicles serve a lot of different purposes; they’re a lot more convenient to use and easier to jump in and out of than other equipment,” he adds.
Vehículos específicos para cada tarea
While Blomgren uses the RANGERs as all-purpose vehicles around the farm, he assigns more specific chores to the Sportsman. Because of the Sportsman 850's smaller size — 51 inches tall and 47.6 inches wide — it’s able to get into tighter spaces. “The Sportsman is more of a specialty tool,” he says. “We put a small sprayer on the rear rack to kill weeds, or tow a fertilizer spreader or a broadcast seeder in the spring. With its smaller frame and 11½-inch ground clearance, it’s a more agile vehicle and can really get into places that a truck can’t go."
Cómo recorrer la granja sin problemas
En un día cualquiera, atravesamos una variedad de paisajes (en la tierra de Blomgren hay zonas de labranza profunda, surcos, terrazas, praderas altas, bosques madereros e incluso arroyos poco profundos), por lo que es fundamental contar con vehículos agrícolas que puedan continuar avanzando, sin importar lo que se interponga. “Aquí tenemos un terreno en el que sería difícil circular con una camioneta grande, por lo que el RANGER y el Sportsman son los vehículos perfectos en el sentido de que podemos ir a donde sea, especialmente cuando necesitamos llegar a zonas apartadas”, explica.
Tanto el RANGER como el Sportsman tienen la potencia (61 HP y 78 HP, respectivamente) para que lo logre sin esfuerzos. “Ambos son rápidos y avanzan sin demoras”, afirma. “Con su dirección asistida y el sistema de suspensión eficiente, desde el punto de vista de la comodidad, ambos son excelentes. No se me ocurre ningún otro vehículo que podría llevar al campo cuando la labranza es profunda. El RANGER y el Sportsman no solo pueden atravesar territorios difíciles, sino que también tienen un andar cómodo y suave”.
Un socio agrícola en quien confiar
Every decision that Blomgren makes, whether when to harvest crop or the tools and technologies to use, must align with his goal of caring for the land that he inherited so he can pass it onto the next generation. “You’re given a chunk of earth that’s your responsibility to steward, and the entire farm toolkit is a critical component of that, and it’s important that we have the best tools. That’s why we use Polaris vehicles,” Blomgren says. “I don’t know what farming will be like tomorrow, but I know we will continue to be successful if we have quality partners like Polaris.”
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