Machinerie agricole pour cultures en rangées
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."
Types de machines agricoles
Avec trois entreprises différentes qui fonctionnent en même temps, il est essentiel d’avoir un équipement agricole fiable et efficace.
Les RANGER aident Blomgren à assurer le bon fonctionnement de chaque opération. « Nous effectuons la réparation de l’équipement, comme changer les balais d'un cultivateur de champs ou la faucille d’une tête combinée qui coupe les fèves de soja. Nous gardons les clés et autres outils dans la boîte de rangement », dit-il.
Véhicules tout usage
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.
Véhicules destinés à des tâches précises
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."
Se déplacer facilement autour de la ferme
Avec une variété de types de terrains à traverser d’une journée à l’autre, on trouve sur la terrer de Blomgren des zones où le sol est travaillé en profondeur, des sillons, des terrasses, des prairies hautes, du bois et même des ruisseaux peu profonds, il est donc essentiel d’avoir des véhicules agricoles qui peuvent continuer, peu importe la situation. « Nous avons ici un terrain où il serait difficile de faire circuler une camionnette pleine grandeur, alors le RANGER et le Sportsman sont les véhicules parfaits dans le sens où nous pouvons aller partout où nous devons aller, surtout lorsque nous devons aller dans des endroits hors des sentiers battus », dit-il.
Le RANGER et le Sportsman ont tous deux les moteurs musclés de 61 ch et 78 ch, respectivement, pour vous aider à y arriver sans effort. « Ils sont rapides et peuvent démarrer et avancer rapidement », dit-il. « Grâce à leur direction assistée et à leur système de suspension efficace, du point de vue du confort, ils sont tous deux excellents. Je ne peux penser à tout ce que vous ne pourriez transporter sur le terrain lorsque vous avez des sillons profonds. Non seulement le RANGER et le Sportsman peuvent-ils traverser un territoire accidenté, mais ils offrent aussi une randonnée confortable et en douceur. »
Un partenaire agricole auquel se fier
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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