In the new year, area farmers say they anticipate higher input costs across the board from seed to chemicals, but one of their largest expenses will be switching to the newest low-emission tractors.
On the first of the year, the Environmental Protection Agency’s new interim Tier 4 emission standards for farm equipment with an engine horsepower over 174 kicked into gear. Now, manufacturers may only produce tractors that reduce particulate matter or smoke by 90 percent and nitrogen oxides by 50 percent, according to the EPA.
EPA has required manufacturers of non-road diesel engines like those in tractors to cut down their emissions gradually in tiers starting in 1996; 2011 is interim Tier 4, the most dramatic decrease to date.
The final step, Tier 4, will reduce emissions nearly to zero by 2014.
Although they cannot select a cheaper price for these new tractors, farmers can decide what type of fuel emission system they want — Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) or Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) — and which will better protect their bottom line.
Selective Catalytic Reduction
On the other hand, SCR injects Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) — 65 percent purified water and 35 percent urea — into the exhaust, said Greg Coke, store manager of Heritage Equipment, a Case IH dealer in Lubbock. The combination of the two in the catalytic chamber create a chemical reaction that converts the exhaust into water vapor and nitrogen.
Case IH and AGCO decided to go with the SCR system.
Case IH’s 23 interim Tier 4 models will be sold under the Puma, Magnum and Stieger series that range from 130 to 600 horsepower.
The smaller tractors are being shipped out now, and the larger Magnum tractors are expected to arrive in March, Coke said.
While this new technology is virtually unseen from the outside of Case IH tractors, farmers will see a blue cap next to the diesel cap, which tells them where to fill up their tractor with DEF. They will have to refill the DEF chamber for about every two tanks of diesel, depending on how much horsepower is used. The SCR system has sensors that know when the tractor is using more horsepower and thus, creating dirtier air so it will inject more DEF to clean it, Coke said.
DEF, which runs about $3 to $5 per gallon and is comparable to diesel prices, will be an added cost to farmers.
“So far, it looks like one of my favorite tractors,” said Kelly Kitchens, who purchased Heritage Equipment’s first interim Tier 4 tractor last week. “I kind of wish I didn’t have to do an extra thing with the exhaust fluid, but at the same time, it’s not that big of a deal either.
“As a farmer, we’re moving fluid all the time, whether its diesel into a tractor, water into a spray tank or other chemicals to spray crops with. It’s kind of in the job description anyway,” he said.
He said the fuel economy would balance out the cost of DEF.
Jim Coulson, product specialist for Heritage Equipment, said farmers can also operate their tractors twice as long as the Tier 3 tractors between oil changes because the new SCR system has less carbon and soot so the engine does not have to be clean out as much contaminants.
Exhaust Gas Recirculation
EGR, the system used in John Deere and Cummins Inc. tractors, cleans the contaminants in the exhaust during normal operation of the tractor and expels harmless nitrogen gas and carbon dioxide into the air.
According to the John Deere website, EGR cools and combines certain amounts of exhaust with incoming fresh air to lower the engine’s combustion temperature and reduce the nitrogen oxides to an acceptable level. Then, the exhaust travels to the exhaust filter that contains a diesel oxidation catalyst and a diesel particulate filter. The oxidation catalyst cleans the particulate matter with increased heat, and the remaining soot is collected in the particulate filter.
Farmers will hardly notice a difference in appearance, performance, noise and regular operations in its new interim Tier 4 tractors compared to its Tier 3 models, said Randy Sparks, sales manager for Hurst Farm Supply, Inc. in Lorenzo.
Also, the majority of the farmers he spoke to and farmers nationwide did not want to buy DEF, he said; that was why John Deere opted for the EGR system.
“It’s not going to affect them one way or the other when they farm,” he said. “They’re not going to have to change their practices, they’re not going to have to make allowances — they just get on the tractor and go farm just like they always have.”
The difference is the cleaner exhaust, a flashing light that informs the farmer the system is regenerating the exhaust and the particulate filter must be changed every 5,000 hours, which equates to about six to seven years on a national average for normal tractor operation, Sparks said.
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