2015 Soybean Harvest Equipment Field Day

Aug 27, 2015

By Mike Staton, Michigan State University Extension

Participants will learn new information about reducing soybean harvest losses and farm truck regulations and safety at the field day Sept. 18, 2015.

On average, harvest losses reduce marketable soybean yields by 1-2 bushels per acre. Given the projected soybean prices, this could cost soybean producers $9.25 to $18.50 per acre in 2015. Harvest losses can increase significantly if the crop is lodged, very short or harvest operations become delayed.

2014 soybean harvest equipment field day.

Because of this, Michigan State University Extension is cooperating with Chad and Mindy Goetz Farms, Fred Ott, Inc., Archbold Equipment Inc., Burnips Equipment Company, Crary Industries Inc. the Michigan Soybean Checkoff and the Ohio Soybean Council to conduct a Soybean Harvest Equipment Field Day on Friday, Sept. 18, 2015. The field day will be held on this date if conditions are conducive to harvest. The program will begin with an update from Michigan Farm Bureau on farm truck safety and regulations at 10:45 a.m. and run until 3 p.m. The field day site is located at 9245 Thompson Hwy, Blissfield, MI 49228, about one-quarter of a mile south of Fike Road.

Participants will learn new information about farm truck regulations and safety and reducing soybean harvest losses. This is also an excellent opportunity to see the latest harvest equipment demonstrated in the field. Equipment company representatives will be on-hand to discuss specific recommendations for fine-tuning their combines. The following soybean harvest topics and equipment will be demonstrated: draper heads, air-assisted reels, measuring soybean harvest losses and ground speed effects on harvest losses.

There is no charge for the field day. However, pre-registration is requested by calling 269-673-0370 ext. 2562 before noon on Tuesday, Sept. 15, as a complimentary steak lunch and educational materials will be provided. Please call this same number for cancellation and rescheduling updates.

This article was produced by the SMaRT project (Soybean Management and Research Technology). The SMaRT project was developed to help Michigan producers increase soybean yields and farm profitability. The SMaRT project is a partnership between Michigan State University Extension and the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee.

Source: msu.edu

Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”