ON THE MARKET FLOOR
I might be a fervent supporter
of fresh produce markets,
but I’m not blind to their
shortcomings in an age of rapidly
changing circumstances.
But when used correctly,
markets offer many advantages
to a farmer. And I still maintain
that one of those advantages
is a better average price at
the end of the season.
USED BY MANY
MAJOR PRODUCERS
Some readers might take
me to task on this, but my
reasoning is simple: why do
all the major farmers support
fresh produce markets as part
of their marketing strategy?
Many of them have other
marketing channels as well,
which is good for agriculture
generally, but they don’t dismiss
the value of the fresh produce
markets. The reason for this is
that, on average, they get good
returns! And they know this
because they keep accurate
records, enabling them to
calculate these figures over time.NEW CHALLENGES
In fairness, it must be asked: are
markets and their market agents
rising to the new challenges
seen almost daily in the fresh
produce sector? Is it not time to
return to the proverbial drawing
board and take a hard look at
where markets and agents stand
today, and where they would like
to be in 10, 20 years or more?
It’s a safe bet that if they
don’t change, they will become
irrelevant and eventually
disappear to join the dodo
in the archives of history.Markets: quo vadis?
MICHAEL
CORDESThe fresh produce market
sector has been notoriously
slow to change, and this has
had a negative impact on their
public image as well as on their
trading results. Today, they
enjoy only a fraction of the
support they had 50 years ago.
As the world around them
changed, they opted for
the ostrich approach.NEW THINKING
In her editorial of the Farmer’s
Weekly issue of 5 July, the editor
quoted these words from Henri
Nouwen: “You live your way
into a new kind of thinking.”
Isn’t it time for those involved
in our fresh produce markets to
get down to changing, in practical
terms, how they operate?- Michael Cordes is an agricultural
journalist, consultant, trainer
and former farmer. Email him
at [email protected].
Subject line: Market floor. ▪FW
9 AUGUST 2019 farmer’sweekly 57PROMOTIONAL ARTICLE
With fuel prices at record
levels, farmers need to get the
most bang for their fuel buck.
A proven way of doing this
is to ensure that tractor tyres
are optimally inflated, says
Stephan van Staden, national
agricultural specialist at
Bridgestone, manufacturer of
Firestone’s agricultural tyres.
“Tyre management can
yield huge benefits for farmers
in both fuel efficiency and
tractor performance. Tyres
account for between 20% and
40% of horsepower loss, and
a major factor is tyre pressure
in relation to load carried.
Getting this right requires
some work, but it’s well
worth it,” says Van Staden.
The key principle is to ensure
that the tyre’s footprint is
optimal. Here, tyre pressure
plays a major part. If a tyre
is overinflated, the footprint
will be too small, leading
to excessive wheel slippage,
higher fuel consumption,
and greater tyre wear.
In contrast, an underinflated
tyre will result in too large
a footprint and too little
slippage. This could cause
damaged sidewalls, atypical
wear patterns, and even a
drivetrain breakdown.HOW TO GET IT RIGHT
The easiest method of
calculating optimal tyre
pressure for the job at handis to use the static load radius
(SLR). This is the distance
between the centre point
of the axle hub on the rear
wheel and the ground, and
is provided in the tyre’s data
book. By measuring the SLR
with the tractor fully loaded,
it is simple to see whether the
tyre is over- or underinflated.
If the SLR is between 50mm
and 100mm shorter than
that recommended by the
manufacturer, the tyre is
underinflated or the load is
too heavy. To rectify this, the
tyre can be inflated, although
never more than 160kPa. If theSLR is still not ideal, the load
is too heavy for the tyres.
If the SLR is too long, the
tyre is overinflated and can
be deflated until the correct
SLR measurement is reached.
The closer the SLR is to
the value in the tyre’s data
book, the better. Front tyres
should be inflated to 20kPa
more than the rear ones.
Once this has been done for
a particular implement, keep
a record of it for the future.
“If the tractor has to
spend less time on the land,
consumes less fuel and its
tyres last longer, considerable
savings can be achieved,”
says Van Staden. “This is
an often-neglected area.”Managing tyre pressure on tractors and other farm machinery increases fuel efficiency, improves
vehicle performance and lengthens tyre life. Here’s a straightforward, fail-safe way to do it.
Optimal tyre pressure reduces fuel bills