Through the acquisition, Deere will expand the product line offered to Chinese farmers and enhance its worldwide capacity to produce low horsepower tractors. Benye mainly builds tractors in the 20 to 50 horsepower range while Deere currently builds tractors in the 60 to 120 horsepower range at its current China joint venture tractor factory, located in Tianjin. Deere anticipates that farmers with less powerful equipment will be upgrading to machines in the 20 to 50 horsepower range built...

I don't think teachers, lawyers, government bureaucrats and doctors would put up with such low wages, so why should farmers? Unfortunately, dairy farms aren't like other free-market businesses. This translates into a $50,000 loss for the average size dairy farm and is the major reason for the loss of dairy farms in Vermont, the Northeast and the nation. in the morning just as you were starting to milk the cows? As a dairy farmer, you'd know how to fix that long contraption of steel chains...

Thieves target heavy machinery. A number of recent large equipment thefts has Vernon RCMP seeking the publics assistance. The suspects removed a computerized control panel, which rendered the machine inoperable for some time and is costly to replace. Therefore police are asking anyone who might notice suspicious activity around a construction site after hours to call the police. Watch the Morning Star video (QuickTime) Over the past few weeks two Caterpillar skid steers have been stolen,...

Nineteen of the tractors are in running condition and seven of them are parts tractors on his farm in the town of Clayton three miles north of Larsen. The family harvests about 700 acres of hay each year with most of it sold as horse feed. However, seven of the tractors in the Ory stable are turbo-charged, which gives each 20 or more additional horsepower. The tractors don't sit around in a shed collecting dust. The tractors have mid-range power with 62 to 66 power takeoff horsepower. They...

This year less than one tenth of the targeted wheat crop has been planted due to a shortage of tractors among other shortages of equipment and inputs. Zimbabwe s farming areas are divided into communal lands which have long been farmed by subsistence farmers and resettlement areas, which used to be farmed by whites before 2000. Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono has become increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of recovery of the agricultural sector, thrown into disarray by the launch...

Only last year, former Finance minister Herbert Murerwa in his 2007 budget speech promised the nation that the government would institute measures to contain expenditure. THIS week the central bank and government once again dug deep into their reserves of invention to find the cure to hyperinflation which is wreaking havoc on the economy. In December 2005 the government ruled it would "compulsorily acquire" any farming equipment and material left behind by white farmers. Piled-up equipment...

The show provided fun for all age groups: Dalton Bowers, 3, under the watchful eye of his grandfather Wayne Bowers, tried out the driver s seat on a lot of the tractors. The Sullivan County Antique Tractor and Engine Association holds the event every year and schedules activities such as men s and women s Tractor Olympics consisting of a slow tractor race, blind tractor driver, tractor barrel roll and a skillet throw a parade through the streets of Blountville, children s Tractor Olympics,...

We just have it to get together and meet people, Jewell said, who owns more than 10 antique tractors. The show started three years ago when Jewell said he became interested in antique tractors and found out his neighbors had the same interest. As Jewell stood by his McCormick Farmall tractor, which he has owned for 44 years and invested roughly $5,000 into restoring, he said the tractors bring back memories of his childhood growing up on a farm. Last year s show drew roughly 40 antique...

Farmer killed in tractor crash. His family says he was on his way home from a grain elevator in Badger at the time of the accident. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. He was pronounced dead at the scene. BADGER, Iowa (AP) - A driving instructor who farmed at night has died after his tractor was struck from behind by a sports utility vehicle north of Badger. The Iowa State Patrol says 58-year-old Lance Ropte of Humboldt was killed in the crash that...