Fuel Saving Ideas for Farmers
Recent, dramatic increases in prices
for gasoline and diesel fuel
make it worth considering possible ways to
reduce farm fuel use this spring and summer.
Wilcke, B., and Chaplin, J. / Minnesota/Wisconsin Engineering Notes 2000
Tractors and Other Field Equipment
- Tillage uses more fuel per acre than almost any other field operation.
Carefully evaluate your tillage plans and reduce tillage or the intensity of
tillage wherever you can. Reducing tillage is also likely to provide the
benefit of reducing soil erosion. Make sure, though, to look at your whole
cropping system and evaluate whether reducing tillage will create the need
for other, more expensive operations.
- Avoid compacting soil by staying out of wet fields and by reducing passes
with heavy equipment. Extra tillage and extra power (and thus more fuel) are
needed to break up compacted soil.
- Reduce the number of trips across the field by combining operations where
possible. Consider modifying equipment so that you can perform multiple
operations in one pass. Think about using a tractor with hitches on both the
front and rear (several companies are selling hitches that can be mounted on
the front of tractors) so that you can attach implements to both ends of the
tractor.
- Match the tractor to the load. Avoid using heavy, high-horsepower tractors
for operations that don?t require much power.
- If you have to use a high-horsepower tractor to pull a light load, gear up
and throttle down. You can usually save quite a bit of fuel by running an
under-loaded tractor in a higher gear but at a lower engine speed. Make
sure, though, that you don?t overload the engine; if the engine speed
doesn?t change quickly when you change the throttle setting, you should
probably shift down a gear. Also, gearing up and throttling down might not
work for PTO-powered implements since the PTO will operate at lower speed
when the engine is run at less than rated speed.
- Inflate tires to appropriate pressure. Inflation pressure is an important
variable for traction efficiency, tire life, and ride comfort?especially for
radial tires. Check your tractor owner?s manual and/or the tire distributor
for suggestions on inflation pressure.
- Add the appropriate amount of weight for the load. Tractor weight, or
ballast, helps control the amount of drive wheel slippage. Drive tires
should slip about 15% when the tractor is pulling a load in the field. Slip
can be checked by comparing the distance traveled for a certain number of
wheel revolutions when the tractor is pulling a load to the distance
traveled when the tractor is not pulling a load. Higher levels of slip cause
excessive tire wear and poor fuel efficiency. Lower levels of slip indicate
that the tractor is carrying too much weight, which wastes fuel and puts an
extra load on the axles and power train. Ideally, weights should be added or
removed to match the load when tractors are used for different field
operations.
- If you can do so without causing excessive soil erosion, lay out fields to
minimize the amount of time spent turning around and the amount of time
needed to haul loads of harvested crop back to the road.
- Try to minimize the amount of time spent driving tractors and other field equipment on the road. Try to keep tractors and other equipment in the field and use faster, more fuel-efficient vehicles to service vehicles in the field and to haul harvested crops to storage.
Other Farm Vehicles
- Use more fuel-efficient vehicles for making trips to fields or to town
when you are not hauling heavy loads. Although heavy-duty pickups and trucks
play an important role on farms, they are often used for trips that do not
require their power and hauling capacity. These vehicles generally consume a
lot of fuel per mile and they consume a significant percentage of the liquid
fuels used on farms. Much fuel could be saved by using smaller,
fuel-efficient vehicles and by combining trips rather than making a separate
trip for each errand.
- If you are planning to buy large, heavy-duty trucks, consider diesel engines instead of gasoline. Although diesel fuel is often more expensive per gallon, you get much more work out of a gallon of diesel fuel than you do a gallon of gasoline.
A recent study by Douglas Tiffany (U of M Applied Econ Dept) and Dwight Aakre (North Dakota State University Ag Econ Dept) reported the following average diesel fuel use per acre for common upper Midwest crops:
Average On-Farm Crop Diesel Fuel Use Alfalfa 9.80 gallons per acre Corn 9.37 Soybeans 7.43 Sugarbeets 40.33 Wheat 7.24Using fuel prices of the last few years and usage figures from the table, farmers would have spent about $10 per acre for diesel fuel to produce corn. If diesel fuel price per gallon doubles, the cost would be about $20 per acre. On a total farm basis, doubling of fuel prices represents a major increase in costs. But it is important to keep things in perspective and avoid making management changes to save fuel that would result in decreases in yield or increases in other costs. For example, a substantial management change that cuts fuel cost by $5 per acre, but cuts yield by five bushels per acre, would probably not be cost effective.
source: http://www.igeawagu.com/de/new//1007460482.html 15mar2007
|
To
send Mindfully.org your comments, questions, and suggestions click
here |
