Harvest Efficiency vs. Productivity; Which Comes First?
What comes first…the chicken or the egg?
It’s the age old question, but how does it apply to grain farmers? By Brian Hedt I recently did a word search whilst reading numerous Walkabout Mother Bin web pages and found lots of fantastic testimonials and a great many good arguments in favor of including a Walkabout Mother Bin in the harvest chain. Nevertheless there were very few references to the two words of great importance to all grain farmers; no, not “chicken” or “egg” but rather “efficiency” and “productivity.” But like the chicken and the egg, the question still remains – which comes first? Lets look at the dictionary definition of these two words:- efficiency (noun) the ratio of the useful work performed by a machine
- productivity the state or quality of being productive.
There is no question farmers world wide and particularly in North America have achieved staggering levels of efficiency via modern machines and innovative technological improvement but can the same thing be said about their harvest productivity? I suggest not!
Having read and listened to the testimonials of Mother bin owners, the profound productivity improvements achieved are staggering (measured in 1000’s of bushels/day harvested).
It is obvious that no matter how efficient your combines, carts, elevator or trucks might individually be, it’s extremely likely there is room to improve their productivity significantly.
If you have a harvest “pinch point” that regularly stops the combine during a perfectly good harvest day, all that costly efficiency you have built into your harvest operation stops with it.
A fully loaded, stationary combine kills daily productivity dead (measured as a percentage of harvestable hours/day) and day after day that lost time accumulates meaning a much bigger percentage of your crop is exposed for longer to the mercy of the weather when it doesn’t have to be.
So returning to the “which comes first…” question, harvest productivity trumps harvest efficiency on three fronts: financial, personal stress levels and socially. Why? Because no farmer is happy until the crop is “in the bin.”
Crystal or Josh can help you identify your pinch points, whether it be combine, cart, truck or elevator and what their lack of productivity might be costing you and how to change that.
Make an appointment to discuss what a daily productivity difference a Walkabout Mother Bin in your harvest chain can make for you.
