• America's heartland •

Growing up on a farm in the upper midwest has been pretty sweet. No, we don't have cows. Nor do we have pigs. Or chickens. No goats, sheep or other typical barnyard animals either. No skeins of wool, breakfast sides or Thanksgiving Day stars found here.

Nope, instead of black and white our farm gleams black and red and in place of manure, bleats and crows, we boast diesel smoke and train horns. Our Caterpillar doesn't crawl, it roars. The equipment is well-used, yet rarely is there a speck of dirt to be seen. The leader of this team rises before the sun and continues working long after it sets.

Agriculture has been around for at least 10,000 years. Crazy, huh? Practices have changed and techniques have evolved and with them the equipment has been upgraded and reborn.

Speaking of equipment (nice segway, eh?) check out this new beast of a planter. Looks wide, right? Wrong. The Case IH 1200 Series ASM Planter has a remarkable 12 foot transportation width due in part to new(ish) pivoting technology. Once in the field, the driver doesn't even need to leave the cab to make it pivot and spread, thanks to innovative time-saving technology. With the touch of a few buttons 12 feet twists and transforms into 30 feet of pure planting power. Not only is this planter reported to increase the overall crop yield, but it is also more consistent in seed-to-seed spacing and does not play favorites when it comes to seed size. Yeah, I'm a little jazzed about this thing.

Oh, how I love being a farmers daughter.







Did I mention it has a digital touch screen that not only controls the pivoting, but virtually everything else about the planter? Oh, I didn't mention that? Well...it does. And it's rockin sweet.



One of the many perks of being the daughter of a farmer is getting the 'inside scoop'. Most people would take photos of this bad boy from a safe distance (I mean, the planter does weigh well over 20,000 pounds). Not this chick. She gets to ride along, laying smack dab right on the planter. The only way I could have gotten closer was if I were the soy bean itself. Yeah...sweet shibui...for sure.