My hubby the star

This spring the boys entered a trial program for a new product to be installed on the planter.  We were chosen to be one of the farmers it was tested on by the Dealer in our area.  I could go into all the boring farm details, but honestly I don't even know everything it does.  I know that it was to help with seed depth, spacing & consistency.  For example:  we have MANY different soil types in our fields.  Instead of B-rad setting up the planter to do one set pressure for the whole field & just hope for the best, this system KNEW how much down pressure to put on the seed in different soil types to get to the right depth.  Fancy, huh?  Basically it's new technology for planting.  It makes sure that every 'how ever many inches' a seed gets dropped.  In addition, you just want ONE seed to fall at a time, not 2 or 3.  Older planters aren't consistent & precise.  That's why if you ever see a field where there seems to be empty spaces where a plant (or plants) is missing that's why.  

Oh, you've never looked at that?   Huh.  Just us then...

B-rad could watch in real time on his iPad mounted in the tractor while he was planting to be sure that everything was working properly.  I rode around with him a few times this year & it was really a cool thing to watch.  The boys were very pleased with how planting went with the new system.  Lets face it - if there's no seed in the ground or it's not deep enough they won't have any yields.  The Delta Force allowed them to know exactly what was going in.  Now that everything is growing they can see we have a great 'stand' (that's where there are no 'plants' missing) & the boys are really happy with that.  Of course we'll have to wait & see what happens this fall with our yields.  AND if it keeps ruining everyones life but mine raining, we will hopefully have some AWESOME yields.  

Of course, more yields = more money but that doesn't mean we'll personally 'see' any of it.  It's sticky when it comes to the farm.  B-rad doesn't collect a 'paycheck' & we won't be buying 50 new cars or anything.    I try not to go into TOO many details because while I have no problem telling ya'll everything - we're involved in it with B-rad's brother & our sister in law... they're not as forthcoming with the personal details of their lives as I am.  Let me say this...they did several updates to our corn & bean planters this year including putting on the system for the trial. (That alone was $16,000.)  It took many, many hours & weeks to install & all of it came to the tune of $50,000.  Uh yea...

Also-the land we live on - the FARM pays for.  The 200 acres that B-rad & own together payment is around $16,000 a year. The property taxes alone are over $20,000 on all our land combined. I don't have that kind of money laying around.  Most the time The farm sustains itself...which is fine by me.  I always say that B-rad is investing in our future.  Not many 30ish year olds can say they own 200+ acres & eventually it will be paid off.  So yes, we NEED it to rain.

Ah, I digress...(shocking).

So B-rad had to email the Delta Force people to tell them if we were going to keep the new system.  Of course, they want to keep it & B-rad told them how happy he was with the technical help he got all along the way & was happy with how our stand looks.  They sent him back an email telling him how they appreciated his comments & wanted to know if he'd be willing to be interviewed for a marketing video they were putting together.  Psssh, would he be interested?!  DUH!

(And if you're wondering why they would interview B-rad & not his brother?  That's because B-rad is the one that plants corn.  His brother is the sprayer, truck driver & paper work guy...)

Friday morning the camera crew came to the farm to set up.  While they were getting all their equipment ready, they had B-rad rehearsing his answers to the questions.

 He had a little microphone up his shirt with a battery pack & everything!

 See the little red & yellow 'T''s?  Those are their 'marks'.  I told you this was fancy pants.

 The director (YES there was a director!), in blue, was a really cool guy.  He explained to B-rad how the process would work.  The guy in grey (which is the 'dealer' & we also know him & his family personally) would ask the question but his voice wouldn't be heard on the video asking them.  B-rad had to repeat the questions in his answers.  Example:  guy in grey would say, "why did you decide to choose Precision planting products over other products out there?"  And B-rad would respond, "We chose Precision Planting products over all others because blah, blah, blah."    

 There was no 'action' called (disappointing) but they would say, 'Ok, we're rolling'.  When he was done with his answer they would say 'cut'.  They made him answer every question twice so they could piece it together in editing.  

 The kitty at the barn wasn't interested in any of this at ALL.

 It took about 2 hours for them to get B-rad's part done.  I had to go home to get a shower to get ready for our Chicago trip so I missed them taking video of him & the guy in grey 'working' on the planter & pointing at stuff to have video to roll over the audio. 

  B-rad works really, REALLY hard & this was a really cool thing to be a part of.  I'm super proud of him!