A customer recently told Steve Crouch, president of Newton Crouch Inc., an agricultural equipment manufacturer, that it takes a 4,000 to 5,000 acre farm to provide his family with the same livelihood that his father provided on about 1,500 acres.  Razor-thin margins mean farmers must work more acres to maintain their standard of living.

“There’s no more time in the day than there was 30 years ago so farmers have to be more efficient today,” Crouch said.  “For many years, Newton Crouch has worked with farmers to help them gain greater control over their operations.”

Seeking greater control in farming is nothing new.  In the 1960s and 1970s, the goal was an even spread pattern for the application of liquid and solid fertilizers.  Today with global positioning and variable rate technology, farmers can achieve greater control by more precisely controlling the application rate of fertilizers and pesticides to various soil zones so as to reduce inputs and improve profits.

Precision farming techniques require the collection of data on crop yields by zone, soil composition and other production information.  It also requires precise maps to coordinate the production information and generate an application scheme.  Companies like Newton Crouch can provide the equipment and expertise to implement precision farming.

“Variable rate technology is the biggest innovation in farming in recent years,” Crouch continued.  “It has the potential to improve profitability for farmers and help them be better stewards of the land.”

Six decades of spreading and spraying
Newton Crouch Inc. has been a Crouch family-owned business since 1940.  The company provides custom spreading and spraying equipment for the agriculture industry.  Their product line includes truck-mounted and pull-type fertilizer application equipment, three-point hitch and litter spreaders as well as a full line of Norwesco storage tanks.

Newton Crouch developed Spread-Tek© Application, which provides the flattest, most uniform spread pattern in the industry and is the most widely copied spreader design in the United States.  The company provides advanced controllers for precision farming from TeeJet, Raven Industries and Trimble.

“All our products are best known as dependable, robust and user friendly equipment.  Many ag chemical applications need water so a farmer needs to know the equipment is going to work when rain is in the forecast,” Crouch continues.

“We also provide a lot of custom equipment like row crop spreaders with both high and low clearance.  For example, we helped revolutionize the orange grove spreaders in use in Florida.”

Newton Crouch has three locations – Griffin, Ga., Albany, Ga. and Sebring, Fla. – and a large network of dealers serving customers in more than 20 states as well as Belize, Canada and Mexico.  Convenient locations enable customers to walk in for service and parts.  According to Crouch, the company stocks 7,000 to 8,000 parts on average.  Different chemicals require different nozzles or tips for applications.

Taking control of the future for agriculture
Crouch believes the biggest issues facing the agriculture industry are the continuation of government support for the farmer, federal farm policy that provides a safety net for producers, availability of land, and the use of water.

“With fewer people in agriculture and fewer people understanding where food comes from, there’s the potential for food production to go the way of oil production – offshore,” Crouch said.

“It is vital we have national economic policies that consider agriculture.  Agriculture is an important part of our nation’s security.  As a result of the safety net program in America, U.S. consumers enjoy the lowest food prices in the world.  These safety net policies are good for consumers and producers, and keep U.S. food production on U.S. shores.  Active advocacy and promotion of these types of policies can help farmers take control of their future livelihood and the future of the agriculture industry.”

For more information on precision farming and Newton Crouch, visit www.newtoncrouch.com

Comments