With 10,000 acres to farm, Ted Sheely is a busy man. Those acres, located in California's San Joaquin Valley, are used to grow tomatoes, cotton, garlic and pistachios.
With all those crops, the market determines Sheely's income. His ability to earn a living depends on the difference between his costs and the price he gets for his crops. Basic economics, to be sure, but while the price he gets for his crops may be out of his control, Sheely is at the forefront in using technology to lower his costs.
He finds that particularly important because there are so many outside influences determining his costs.
"For years, we used the California Aqueduct, which brings water from 600 miles north, for all of our water needs," Sheely recalled. "Now our allocation from the aqueduct provides just 50% of our requirements."
To meet the shortfall, Sheely relied on engine-driven irrigation sets to draw water from an underground aquifer some 250 ft. below the surface. But the San Joaquin Valley is surrounded by mountains (a true "bathtub" Sheely called it) and engine emissions are a concern. "This is a 'non-attainment' area," he said, "and anything farmers can do to reduce their impact on air quality is a plus."
To irrigate his 10,000 acres, Sheely has 20 wells, 10 with Caterpillar diesel engine pump sets and 10 with electric motor-driven units. The electric motor units come with a $1200 a month standby charge, so like most farmers in the valley, Sheely relies more heavily on his diesel engine units.
Working with Caterpillar and local dealer Quinn Power Systems, Sheely is bringing advanced emissions control to his farm. His latest pump set installation is powered by an 18.1 L six-cylinder, inline Caterpillar C18 engine with ACERT technology. The C18 engine, rated 575 hp, is used to irrigate 500 acres of cotton and garlic and meets U.S. EPA Tier 3 regulations.
"The C18 gives us the lowest emissions available," Sheely said. "Not only is the C18 meeting emissions requirements, it is more fuel efficient than the older engines. That combination of lower emissions and less fuel serves both me and the valley. We have to keep our focus on the long term and this engine allows us to do just that."
Because the ambient temperature in the valley can reach more than 105[degrees]F, the C18 engine is packaged with a Cat-supplied cooling package, designed to handle the high temperatures of the area. According to dealer Quinn Power Systems, by running the engine between 70 and 90% loaded, less than 100% heat rejection is provided to the radiator which allows it to handle both the engine heat and temperature in the valley. The engine is also equipped with a Cat industrial grade muffler.
Irrigating these 500 acres involves using a Peerless vertical turbine pump that is driven by a right angle gear drive off the pump set's C18 engine. The gear drive is connected to the Cat engine via a 4 ft. driveshaft and American Vulcan tensional coupling. Output on the pump is 2500 gpm, pumping at a level of 500 ft.
Sheely is able to control the operation of this pump set through a Caterpillar industrial control panel which features stop/start switches as well as gauges for temperature, oil pressure, voltage, fuel pressure and an hourmeter. The panel also has indicator lamps for maintenance, service tool connection and an emergency stop button. Engine functions are all monitored by the ECM which also controls shutdown.
When Sheely was approached to try the C18 engine, he said it fit into his business approach of using every available technology to his advantage.
"I like to call what I'm doing 'Precision Agriculture,'" he said. "I started working on this farm 30 years ago and bought it from the family owners in 1987. Since then, I've tried every innovation that came along that would help reduce my growing costs."
The clay-loam nature of the soil Sheely works means abundant crops are anything but automatic. It takes water (up to 3.75 acre feet for some crops) and fertilizer to grow crops. And, as Sheely is proving, it takes technology to squeeze the maximum income from those crops.
At the heart of Sheely's technology is a global positioning system (GPS) he uses to manage his crop from planting to harvesting. He was a pioneer; owning units numbered 001,002 and 003 of the system's manufacturer. Today, he's never without a handheld GPS unit that, among other things, tells him exactly where he is on his acreage.
"We're the only site in the western U.S. selected by USDA and NASA to prove precision agriculture pays," he said. "GPS steers the tractor so we don't have over- or under-tilling of the soil. And for three years, we've used GPS to apply our soil amendments, seeding, plant growth regulators and fertilizers at variable rates."
To do that, Sheely uses an image that shows the denseness of foliage in the field. The thinner areas receive more fertilizer and the thicker areas receive less fertilizer. As a result, yields match fertilizer application rates.
"I can't imagine farming without GPS," said Sheely. "It doesn't cost, it pays. Our productivity is up 20% to 30%, all because of GPS."
Sheely doesn't claim to know what the future of technology is for agriculture, but he does know that he'll be the first in line to try it.
"State-of-the-art engines, GPS, whatever it is, I'll use it to my advantage."
COPYRIGHT 2005 Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
