Benefits

There are many benefits to having Hagie detasseling machines in place of what is currently used. The efficiency only begins with the fact that they would use less hydraulic and motor oil than the worn out PDF’s. The PDF’s are only eight row machines, and the Hagie’s would be twelve row machines. With this wider implement, more acres can be detasseled with a single swath across a field. The Hagies also have automatic sensors which are more accurate and faster than manually moving the detasseling bar up and down when going across the field. The bar needs to be moved up and down because not every field is uniform in height. Some areas of the field have taller corn than others. The detasseling bar is the bar that sits on the front of the machine doing the actual mechanical detasseling of the crop. Using a bar with automatic sensors removes any error that may be made by the operator of the machine. The sensors keep the bar from going too deep and hurting the corn plants. They also keep the bar from detasseling too shallow, which means it is not doing a good job of pulling the tassels. This accuracy allows the machine to only go over a field once to do a sufficient job, compared to the PDF’s that need to go over each field twice. This alone will cut fuel costs in half. Along with this accuracy is the speed of the Hagie’s. This speed is accompanied by four wheel drive, which gives it more traction by minimizing tire slip and decreasing the overall time it takes to finish a field. Since a field can be finished in a shorter amount of time, it will also save on labor costs since Remington hires someone to drive the machines.


All of the money being saved on valuable fluids such as oil and fuel will add up. The bills during detasseling season will not only be decreased because of less oil being wasted, but also because of the fewer parts that will be needed to be purchased. Not only will less money be needed for these components, but there will also be less money spent on seasonal employees. If the length of the detasseling season is shortened, then so will be the amount of days these seasonal employees are hired, which will ultimately save money on labor.