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Farming on water

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Mike CA

12-15-2007 17:05:40

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This is only one crop that I can think of that farms on water. Cranberries. And I can't think of too many places that farm them. So why did they build a tractor type that floated on water just to farm cranberries? I mean, how effective is a floating tractor??

Or am I misunderstanding what "Hydro" means? third party image

Ok, so seriously, why are they called "Hydro"?

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RayP(MI)

12-16-2007 17:17:01

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Re: Farming on water in reply to Mike CA, 12-15-2007 17:05:40

Have seen pictures of a river crossing ferry boat that used a tractor with paddle wheels for motive power.

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Wardner

12-15-2007 20:57:27

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Re: Farming on water in reply to Mike CA, 12-15-2007 17:05:40

4x4 tractors with Terra tires will float but they aren't built for that purpose. The big tires are used for low ground pressure situations.

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Zach Bouchard

12-15-2007 19:26:39

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Re: Farming on water in reply to Mike CA, 12-15-2007 17:05:40

Cranberries don't grow in water I don't think. I think they just use the water to harvest them because they float.

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Wardner

12-15-2007 20:46:16

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Re: Farming on water in reply to Zach Bouchard, 12-15-2007 19:26:39

The odd thing about cranberry bogs in MA is you don't really see many while driving. It is totally different when the terrain is viewed from an airplane. There are hundreds of them in southeast MA. I think MN also harvests a big crop.

Although most of the bogs are south of Boston, I do live about five miles from one located 20 miles north of Boston. I have never seen any activity on the bog.

They are a perennial bush and don't need cultivation or planting. At harvest, the bog is flooded and a float with beaters knocks off the berries. A crew with hand rakes comes in to gather the berries to an elevator that loads trailer dumps. One has to wonder why blueberry growers don't use the same bog technique. Maybe blueberries are too soft.

It may be possible to run a cranberry bog using no ag tractors. I am sure the entire process is explained somewhere on the net. Start with Wikipedia or Google.

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Ron in Nebr

12-15-2007 17:42:37

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Re: Farming on water in reply to Mike CA, 12-15-2007 17:05:40

Mike, as you probably know, rice is raised under pretty wet conditions as well. IH had some "rice" tractors back in the 50's that had taller tires and other things to operate in these wet conditions. The "hydro" tractors were just a later evolution of the rice tractors. Of course these also came later than the "ice" models which were designed to run exclusively in the snow..... OK OK OK- that's not quite correct! Like stated in the other post, "Hydro" was just a name for the hydrostatic driven tractors! Just couldnt resist though!

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glennster

12-15-2007 17:14:17

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Re: Farming on water in reply to Mike CA, 12-15-2007 17:05:40

ih had some hydro tractors, they were hydrostatic drive, instead of a regular geared type transmission, they used hydraulics to drive the tractor, they had pretty much infinte variable transmission. you moved a lever to adjust your speed. kind of like a skid loader, the farther you push the control levers the faster you go. they are excellent for loader work, spraying and planting. tho they did not hold up well to heavy tillage use. werent the best on fuel either. there was a hydra creeper unit for some of the tractors in the 50's, i think it may have been the c or hundred series.

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glennster

12-15-2007 17:24:02

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Re: Farming on water in reply to glennster, 12-15-2007 17:14:17

opps it was the 200 series that had the optional hydra creeper.

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agpilot

12-15-2007 17:47:02

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Re: Farming on water in reply to glennster, 12-15-2007 17:24:02

Hi glennster: So did the super C. Saw picture of one on a relatives veggie farm near Chicago. It had a rear mounted platform that several people could "sit" on and be very near ground level. These workers could do the required work by hand on this sitting platform. The key was that the tractor had to have hydraulics and yet only move one mile an hour or even a fraction of that. It might have been used in raising flowers too. Lots of handwork type farming back in the 50's was what was involved. ag

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