Harvest time at Purdue

In late September, 2016, I spent two days at ACRE, Purdue's Agricultural Center for Research and Education. It's Purdue's agronomy farm, located a few miles northwest of the West Lafayette campus. Facilities superintendent Jim Beaty allowed me total access to photograph the harvesting of corn, soybean and sorghum crops. ACRE buzzes year round with researchers monitoring their test plots. But it is especially active during the harvest season. Crops are collected in a variety of ways, some by hand, some by antiquated two-row pickers (because the plots can be rather small), or by a state of the art, gleaming new John Deere combine. Equipment manufacturers are eager to see how their machines operate in the field, too.

A nearby flock of sheep used a flatbed trailer to hide their heads from the heat and the noise, while a few of the curious kept an eye on the commotion.