Family traditions are powerful things.

Some turn around food. In our house, he had the fruit soup every Christmas Eve and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. Mmm, can I smell fast. The pumpkin pie is not the fruit soup. I always had a pass on the fruit soup. Too scary. But would not it be Christmas, when Mom was not cut straight darn.

Please continue to make the mother fruit soup.

In my 21 years of monitoring data from the auction sale price that I saw and experienced so often the older tractors an important role in the heritage and traditions of rural families have won. Junior learned in the bosom of the faithful old Farmall Super MTA Granpda, IHC 560, or JD 630, 4010 or 4020 drive.

I am privileged to hear these stories of the family.

Two weeks ago, I shot the video at a farm auction in northern Wisconsin. As we moved along the lines of the devices for sale, I came to Bruce Alberts, to visit a local farmer. Great guy, likes to see our machines show the RFD-TV every week. Bruce told me of his line, he collects old tractors. I told him to give me a few pictures.

I'm still waiting for photos of old tractors, but the other day, Bruce has some pictures on 4 Write Me Off July, standing in his corn field in northern Wisconsin. I put the pictures on our machines Pete "Facebook page, a great tradition that I thought.

4 pictures of the family in July in your cornfield.

Well, it was not long before an e-mail came from Amy Hoying of Fort Laramie, Ohio. Amy was on 4 July corn field to see photos on Facebook and wrote to say his family has the same tradition for decades. She sent some pictures up over the years.

something powerful.

It is Amy's two older brothers in 1975. Tim Todd and Hannah, 4 and 5 years. Gotta love the clothes in the 70s. Couple looking good. It grandfather Reid Hannah quarter century. There Amy, as she has two in the arms of his father Jim. Drive through the years. Amy is 10 She is 15 years. In 2004, see photo engaged Jason Amy Hoying. Amy and Jason her own maize field 4 July tradition image. Watch the corn tassel major highlight of the year. Wow. And Jason is 6'8 "tall!

These pictures leave bread crumbs, the journey of a family through the years.

Daughters-in-law to be added, then the grandchildren. Reid's grandfather is still there. See how the drought of 1988 affected the wheat this year, remember? See how the leaves of maize in 2004 were looted, remember the hail storm that hit in May of this year?

Like I said, something powerful.

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According to the American trader, this week, Brazil and exporters provide high premium, hoping to attract farmers selling Brazilian soybeans, because the current inventory goods store have rised in Brazil, farmers to prices.

Traders said the main ports in Brazil, pat, bid rana muggle port in CBOT8 month on a bushel QiJia soy plus 90 to 95 cents, but the seller cost is 100 cents in - 95.

The price for each bag, about $22 40 reais.

On Tuesday, bid on soybean CBOT9 in QiJia on a bushel, plus 110 cents for the seller within 120 cents.

Brazilian soybeans farmers should be as price to sell more of soybean farmer has been sold, but most of the soybean, funding, and store up goods rised commodious, waiting for the psychological price rise further.

This week, the market trading Brazilian soybeans mild because most people are watching the World Cup in Brazil. Palmer rana muggle port soyabean prices in 39-40 reais.

Although Brazil farmers hope bean price rises, but during the off-season in financial and crude oil as the outer factors of soybean prices space.

• MF 300 combine with 13-foot head, good: $1,100

• NI 5209 discbine: $4,600

• MF 33 drill, 16 run, single disc, excellent: $1,600

• Kranz 10-foot packer, hydraulic lift, like new: $2,950

• JD 335 round baler, like new, done very little: $6,000

• JD 2130 tractor, diesel, after market cab, 6,600 hours: $4,300

• JD 5400 MFWD tractor with JD 540 loader, canopy, 4,435 hours, excellent: $19,250

Now let's go south, as in southeast Texas, for sale price highlights from a May 1st auction down in the Lone Star state.

Some brands are just synonymous with the products they make. If I say Maytag, what would you think of? Dishwashers, of course. Firestone, you think of tires. If I say post drivers, what brand jumps to mind? Shaver. Yep, it's got to be Shaver. Click on the link below to view (44) Shaver post drivers I've seen sold at auction over the last 14 years, including the HD 10 sold for $1,500 on the May 1st auction in southeast Texas.

Time to move east, out to Maryland, a state we've been getting lots more auction sale price info from over the last year. These sale price highlights come from an April 10th farm auction in north-central Maryland.

• Kubota L4150 tractor with 2,376 hours and loader: $9,000

• NH 376 baler: $6,100

• Ingersoll Rand 185 air compressor, ran great: $2,900

• Ford F550 dump truck with 203,546 miles: $8,000

• 2000 Ford F350 pickup, 2WD, 246,179 miles: $5,000

• Caterpillar D4C with six-way blade, new undercarriage: $13,500

• Ingersoll Rand DD24 roller with 523 hours, tampers in roller drum: $8,750

• Finn hydro seeder, ran good: $3,900

We've completed our north, south, east and west journey looking at recent auction sale price highlights along the way. Hope you had fun. I know I did.

The thing I've loved most about covering auctions for the last 21 years? The variety. On every single auction, no matter where the sale is, there will be an item or two I'm curious to see what the heck it will sell for. What's that thing worth? Maybe it's an old Massey combine. Perhaps a post driver, utility tractor or mini excavator.

Tomorrow more auction sale prices will roll in from all directions. I can't wait.

SEYMOUR -- Ray Cook, like many other farmers in Wayne County and South Central Iowa, had not started his harvest as of Oct. 8.

“We are sitting and waiting,” he said.

Even though the weather forecasts called for a hard freeze over the weekend, he said not much of the corn will be hurt by the end of the growing season. Cook noted most of the corn was already at or near black layer.

However, the same could not be said for the soybean crop in his area. Some fields were mature, while other fields were still green with patches of yellow.

“We have two soybean crops here,” Cook said.

The first crop got planted early, he said, and the later-planted soybeans got planted from the end of June into July. Those fields were still green.

Cook said the delayed harvest in this area was due to the excessive moisture from the spring. This year, they had more than 40 inches of rain on a soil that has a clay layer under it.

The rainy pattern was a continuation of the same weather that brought wet conditions the past couple years.

While driving around, he pointed out many fields have holes in the middle of them that were never planted this year.

“Most everything has a hole some place,” he says of the corn fields that look fine from the road.

Charles Wax, state climatologist at Mississippi State University, said 2007 was the worst year of the recent, multi-year drought the state experienced. The end came in 2008 when above-average rainfall came in August and heavy rains began in late November.

“Statewide, the first week of December 2008 averaged about 4.25 inches of rain with a range of 7.54 inches in the northeast to 2.94 inches in the north-central parts of the state,” Wax said. “The second week of December brought a statewide average of 7.82 inches of rain, ranging from a high of 9.05 inches in the lower Delta to 5.06 inches in the upper Delta. Only the coastal region of the state did not receive above-normal rain during this time.”

Wax attributed the wet fall and winter to the activity of fronts.

“Lots of warm and cold frontal passages through the state associated with upper-level troughs in the middle of the North American continent brought much of the rain,” Wax said. “The large events, such as the Jan. 5-6 rain, have been caused by stalled or stationary fronts across the state, with waves of low pressure developing along them and moving from southwest to northeast across the state.”

Nearly all areas of the state ended last year with above-average rainfall. The 2008 rainfall and the difference from average is given in inches for the following locations in DeSoto, Washington, Oktibbeha, Hinds, Adams, Hancock and Jackson counties:

• 59.70 at Lake Cormorant, 10.08 above average
• 57.82 at Stoneville, 6.53 above average
• 65.18 at MSU, 12.70 above average
• 59.60 at Jackson, 4.65 above average
• 61.28 at Natchez, 4.98 above average
• 65.70 at Bay St. Louis, 2.11 above average
• 55.85 at Ocean Springs, 6.98 below average

Wax said the state normally gets 5-6 inches of rain in January, but MSU got 4 inches of rain in two days and nearly all of the state received rain the first week of the year.

“Right now, the wettest part of the state is along an axis from about Vicksburg to Iuka, with the east-central region having the most rain locally,” he said.

This extensive rain is generally a good thing.

“For the first time in a couple of years, the rivers and lakes are filled, the soils are full of water, and surplus water is available for aquifer recharge,” Wax said. “This is not the growing season, and there is no need for the water right now, but getting it now restores the environment and puts us in good shape for drier conditions later in the year.”

Larry Oldham, soil specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said rain can stay on top of the soil, soak in or run off.

“Soils have a great ability to soak up a lot of water,” Oldham said. “Clay particles can absorb up to 200 times their size.

The puddles found in yards and farmland and the local flooding seen around rivers and creeks result when soil has absorbed as much water as it can. Excess rainfall runs off and collects in low areas.

“Our soils are saturated now, and there is very little oxygen in the soil,” Oldham said. “This is not a problem while most of our plants are dormant or simply not growing, but as the weather warms up and plants start growing, they will need to have some air in the soil to live.”

Oldham said how long soils take to dry out depends on the type of soil; clay soils hold water the longest, and sandy soils dry out the fastest.

While recent rains are running off in most places because of saturated soils, some water fails to soak in because of soil compaction. Oldham said wet soil that is driven over or used extensively can be compacted, damaging the soil and preventing water from being absorbed.

“To solve a compaction problem, you have to wait until the soil is very dry and use implements to shatter those manmade pans,” Oldham said. “A vehicle that drives across wet soil leaves damage about 10 inches below the soil. This damage still exists even when the tire tracks are flattened out and the area looks smooth again.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Three truckloads of peanut butter are headed to the hungry survivors of Haiti’s earthquake, and a portion of this donation was made by generous Mississippi peanut growers.

The Peanut Butter for Haiti project was initiated by Early County 2055, a non-profit organization in Georgia, but the program quickly spread to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The Mississippi Peanut Growers’ Association is part of efforts that have generated $100,000 in donation pledges as of the end of January.

“Peanut butter is portable, nonperishable and a very good source of protein,” said Malcolm Broome, executive director of the Mississippi Peanut Growers Association. “It is the perfect food in a situation like this since it does not have to be refrigerated, does not require cooking and delivers a nutritional punch that is life-sustaining.”

Broome said the state organization has previously donated to local food banks, but members were happy to have this opportunity to help those suffering in Haiti, too.

The participating states’ peanut associations joined forces to purchase processed and packaged peanut butter from Tara Foods (Kroger) and ConAgra (Peter Pan). The J.M. Smucker Company also made a donation.

Four truckloads of peanut butter have been shipped to Haiti, each containing 130,000 12-ounce jars of the food. The first load was delivered Jan. 22 aboard the USS Sacagawea and is being distributed through Operation Blessing. More donated peanut butter is being delivered to Miami for transfer to Haiti.

Mike Howell, peanut specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said when the quota system was lifted from peanuts in 2002, state production jumped from 2,500 acres to just over 20,000 acres in 2009.

“When the quota system was lifted, that really opened the door for a lot more Mississippi growers to get into peanuts,” Howell said. “We now have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a major peanut-producing state.”

About 60 percent of the state’s peanuts are grown in south Mississippi and about 30 percent in north Mississippi around Aberdeen. The remaining acres are found mostly in the Delta, Howell said.

“I am constantly on the road talking about peanuts and helping farmers figure out what they need to do in their crops,” he said.

Though 2009 was a good year for U.S. peanut production, Mississippi had its challenges.

“We ended up losing about 2,000 acres of peanuts because of the wet weather,” Howell said. “We lost a little yield on the remaining acres.”

The 2009 production was about 1.5 tons of peanuts per acre, which is an average yield for the state. Weather and growing conditions met perfectly in 2008 to generate production of 2 tons per acre, a yield Howell said may never be seen again.

Peanut production was valued at $12 million in the state in 2009.