Wheat: Rooted in Our Daily Lives

Wheat is an extremely important crop in United States agriculture, ranking third amongst acreage planted across farms, just behind corn and soybeans. Wheat harvest is beginning to wrap up in the United States and it looks like we had a big, healthy crop this year with most of the country seeing increased yields over last year's harvest. In fact, some are reporting that this is the best crop wheat farmers have seen since the record harvest of 2003. As the combines come in from the field, the trucks are unloaded, and grain storage is filled, we thought this would be an opportune time to look at the role wheat plays in our lives.  

Drones Use Is on the Rise

The use of drones in the fields of agriculture, construction, and forestry is changing the way we look at traditional jobs. It seems with each day a new application is being developed for drones, making them more essential for operations seeking to gain a technological edge over their competition. Drones are enabling adopters of the technology to gather data quickly, complete time-intensive jobs rapidly, as well as view their fields, projects, and forests from a different vantage point. Here's a quick look at how people in agriculture, construction, and forestry are using drones in their operations.

As of Jan 1, 2021, Alliance Tire Group and Alliance Tire Americas, Inc. changed their names to Yokohama Off-Highway Tires and Yokohama Off-Highway Tires America, Inc respectively. The Alliance, Galaxy and Primex brands and product names remain unchanged. Product information is available at www.yokohama-oht.com.

Wayne Mead, long-time territory sales manager for the Alliance Tire Group, was honored last week during a retirement party at the company’s office and warehouse complex that he helped open in Houston. Mead spent 16 years as the top salesman for Galaxy Tire, a legacy company of ATG, building an expertise in skid steer, construction, farm and port tires that he has shared with customers for decades.

Little Houses Could Mean Big Dollars for Builders 

Does the idea of living simply in a small space appeal to you? Are you interested in surrounding yourself with only the things you need? Would you like to reduce your utility costs? Do you like the idea of reducing your mortgage and lessening your debt? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should consider looking at a tiny house.

Can Immigration Ease Labor Shortages in Construction 

Whether it’s Brexit or Obama’s immigration plan deadlocking the United State’s Supreme Court, there has been no dodging the topic of immigration over the last month—and with this being an election year, immigration will most likely remain a trending topic for the next few months. Seemingly inescapable, the debate over immigration has finally come to the construction industry, an industry that is desperately short of skilled labor. Looking to fill holes in its workforce, one of the solutions some construction companies are considering is the use of the H-2B visa to bring temporary foreign workers to help fill the gaps. Like everywhere immigration is debated, this is proving to be a divisive topic with most taking a hard stance on either side.