Genetically Modified Tires
Tire Makers Learn to Cope With Bioengineered Crops
By BOB TITA / WSJ July 31, 2012
High yielding, genetically modified crops have transformed the economics of U.S. farming. But they also pack an unexpected punch: Their tougher stalks are puncturing tires and stranding farm equipment in the field.
Iowa corn and soybean farmer Mark Dimit said tire damage from the prior season's corn and soybean stalks, much tougher in GM crops, repeatedly brought spring planting to a standstill on his 4,000-acre farm near Grinnell two years ago.
"It's not as easy as taking a tire off your car," said Mr. Dimit, who blames stubble for at least a half dozen flats on a new planter. "You do that for about two hours every morning, and you start to get a little bit frustrated."
At about $35 a tire to plug a leak, the cost also angered the 53-year-old, who has farmed for 35 years. So, when the 2011 Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines gave him access to manufacturers, he got an opportunity to vent to a tire supplier.
"I probably wasn't as nice as I could have been," said Mr. Dimit, who has made a habit of visiting factories and participating in surveys whenever companies solicit customer feedback.
Mr. Dimit's complaints to Titan International Inc., TWI -0.14% one of the largest farm tire suppliers, caused the company to suggest he test a newly developed tire with four layers of Kevlar, the synthetic fabric best known for its use in military helmets and bulletproof vests. Mr. Dimit installed them on his planter more than a year ago.
"I've not had a flat tire since," he said. "I complained at the right time."
Auto tire makers including Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. GT +10.41% and Essex Manufacturing Inc. have put Kevlar belts into durable, run-flat tires for passenger cars and off-road vehicles. But farm equipment makers such as Deere DE -0.65% & Co., Fiat Industrial SpA's FI.MI -1.05% CNH Global and Agco Corp. AGCO -1.13% don't yet offer the specially-reinforced tires on their tractors.
This year's crop stubble has been particularly tough on tires because a mild winter and a dry spring kept moisture from disintegrating old plant stalks and stems. As farmers cut back on tilling their fields to preserve the top soil, they're frequently planting a new crop right next to the remains of an old one.
Kevlar is made by DuPont, DD +0.06% one of the largest producers of GM corn and bean seeds through its DuPont Pioneer unit. The company developed the material in the 1960s to strengthen car tires, but the auto industry has largely stuck with cheaper, steel mesh belts.
About 3 million farm tires a year are sold in the U.S. with sales expanding annually by an average of about 4% since 2007, fueled by steadily rising sales of farm equipment.
Titan, which also makes farm tires under the Goodyear name, has limited Kevlar to tires for planters and other implements where stubble punctures are frequent due to their softer treads.
The company said the tires haven't been available long enough to determine the market's reaction. The Kevlar tires cost almost $300 apiece, roughly twice as much as regular tires. Titan says the price is offset by lower costs for repairs and tire replacements. Mr. Dimit figures he spent more than $200 on fixing flats in one planting season.
"It's pay me now or pay me later," said Scott Sloan, product engineering manager for Titan. "It only takes one bean stalk to make a tire go flat."
U.S. farmers, many of whom are flush with cash after an extended stretch of high commodity prices and record harvests, have shown a willingness to spend money on productivity-enhancing equipment in recent years.
Titan has been trying to convince equipment makers to offer the tire on new machines.
"We are certainly interested in it," said Martin Richenhagen, chairman and chief executive of Georgia-based Agco, maker of Massey Ferguson-brand equipment. "We're already doing testing with it."
In June, Deere finance chief Jim Field described tire damage from crop stubble as "one of the biggest complaints we have." Still, Deere has yet to offer customers Kevlar tires as an option on new machinery.
Titan's Mr. Sloan said the higher cost of the tires is making them a hard sell to equipment manufacturers. But that may be changing.
Dan McClain, manager of Triple C Farms, a Long Island, Kan., livestock producer that raises about 4,500 acres of corn and soybeans for animal feed, said he recently bought a set of the Kevlar tires for one of the farm's two planters.
"A farmer isn't afraid to pay up for something if it lasts three times as long," he said.
"We don't work the ground like we used to," Mr. McClain added. "All of that stubble is left on top of the ground. You're driving on top of it constantly. A planter would go through a set of tires in a season. That's six or eight tires." |
