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Kent Braathen is a custom harvester. With this blog he will cover the harvest trail starting out in Vernon, Texas, continuing on to Kiowa, Kan., Eades, Colo., Phillip, S.D., Onida, S.D. and Minot, N.D. He will also report throughout the fall during soybean, corn and sunflower harvest in N.D. and S.D. Kent and his partner, along with a crew of nine young men from South Africa and a nephew, run five John Deere 9770 combines, two tractors and carts and five semi tractors and trailers.

Farm Journal’s Machinery Doc brings his tractor-seat common sense to AgWeb Iron. As a full-time farmer and former machinery salesman, Doc knows the value of a good used-equipment buy. He applies his horse sense and farmer perspective to working with IRON Solutions to track used machinery values for his Machinery Doc column. He and his wife, Layna, farm near Pine Village Ind.

Chet Esther farms in Beardstown, Ill., with his wife Lori and two sons Ryan and Chad. The Esther Family is in the process of transferring the family farm to the next generation and was chosen to participate in the Farm Journal Legacy Project.

Robin Schmahl is a commodity broker and owner of AgDairy LLC, a full-service commodity brokerage firm located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. He can be reached at 877-256-3253 or through their Web site at www.agdairy.com.

Andy is a seasoned grain market analyst and the senior account executive at Walsh Hedging. His main focus is assisting producers and end users to better hedge their investments through his various market strategies over his years of experience working on the grain floor.

Kristina grew up in a small farming community in southwest Iowa. Today, she lives on five acres in the country while running her own consulting business in the city. Her website, www.kristinashouse.com, features homemaking, gardening, travel, entertainment, business and technology tips. In the kitchen, Kristina bridges the recipes of her past to the new flavors and fashionable foods of today. In business, she combines a Midwest work ethic with trendy tech tools. Join her each week for flashbacks and fast-forwards. To contact her, e-mail: Kristina@kristinashouse.com.

Doug Austin is passionate finding solutions that will allow us to nutritiously, responsibly and profitably produce the food in our future. His experience in consumer insights and shopper marketing bring interesting and helpful insights to the table about the customer’s perspective of our food production and how the industry can work together for a brighter more nutritious future.

Greg Stephens is on the faculty at K-State in Salina where he teaches business, supervision and history of technology. He considers himself a generalist. Greg is also on the state board for Kansas NFO and has an interest with siblings in a western Kansas family farm. In the past 30 years he has worked with non-profit and rural organizations, assisted in leadership training, grant writing, and provided management training and consulting for regional agribusiness. This blog represents Greg’s thoughts on positive agriculture, rural and organizational development, entrepreneurship, technology, and group marketing.

Bayer AG is a global research-based and growth-oriented enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience AG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about EUR 5.7 billion (2006), is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plant biotechnology. The company offers an outstanding range of products and extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture and for non-agricultural applications. Bayer CropScience has a global workforce of about 17,900 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.newsroom.bayercropscience.com

CNH Case New Holland is a world leader in the agricultural and construction equipment businesses. Supported by about 11,500 dealers in 160 countries, CNH brings together the knowledge and heritage of its Case and New Holland brand families with the strength and resources of its worldwide commercial, industrial, product support and finance organizations. CNH Global N.V., whose stock is listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:CNH), is a majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat S.p.A. (FIA.MI), More information about CNH and its Case and New Holland products can be found online at www.cnh.com .