Putting Uncle Sam’s Surplus to Use on the Farm

On the Seven Stars Coffee farm in Holualoa, HI, Henry Williams uses irrigation pumps, mowers and a five-ton tractor truck, all deemed surplus by the military, to keep operations on his eight-acre Kona coffee establishment running smoothly. Back on the mainland, in Warrenton, VA, Phillip Ramsey mounts bee colonies on the flatbeds of over 30 M105 military trailers, allowing him to smoothly transport the bees into fields conducive for honey making, which is the flagship of Ramsey’s Stoneleigh Farms. Across the country at eastern Idaho’s Howell Farms, Tom Howell leverages wrecker and cargo trucks, as well as an aircraft recovery truck to farm seed potatoes and barley for beer giants including Anheuser Busch and Corona. And in Blairstown, MO the Gudenkauf family uses a five-ton flatbed, a 6 x6 cargo truck, three-quarter ton trailers and a multi-purpose four-wheeled drive Unimog vehicle to keep costs down and productivity up on their soy bean farm.  The Unimog easily plows through rough terrain or snow with bales of hay to feed the cows, while the five-ton flatbed can hold over 10,000 pounds of seed.

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