55 Years And Counting From The Tractor Seat

By bill whitman 

 A day in the life of so many farmers requires us to perform any number of different skills. One of the things that makes the American farmer and rancher great is that we are dependent on few others for our own success. One of the things that concerns me is how technology tries to determine whether something works or not. 

I watched a YouTube video on Border View Farms channel yesterday where Nathan and his family demo’ d a 2025 Model John Deere X-9. I admit that like anyone else watching this unreleased model run, it is impressive. Nathan described it as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” but at age 35 I’m sure that applied more to his dad who was duly impressed. What concerned me, after the shock and awe wore off, is the technology. The history of the farmer and rancher has been his/her ability to understand and work on their own equipment. Being one that has struggled with merging technology into our operation, I can’t imagine the future and how we will adapt.

Being a YouTube viewer, I tend to watch the mechanical problems and resolutions on numerous farms. This fall I watched as Ivers Farm in Illinois had a similar catastrophic failure with of the new combines they brought on to their farm this year. The dealer did a decent job servicing the failure, but I was surprised that Dennis had to drive a couple of hundred miles to get the part that had failed. I kept thinking, what happened to the days when if you spent money with a equipment dealer, (especially “big money”), you could expect service. The word “service” has been redefined these days to mean something far less than older farmers had come to expect.

I suggest that eventually, the marketing model used by Sears and Roebuck, and other like successful businesses of the past, will make a reappearance as Americans begin to demand what we’re paying for from retailers. I am not naïve enough to believe that there won’t be modifications to the age-old business models where the customer is always right, however, the concept of the customers needs being the priority will come back. 

The bottom line here is that the American farmer and rancher will always survive. Seriously, no successful business model can include the drive, determination, and resilience found in the American farmer and rancher. It is simply not found in the core of commercial businesses. 

There’s a picture that is etched in my mind from Hurricane Katrina. All the people sitting on the curb and huddled in shelters, waiting for someone to help them. Of all the pictures I’ve seen of farmers and livestock people, not one was waiting, they were all working to help themselves and their neighbors. That spirit exists in only one industry here in the United States, American Agriculture. 

IndianaAg@bluemarble.net