By TIM ALEXANDER Illinois Correspondent
GIBSON CITY, Ill. — Visitors to the Midwest Ag Expo Illinois Jan. 23-24 at Gordyville USA will want to stop by two large exhibit areas for new agricultural products offered by Kuhns Equipment LLC, the No. 1 Massey-Ferguson dealer in the Midwest.
“We’re going to be showing the new 86 and 76 series of Massey tractors and a new line of Versatile tractors,” promised John Smith, general manager of Kuhns Equipment LLC of Gibson City. Farm machinery technology has improved dramatically since Abe Kuhns started assembling New Idea farm equipment under a shade tree in the heart of Illinois Amish country near Arthur in 1956. Today Kuhns has dealerships in Arthur and Gibson City. The company was recently purchased by Abe Kuhn’s son, Howard, and his family, who reside near Arthur.
“We now have the top volume of Massey Ferguson-AGCO sales in the Midwest,” Smith said, adding Kuhns’ customer base consists of farmers from all over central Illinois.
Kuhns will devote an entire 40-by-70-foot display area to AGCO products, while a 40-by-40-foot lot will showcase Versatile. The company’s complete product line includes Massey Ferguson, Versatile, Gleaner, White Planters, Gehl, Bush Hog, Krause, M&W, Westendorf and Sunflower Tillage products, among others. “Vertical tillage is still a hot item, and in some areas so is strip-till,” Smith said, of products farmers might be perusing at the 2013 expo.
Along with tillage equipment, tractors and combines, Kuhns personnel will be showcasing the newest headers, hay and forage implements, planting equipment, riding lawn mowers and other top products.
With a Kuhns Equipment LLC dealership located just miles from Gordyville USA – which is on State Highway 136 six miles east of Rantoul, near Gifford – the dealership enjoys a special relationship with the expo. This will be Kuhns’ ninth year of exhibiting there. “The show is very good for us; it’s local. Probably 75 or 80 percent of our customers attend for at least one day,” Smith said. An extensive parts inventory and state-of-the art facilities are just two of the reasons Kuhns stands out from the pack when a farmer decides on a dealership, according to Smith.
“We have a very good service department and parts inventory,” he said. “Our stores are new – both have been constructed in the past two years. They are very nice facilities with big shops to work in, with all of the most modern equipment. If you want to be one of AGCO’s top dealers, you must have nice facilities that are big enough to bring in combines and work on them.”
Kuhns’ outstanding sales and service departments are led by Smith, Sales Manager Jason Burton, Service Manager John Flanagan and Parts Manager Jana Leonard at the Gibson City store. In Arthur, the general manager is Howard Kuhns, Rodger Burton and Mike Pflum are sales managers, Glen Kaufman is parts manager and Darrell Carpenter is the store’s service manager. Kuhns personnel encourages farmers attending the IMAE to stop by their exhibit areas and say hello. To learn more, call Arthur at 217-543-2154 or Gibson City at 217-784-4731 or visit www.kuhnsequip.com |
