If the ag industry has taught precision farming dealers anything during the last few years, it’s that no longer can they rely on singular sales of hardware and expect to grow business. For some, this has been a hard lesson learned. But the evolving market has allowed adaptable dealers to capitalize on changing technology priorities among their farm customers.
H&R Agri-Power announces the acquisition of Yearwood Equipment Co. located in Fayetteville, Tenn. This will be H&R Agri-Power’s 13th location across its five-state-footprint.
Peer groups are nothing new to the agricultural industry, but developing a network of external support is an increasingly valuable resource for precision farming professionals. Joining or even forming a precision peer group of non-competitive dealers is an option to network with other specialists and trade tips, challenges and success stories.
While we officially welcomed the new year this week, dealers began preparing for 2018 long before flipping the calendar to January. This includes forecasting the most promising precision technologies to increase revenue in the coming year. Precision Farming Dealer recently asked dealers to identify their best precision bets, and the results ranged from expanding service offerings to new product lines.
Dealerships tend to be adept at selling — whether it’s machinery, parts or service. But talking with precision farming managers, one area that is often an afterthought in their department is the need to sell themselves.
With the rapid evolution of technology, it's not always easy for precision dealers to catch their breath. However, a time may be coming when the precision industry takes stock of where it is and where it needs to go.
One of the more interesting elements of John Deere’s planned acquisition of Precision Planting from parent company Monsanto, involved the data collection capabilities provided by the hardware. The cancellation of the deal included a digital collaboration agreement between Deere and the Climate Corp., which would have allowed for sharing of agronomic data between Deere’s Operations Center and Climate’s FieldView platform.
At last week’s National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, I had the opportunity to talk with suppliers about how and why precision farming dealer networks are evolving in the industry.
This January 9-10 in St. Louis, will present a new opportunity for precision farming retailers to gather at the 2nd Precision Farming Dealer Summit. The intimate event will feature networking and idea sharing through general sessions, panel presentations and dealer-moderated roundtable discussions.
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There was plenty of technology on display at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., a few weeks ago. Farm Equipment editor Mike Lessiter caught up with Monarch Tractor’s John Issacson and got his take on the top 5 applications in autonomy right now.