Case IH dealer H&R Agri-Power was honored with the title of 2023 No-Till Innovator. They are only the second machinery dealer ever to have been honored with the award. From no-till’s very beginning, H&R Agri-Power has displayed a commitment to no-till farming and has helped implement regenerative ag practices in the dealership’s Southern and Midwestern territories and beyond. 

The company’s roots go back as far as 1959 when H&R Implement Co. Inc. was founded in Hopkinsville, Ky. — just a few miles down the road from where Harry Young Jr. planted the first commercial no-till plot near Christian County, Ky.

Wayne Hunt, former president of H&R Agri-Power, recalls the dealership’s no-till origin story.

As the farm equipment dealer for Harry Young Jr., who planted the first commercial no-till plot in 1962, H&R Agri-Power became the first dealer in the U.S. to test and demonstrate the Case 500 no-till drill and one of the first dealers to promote the twin spinner option for combines to better spread residue. Both contributed to the success of no-till, a practice that has become standard in the dealership’s Kentucky territory and beyond.

H&R Agri-Power, founded in 1959, now has 22 locations across Kentucky, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Photo by: Jeff Lazewski

“Thanks to the association that this area had with Mr. Harry Young and the credible and respected individual that he was, no-till just became a farming standard in this area of Kentucky and from here went almost all around the world,” Hunt says. “It was truly amazing how Young went from idea to theory and implemented no-till to be standard practice.”

Wayne’s son, Steve, currently operates as president of H&R Agri-Power, which has expanded to 20+ locations across 6 states. Steve recalls when his father was a fertilizer salesman for Young, and he says this is when the dealership first got involved with no-till. 

“Mr. Harry Young, he is what we call the grandfather of no-till,” Steve says. “My dad was his fertilizer salesman and sold him some fertilizer and was aware of what Mr. Harry was doing there, and about five miles from my house is where it was first ever experimented with.”

This caused H&R Agri-Power to start looking into no-till and the equipment that comes with it.

“H&R AgriPower was the first dealer in the U.S. to test and demonstrate the Case 500 no-till drill,” says Phil Needham, owner of Needham Ag Technologies and long-time no-till advocate. “They were also one of the first to promote the twin spinner option for combines to help spread residue better across wider heads. Uniform residue spread is critical for no-till.”

Steve says the company has always tried to help the farmers be better and improve their bottom line.

“That’s really what our job is all about as an equipment dealer — helping farmers make more money and improve their bottom line.," Steve says. 

H&R Agri-Power has also been instrumental in helping farmers get comfortable with strip-till, often cited as a gateway for farmers into no-till. Strip-till has helped H&R’s customers break through no-till yield caps and continue spreading regenerative agriculture practices to farmers still using conventional tillage.

Steve and Wayne also used their own farm to promote no-till and help educate other farmers in the area about the benefits of the practice. Steve and his son are nearly 100% no-till on their own roughly 10,000-acre farm. Approximately 3,350 of those acres are 100% no-till wheat.

Needham points out that the list of H&R Agri-Power’s contributions to the world of no-till is extensive, and it continues to grow today, as they operate in an area of Kentucky which has been historically successful with no-till. 

“Many local farmers look at Hunt farms as a leader,” Needham says. “All of the soybeans planted behind wheat are no-tilled, and almost all of the corn is strip tilled.”

Steve says that receiving the No-Till Innovator Award is humbling, but he wants to emphasize that the award is more about his customers and the community than it is about him or the dealership itself. 

“We're all about our people,” Steve says. “It's not about me or my dad — it's about our people in the business. I'm in awe really to be honored in this regard because receiving an award like this puts us in a bucket with the Mr. Harry Youngs and the Howard Martins of the world. Those guys are the true innovators.” 

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