To me, the farm equipment industry has always been a grand theatre, and I've had a front-row seat for 40 years. It's not always a spectacular show, but it's constantly changing.

I grew up on a small farm and had other family members who were farming much larger farms, so I felt right at home in the industry. It did not take long for me to understand that the best job in the company was calling on farm equipment dealers, and that is where I wanted to be.

I have to admit that in nearly 20 years of covering the business and as a business owner myself, there’s a heaping helping of skepticism on the subject of the viability of the company store.