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.

This blog was posted in response to Frank Lessiter’s article, “133 Right-to-Repair Concerns -- Growers Get Loud,” that was a follow-up to a unique content project between Lessiter Media’s farm equipment and grower divisions. To view the original work, click here to review the arguments for dealers/manufacturers (Executive Editor Kim Schmidt) and growers (Grower Division Editorial Chairman Frank Lessiter).

As most of you know, our company also publishes No-Till Farmer (NTF), now in its 50th year (my dad, Frank, has personally edited each edition since 1972). With NTF’s half-century milestone and the 60th anniversary of the first commercial no-till plots in Kentucky in 2022, we’ve been preparing a museum display to bring to Louisville for the 30th National No-Tillage Conference (NNTC) in January.