John Anderson, president of JCA Electronics and Jan Faassen, sales director for GKN Off-Highway Powertrain, discuss the need for collaboration and standards throughout the supply chain when it comes to preventative diagnostics in farm equipment during the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Assn. Supply Summit in Omaha in April.

Dairy farmer Doris Mold sits down with Jean Goslin, a cow-calf operator, to discuss shifts in the industry, genetics and technology and other topics. The two share a common bond through their involvement with American Agri-Women, along with the distinct challenges they face working in male-dominated industries.

Vernon Schmidt (Executive Vice President, Farm Equipment Manufacturers Assn.) and Heather Hetterick (Director of Marketing, Redline Equipment) met for the first time during the United Equipment Dealers Assn. in Louisville, Ky., in February. Both have experience working with associations and manufacturers (Hetterick did a stint with the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers before moving to Ohio with husband, Zach, at Redline) and explored the challenges that come with promoting shortlines in a mainline dealership.

Clint Schnoor, president of Agri-Service, a large multi-location AGCO dealership headquartered in Idaho and Bryndon Meinhardt, a regional manager for KanEquip, an 8-store CNH dealer in Kansas, sat down to talk for the first time during the Precision Farming Dealer Summit in Louisville, Ky. Despite carrying different brands and covering different markets, the two discovered their businesses have more similarities than differences.

Two Canadian manufacturer representatives, John Redekop, owner and founder of Mandako Intl. in Manitoba, and Brad Baker, senior product manager for Salford Group In Ontario, offer their unique perspectives on business growth and finding trustworthy employees to keep management afloat amid expansion.

A gap in industry experience doesn’t equate to different challenges when proving the value of precision equipment and establishing a rapport with customers. Brenan Schneidermann, precision farming specialist for Town & Country Implement and recent college graduate, sits down with Skip Klinefelter, owner of Linco-Precision, to discuss the precision learning curve, generational approaches to customers and the need for patience when entering the industry.

Steve Berger, a fourth-generation grain and hog producer in southeast Iowa, sat down with Ken Zuckerberg, then a senior research analyst in New York with Rabobank. The conversation provided Zuckerberg, who sees the industry from the perspective of a financial analyst, a chance to go eyeball-to-eyeball with a person in the trenches farming every day in Berger, a 2016 No-Till Innovator of the Year. The talk happened in the lobby at the 2018 National No-Tillage Conference in Louisville.

Manufacturer executive Jim Wessing of Kondex Corp. sat down with Doug Griffin, former AGCO vice president and current principal of Context Network, a consulting firm that works with full-line manufacturers. They discussed the lack of experience and availability of skilled workers, knowledge voids, unique challenges of suppliers and manufacturers, and also offered advice for anyone entering the ag market.

In mid-April, Chris Frodel, Mid-State Equipment (John Deere) drove over from her store to meet in the conference room at Johnson Tractor (Case IH), Leo Johnson’s store. The length of Frodel’s drive on Highway 14 was a full 4 minutes. That’s how close these two dealerships are in the rich agricultural region of Janesville, Wis. Both are second-generation dealers with siblings as partners (Chris runs the business with her brother Bryan and father Curt Hanson, while Leo does the same with brother Eric) and steadily collected additional stores from small-operation origins. Frodel (44) and Johnson (62) also found a lot of similarities and values in their businesses as they dug in for a candid discussion and what the future may look like.