A defining moment came at different times for different businesses, but it eventually came to everyone and then it was adopted quickly. I remember that moment at which digital communication started to take the place of phone calls and snail-mail in our contacts between dealers, manufacturers and retail customers.

As a young shortline territory salesman, I remember it as 1989 or 1990, when I walked into a dealership for the first time with my new whiz-bang laptop computer. I use “laptop” loosely, as my Grid Systems unit weighed a little over 12 pounds and it had, I think, less computing power than some of the new waffle irons you can buy today. 

Nevertheless, on that machine I was able to dial in to my company’s system to check product availability for my dealers as well as to help them track the paid and unpaid inventory on their lots. Amazingly, a lot of the ERP and CRM packages I worked with in the ensuing decades seemed to have trouble with these tasks … go figure. 

The information superhighway may have been just a cow path at that time, but it was key to the business evolution we’ve all played a part in over these last 55 years.

I think Farm Equipment magazine has become the premier source for information and education about our industry… and I think that holds whether you are a retail dealer or a manufacturer/supplier in our farm machinery marketplace. Whether we were building budget forecasts or evaluating new market niches, Farm Equipment was always the trusted source for a manufacturer trying to understand what was going on in our space. On top of that, Farm Equipment is great at introducing us to the people and personalities behind the businesses … and that helps us learn from each other. 

I’m happily retired now but I have to admit, the Farm Equipment E-Watch is still one of the first emails I open in each morning. Congratulations on 55 years and best wishes for many more.