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| Ohio hosts John Deere’s annual national meeting |
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| By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent
HAMILTON, Ohio — The John Deere Co. brought 5,000 North American dealers and salespeople, by invitation only, to Ohio for its annual convention, which took place at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati and at the Knollman Farm in Crosby Township, where 351 pieces of new equipment were on display.
“This is a program that we do in the month of August, to show our dealers what the new products are for next year,” said Mike Hankins, Deere’s manager of shows and exhibits. “We tell them what’s new with the new products and we send them to classes.”
Four waves of 1,250 dealers each spent four days at the convention.
At the Duke Energy Center, they attended PowerPoint classes dealing with strategy, Hankins said. They also traveled to Knollman Farm for hands-on field demonstrations with expert Deere factory representatives. They learned how to operate the new equipment so they could demonstrate to producers back home.
Hankins said about the new equipment, “We understand that our producers cannot control the output cost. They’re growing corn and soybeans; they can’t dictate the price of what that is.
“We’re working with a lot of our producers and our dealers to help them control their input costs.
“A hot item for us the last three to five years is our global positioning satellite systems on machines,” he said.
“We can measure what the harvest is, down to a very finite point in a field. You can take that same information when you plant in the spring and put either more or less seed in certain areas of the field.
“You take that same information, you can put it into your sprayer when you go to spray and it will put either more or less fertilizer and chemicals in certain parts of the field, helping producers control their input costs.”
Hankins talked about a wide spreading axle which allows farmers to get a wider tread setting so they can travel the rows more efficiently. The satellite system allows the combine and sprayer to follow that same path, eliminating compaction. He called it “controlled traffic farming.“
Planning for the annual convention began three years ago. The company needs 60 acres for field demonstrations. Strickers Grove, an amusement park located next to the Knollmans’, added to the convenience.
“We visited three different farm families,” Hankins said. “We decided for what we need, the Knollman farm worked best.”
The equipment came to the farm in 125 truckloads. Core factory people spent three weeks assembling it.
From the Knollman Farm, it will travel to September farm shows (such as Ohio’s Farm Science Review) all over the country.
In the last week of the convention, Deere allowed Hamilton and Butler counties’ Farm Bureau members to see the equipment.
A limited number of tickets were distributed.
The company presented a demonstration and then the members had 45 minutes to see the equipment and talk with factory experts.
The Knollmans – brothers Bill, Mel, Norman, Mel’s son Scott and Norman’s son, Steve – said they really enjoyed hosting the convention and seeing everything come together.
“It’s been nice to work with (the John Deere Co.)” Bill said. “They’ve been very cooperative to work with, so we tried to help them as much as we could. It’s really been fun.”
This farm news was published in the Sept. 5, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 9/5/2007 |
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