In celebrating National Agriculture Week and National Ag Day, AEM recognizes the importance of agriculture and the role it plays in our society. What’s more, we applaud the role of farmers in helping our members develop the equipment making it possible for food to get from the fields to our tables. Learn more.
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Two sets of multigenerational farming families shared their perspectives on the future of technology in the agriculture industry at the AEM Annual Conference last winter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Brandon Hunnicutt and Zach Hunnicutt are fifth-generation farmers who work with their semi-retired father, Daryl. They keep their farm on the cutting edge of technology with a strong emphasis on data and irrigation. The duo raises corn, soybeans, and popcorn. Nolan Wipf and Brandon Wipf work together on their family farm, started in 1955 by Nolan’s father, Willis. The two of them cultivate wheat, corn, and soybeans in rotation, as well as alfalfa and grass hay. The four farmers joined moderator Charlene Finck of Farm Journal for a panel discussion at Annual which highlighted how equipment brands can better serve their ag customers, what the future holds for agriculture from a technology perspective and more.
Finck: What is your perspective on how things are changing in terms of agriculture equipment? What equipment brands and features are currently most interesting to modern farmers?
Brandon. Hunnicutt: It’s been fascinating to see over the last few years the changes in equipment and what we on the consumer end are looking for on the farm. We used to be very brand loyal, and now we are looking for what fits our operation and what we need as farmers to produce the highest quality crop we can. And then also how this relates to autonomy and what is it that we need on the farm in terms of technology. We have 11 kids between the two of us, but there is no guarantee that any of them will come back to the farm. We are looking at how our farm will evolve and what we will need for the future to evolve into the next stage.
Brandon Wipf: Many of you are executives that are responsible of hundreds of thousands of people's livelihoods – if that doesn’t weigh heavily on you then it should. We don’t have a lot of employees, but we do have land that will outlive all of us and the responsibility of caring for that is something I know the Hunnicutts take very seriously. The equipment that we purchase has to fit into that bigger picture; the non-negotiable thing is being a steward for our land.
Nolan Wipf: Well, as Brandon said, we don’t have employees. This is a family operation. But the next five to 10 years this is probably going to change, as I am not getting any younger. That’s one of the challenges that farmers are facing, which are similar challenges as to those business on Main Street – workforce.
Finck: What things do you expect to change in the near future for technology in agriculture?
Brandon Hunnicutt: That is a great question. You think through all the different things we’ve tried over the years. A little bit of it involves the data collection – taking the immense amount of data and using it for decision-making. We need to think about how we can make those data points actionable to implement in the next wave of equipment. Autonomy and artificial intelligence (AI) seem to be the next steps in our industry and seeing how those pieces fit into the grand scheme of things. We have a relatively small operation, and we are trying to use the latest and greatest resources to be stewards of the land and create an even more profitable business. It’s going to be interesting to see how these technologies can move us toward these goals.
Brandon Wipf: Responding to the labor shortage in agriculture, framers keep going with bigger and bigger equipment. I think we are at, or past, peak equipment size. For the next generation of equipment, we need a smaller swarm of autonomous things. Maybe I’ll be operating one machine and have two or three machines in the field with me so I can keep an eye on them. Autonomy is going to need to be ready shortly if it will fit on our farm, and we are going to need to start addressing our labor challenges as generations age out of the farm. We need autonomy to be ready for us as soon as possible.
Finck: What other advice do you have for those in this room to help them to differentiate their brands and their companies, and how they can be supportive of ranchers and farmers like you?
Brandon Wipf: Well, farmers all talk to each other - it’s a unique business. The experience that they have with your company is going to have a ripple effect in the community in which they farm. Take a look at everything you can do to make your equipment last as long as possible, make the service and maintenance processes very clear for people of all technical backgrounds and keep that machinery working as long as possible – that’s how you show a farmer that you care about their operation. There are some farms that love to trade in all their equipment every year, but if you really want to understand agriculture, you need to understand the business that they are in and the financial realities they are in, and then meet them there.
Nolan Wipf: Historically, when we purchase a piece of equipment, we tend to keep it around for quite a while if it functions. Building equipment that can hold up after years to the work it needs to do is key. Equipment is expensive. If we invest in equipment, we want to get our money's worth, and hopefully we can do that over years and years of service.
Zach Hunnicutt: I would say really focusing in on customer service is huge. There’s been a lot of consolidation in the industry, whether that’s just harsh financial realities or seeking efficiencies, some of our dealer networks we have lost some of that good personal customer service due to consolidation. In addition, as there is increased consolidation, we would like to see companies be more of a presence in the community. It’s a relatively small world – farmers talk.
Finck: What is your advice on keeping multiple generations in sync during the decision-making process?
Brandon Hunnicutt: One of the challenges out there when you hear stories of multi-generational farms is who is running the farm and who is making the decisions. If you have three or four generations on the farm, is grandpa still making the decisions and controlling the checkbook? How are they working together and what is the decision-making process? It's not always the oldest generation and the youngest generation that have differences of opinions.
Brandon Wipf: I think if you asked most farmers what they were most concerned about when it came to passing their operations along to the next generation, the most common response centers around government policy, tax issues, regulations, and things of that nature. Equipment manufacturers are also affected by regulators, and they affect how everyone operates. To the companies in the agriculture business: farmers can be fantastic advocates for you. If I go to a policymaker and I say, ‘I would like you to change this regulation because it will help me feed the world,’ it is a far more persuasive argument than sending lobbyists in from a company with a profit motive. I’m sure this is true in the construction industry as well. The boots on the ground can actually be a good partner for equipment manufacturers. Government policy has been something that we have been working on for a while. Ultimately, we need to be thinking about how regulations affect farmers and how we can help each other, both now and in the future.
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