Jim Straeter

Establishing a profitable precision business within a farm equipment dealership is difficult enough, but spinning a precision business off into its own company comes with its own set of challenges. It takes dedicated staff and resources to define and attain long-term objectives for a dealership’s precision farming business.

A progressive Indiana dealer and the manager of the group’s independent precision store share their journey toward marking precision profitable as a stand alone business, from selecting a location to developing management goals, at the 2016 Precision Farming Dealer Summit on Jan. 5-6 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Speakers for this panel include:

Lanty Armstrong

Jim Straeter is owner of New Holland Rochester, located in Rochester, Ind., and has helped the dealership grow from a single-store operation to 7 locations with sales near $70 million since taking ownership in 1987.  As equipment has become more technology-rich, Straeter made the move to open an independent precision farming store, Ag Technologies, in 2011 to make a statement to customers that precision farming is so vital it requires a specialized group dedicated to selling and servicing this equipment. During the panel discussion, Straeter will share his vision, motives and results in separating the company’s precision farming business and shed light on the challenges and benefits of this undertaking.

Lanty “Spud” Armstrong is the precision ag manager for Ag Technologies in Rochester, Ind., the precision farming off-shoot of New Holland Rochester. He worked for 7 years as the precision specialist at New Holland Rochester before the independent store was opened. During its first year operating independently, Ag Technologies’ 6-employee team tripled precision sales for the dealer group. He will share how having an independent location for precision products leads to clear customer recognition and complements equipment sales at the parent company.

Co-located with the 24^th Annual National No-Tillage Conference, the 2016 Precision Farming Dealer Summit will be held Jan. 5-6 at the Indianapolis Downtown Marriott. Among the Title Sponsors making the learning and networking opportunities possible for dealers are Ace Pumps, CDK Global, DigiFarm, Dealer Information Systems (DIS), DLL Financial Solutions, Iron Solutions, LAFORGE Systems, Montag Manufacturing, MZB, Reichhardt, Western Equipment Dealers Assn. and Yetter Farm Equipment.

To view the complete, 8-page program for the 2016 Summit, click here. For more information and to register, visit www.precisionsummit.com. Stay tuned for more updates and speaker announcements. We’ll see you in Indianapolis!