In this episode of the Precision Farming Dealer podcast, brought to you by Osmundson Manufacturing, Editor Mike Lessiter sits with Al Myers, founder and CEO of Ag Leader for a candid conversation on how he got his start in the industry, some early lessons learned building an independent precision business and what the future holds.
“I was just plain dumb lucky to have the right technology at the right time ... It would just about be impossible to do it today with the very limited resources I had — what little money I could spare from the job, and with the mortgage and two kids growing up. Back then, I could teach myself to do things and go to RadioShack to buy parts to build prototypes. The technology is so much more sophisticated now, so the barrier to entry is also much higher today.”
— Al Myers, Founder & CEO of Ag Leader, founded in 1992 after 6 years of basement tinkering with what became the on-the-go yield monitor.
From this interview recorded at Ag Leader’s headquarters in Ames, Iowa, you’ll hear business insights, memories, stories and challenges from this unassuming engineering-type who built an technology-changing powerhouse and created an impressive achievement-filled history that celebrated 25 years in 2017 ... and continues to be independently owned and self-funded.
Click and hear great stories on his original aspirations to work at John Deere or Caterpillar, how an appetite to develop new products during the recession spurred him to the basement the create “something new.” And how he struggled to sell a product that retailed for $2,200, which was 10 times what farmers were paying at the time for any technology add-on. And these themes are just a sampling of the first half of special recording with this 70-year-old legend in ag technology. A lot more all of agriculture can learn from his story.
Ag Leader has sponsored each of the last 8 National No-Tillage Conferences to support farmers’ knowledge in advanced farming methods and technology.
Intro Music: Squire Tuck - Rush to the Head
Interlude Music: Squire Tuck - Expressing One's Emotions in Public
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