Let’s head south to the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association convention, which took place in Fort Myers, Fla. We caught up with Mach CEO Colin Hurd after his technology council presentation. He said one of his goals was to help companies incorporate more technology into their machinery because that’s where he sees the industry headed in the next 5 years. 

“I think we saw a glimpse into the future this morning. We saw a robot, but really what it was is a farm implement. If you ask a farmer today, tell me about farm equipment manufacturers, they’re not going to use the word robot. I think in the next 5-10 years, the word robotics and farm implements are going to be a lot more synergistic, meaning there’s just going to be a lot more automation. How do you make decisions on an implement? How do you augment an operator’s job and make an implement more intelligent to do a job better, more efficiently and really scale that across an operation. I think we’re going to see a lot more of that — fundamentally, that’s robotics.” 

Hurd says it’s important for manufacturers and dealers to roll up their sleeves and take the time to really learn about new technologies and products in the marketplace.