We recently caught up with Ryan Schaefer, VP, New Holland North America, and Craig Harthoorn, retired president, OXBO Hay & Forage, during the AEI Executive Briefing Mid-Year Review. And we asked them, “What precision technology products are gaining the most traction with your customers right now?”
Ryan Schaeffer: “Really, anything that a farmer can see an immediate return on. We haven’t seen rapid adoption yet of some of the more advanced technologies, like this sense and apply technologies, or that type of things that have caught most of the media attention. Steve (Hunt, president H&R Agri-Power) mentioned earlier on that they’ve got a portfolio. Certainly, a lot of that comes from CNH, where their sales staff has had a really, really straightforward time justifying returns to the customer. When a customer sees that immediate return, those are the products that we’re seeing move the most, driving the most value for dealers or the products that are driving value for customers. Now, I think there will be some adoption rate for the more advanced technologies, but the stuff that’s really selling isn’t necessarily what you’re seeing a lot of press about right now.”
Craig Harthoorn: “For us on the OXBO side, right now, the technology that’s selling the best is on the application side of things, as far as trying to put down your material pounds per acre and so on. That’s where we’re seeing the best adoption as far as the technology. We’re trying to promote that on some of our larger spreaders. We’re working on some proprietary stuff on the hay and forage side, as far as windrow quality and so on.”
“We’ve gotten really nothing to compare to on that. For us, it’s just mainly on the application side. When you start talking larger spreaders that are upwards of a hundred thousand dollars or more, it’s easier to justify spending the money on the technology for measuring your pounds per acre.”
Hear much more from Craig and Ryan in the Mid-Year Review, which you can watch on PrecisionFarmingDealer.com. We included a link to the video in the web article for this segment.
