During the last few weeks, I had the pleasure of getting to know some of the international players in the precision farming industry.

A little more than a month into my role as technology editor for Farm Equipment and No-Till Farmer, I am doing my best impression of a sponge, soaking up as much precision knowledge as my brain can hold.

While catching a glimpse of where precision farming technology is headed at the John Deere Technology Summit in Des Moines last week, at times, I felt as though I was on the set of a new science fiction movie.

As much as I’ve enjoyed visiting with our readers on this page during the past few months, you’ll have a new face to look at starting with the next issue of Precision Farming Dealer

Considering how rapidly precision farming is penetrating row-crop farming, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that its impact is touching all areas of agriculture. But precision farming for gardeners?

Monsanto describes itself as “a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.” Best known for its development and marketing of advanced seed traits for pest and drought resistance, the fact is Monsanto is one of agriculture’s 800-pound gorillas.

Yes, it’s advanced technology. Yes, customers may find it confusing at first and may even be intimidated by it. And yes, it seems to be changing everyday. But there’s no secret formula or magic about selling it.

As we were pulling this issue of Precision Farming Dealer together, two of the items really jumped out in how wide ranging the efforts are in adapting to and adopting the rapidly emerging tools of precision farming.

Customers who are willing to communicate with their equipment dealers deserve to be heard because they’re your best source for product performance and service issues. Of course, these communications usually come in the form of compliments, complaints and/or “I wish …” or “This would work better if …”

If you’re selling, servicing or otherwise promoting the use of precision farming technologies to multi-generational farm operators — that is father-son producers — it would be a mistake to automatically assume that you should focus your efforts solely on the son.