While channel surfing recently, I stopped to watch what is one of many memorable scenes from The Godfather, where a young Michael Corleone insists that his restaurant-revenge plot isn’t a personal vendetta — it’s purely a business decision.

If the ag industry has taught precision farming dealers anything during the last few years, it’s that no longer can they rely on singular sales of hardware and expect to grow business.

The last 6 years have seen both subtle and dramatic shifts in dealer priorities with precision business. For the first few years, hardware held a firm grip on the most promising areas for future profit, but there has been a gradual shift in where dealers see their greatest growth potential.

Chaos is common during spring planting, and precision farming specialists are tasked with responding to technology emergencies, while also creating valuable in-season touch points with customers.

During the 2018 Precision Farming Dealer Summit in Louisville, 3 precision managers answered real-life question from their dealer peers on if and how each charges for training, along with the best opportunities or obstacles to doing so.

The business relationship formed between precision farming dealers and farmers can be a complicated one. Farmers have certain expectations and dealers have certain limitations. However, cultivated, well-managed partnerships can be immensely profitable for both parties.

Taking a break from the rigors of round-robin compatibility testing at the Agricultural Electronics Foundation (AEF) Plugfest in Lincoln, Neb., this spring (also referred to fondly as “speed dating for ag nerds” by one attendee), AGCO software engineer Mike Schmidt and Dave Smart, staff systems engineer for John Deere and team leader for AEF’s high-speed ISOBUS Project, discussed the progression of compatibility over the years through AEF conformance testing, the simplification of equipment connectivity for farmers of all brands and expectations for ag functionality with high-speed ISOBUS network capabilities on the horizon.

There are some aspects of trying to run a successful business that are unique to those of us that are ag retailers vs. those of you that operate as part of an OEM dealership, or a standalone precision business.