Kerry Hartwig
Appearances
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
And listeners, welcome back to the Farm for Profit podcast. We've got a jam-packed episode for you. I wanted to say thank you for being a listener and for reaching out, following us on all social media platforms. Of course, we love it when you go out and leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or even YouTube. Hitting that subscribe button goes a long way for us.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
We did an interview earlier yesterday, and your products got a very large compliment for how smart the tillage tools have gotten because they're creating variable depth tillage scripts. that farmers have been able to put to work because they're identifying where that compaction layer is. And now you can partner it with one of these tools and effectively maximize your pass across the field.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Now that John's retired.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Okay. Kerry, why don't you remind our listeners who you are and what your role is?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I know. I love the interview and the energy that these shows have, the connections that we're able to make, because you don't think about the autonomy and the autonomous ready tillage tools as being something that's important. But that's one of the things that you guys are continuing to push forward is that path towards autonomy.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Kerry was one of the first representatives that I ever met because you came and spoke at one of the very first Farm for Profit conferences.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Well, I'm going to come back to more tillage and large tractor talk, but I don't want to leave Eric out. He's talking about GPS and knowing where these tillage tools are, but I'm pretty sure I've seen some guidance mounted on your gator.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
What a great presentation, Dan, and I feel like your message has only gotten better ever since.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
See, that's what my dad used to call me. My initials are TW. The tax write-off.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
We had the FFA kids come help us put that together, and they all had to leave to go to a sports practice. So the last hour and a half of putting the safety home together was us. Okay, so we're here having an exposure at some of the upgrades that Sucup has done to their already extremely important and reliable equipment. What are we talking about?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
We still have two at the farm. They will not die. We have tried killing those things and they won't go away.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Well, we did our interview yesterday with Tracy from Easter Seals, who helps farmers with disabilities continue to farm and farming families that have family members with disabilities. And she described the gator as a necessary tool. That's what keeps some of these farmers going, doing what they love to do.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
We didn't get to be the go-to market manager for nothing.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I was just sitting ready to say that. I put some turf-friendly tires on there, and I'll just drive that thing around the golf course. I love it. Okay, let's go back to Tillage, and I'm going to figure out how to marry these two together.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
That's a lot of energy that you have to try and top.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Yeah, now do any of your tillage tools integrate with the gator lineup?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
They need like a single shank disc gripper to go behind a gator.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Not a unique idea at all.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
And we learned, too, when you were talking about the large tractors down at Commodity, that there's a lot of new technology involved with the fact that we're going to work on maximizing fuel efficiency. We're taking these larger frame, larger horsepower tractors. You've got them weighted and balanced appropriately to where we're not losing power to the ground.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
And it was neat to see some of the demonstrations there as part of your team's roundup. But talk more about how you're putting that technology into making sure we don't lose traction.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Corey, did you follow the trend? Are you now running a mixed flow dryer?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
That's really good. Now, I came up with a question because I remembered that there's a, I'm going to call it a law or a rule, that once you get above a certain horsepower, these tractors don't have DEF. Yes. And our audience is already aware of that. But you mentioned that you've got diesel Gators. No DEF. No DEF on it. Now, how do you get away with that? Horsepower.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I was afraid. I didn't know what the answer was going to be.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I'm going to keep the introduction short. Remember, if you have suggestions for us, farmforprofitllc at gmail.com. But we've got an episode here that features companies that we had conversations with at trade shows this fall. We start off with Shoe Cup at Farm Progress Show and cap this off with a great conversation with some new John Deere technology at the end. So stay tuned all the way through.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
That's exciting. I know that this is only the tip of the iceberg when you talk about where the future of agriculture is headed. In both of your divisions, do you have any directions that you can share with us as to what's coming down the pipeline?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
If you're that old boy we had lunch with today, that poor son of his is not getting 30 seasons to make decisions.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I like that approach, but Eric, I want to know what's coming down the pipeline.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Do you remember that Snapchat that Corey sent us this spring to where he said that he had gone and mapped his boundaries? Of course, he uses a geotracker. We're going to have to get him a gator. Because he said that he actually hit the highline pole with the planter.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
So as he's doing this and filming the snapchat when the sprayer goes through the field, he goes, I didn't adjust that boundary yet. And he was waiting for the boom to hit it. Boom, break away, and just comes back into it. But that's where the accuracy matters.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Because even if he tried, it still wasn't 100% accurate.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
So I got two questions left in the interview, one about deer and then one about perspective. So in both of your teams and the advancements you're putting together, what are they doing to make everything more user-friendly?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Who said it was $5?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
So getting it from field to field.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
comfortable on their minds so at the end of the day you're ready you're ready to spend time with family and the next day ready to ready to start farming again I know that's a key because I've been in other competitors machines as well including side by sides the the fact that the comfort is a major factor a major focus is it definitely shows through but our time here has been great just to get a little glimpse into these two areas of John Deere and one of the things that we also like to do for our listeners is let them know that they're not
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
the only ones that struggle with something. And one of the questions we get asked a lot is how we juggle our work and personal lives, and that includes podcasting and farming and running a business and our families. So I want to know from you guys, how do you juggle work and personal life? If you need a second, I just want to remind our listeners that we did.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
We talked here with Michael from Large Tractors and Tillage. We talked with Eric from the Gator Utility Vehicles. We learned a lot about...
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
It is continuing to build upon and get better as we move through this. They're following and building off of that foundation, using vehicles like the Gator as a gateway into some of the exciting things that are going forward. And neither one of these guys have to deal with death. I like that. Just had to put that out there again.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
That's good. That's great. Good luck keeping up with that one.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Gentlemen, thank you so much for hanging out with us. If our listeners have questions, what's the best way for them to start getting answers? Local John Deere dealer is the best place to start and Deere.com. Awesome. Thank you again. Thank you guys for having us. Nice.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Well, one of the new things you get to talk about here, Kerry, is you've now got a dryer that is full heat top to bottom.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
So does that make that dryer more efficient or that's just another option for the producer?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
It's going to be exciting to see what you missed at the Farm Progress Show and Husker Harvest. Let's get to it now.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Yeah, that's a big point. And I know our listeners right now are focused even more on their margins and especially the conversations they're going to have with their bankers. And we've been saying on this podcast for a long time that, you know, it seems like tile pays. If you're going to go to your banker, that's a pretty easy conversation.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
But it also seems like grain storage and even grain drying capacity is another one that is, I'm going to say, easier to convince your banker to invest in with you.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
you're you're long the market you're hoping the market goes up right right because otherwise you would just been better off selling you want to sell as much water as you can yeah yep gotcha yeah that's the next thing you need to invent is that sprinkler system on the way out of the bin they put water back into it well the guys coming up may may have something for you there too so okay i like that well if our listeners are curious about dryers and dryer technology how best they look up or get in touch with you guys
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
So here to talk nitrogen stabilizers with a great representative from Corteva, I've got Andrew Luzum here. And welcome back to the podcast. Thank you. Appreciate it. Producers might be cutting back a little bit this fall when it comes to nitrogen plants. What do we have to say about the myths around that being okay, or that's the only way we can save costs?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Yeah, because I know that's going to be running through all of the farmers' minds is maybe I don't spend money on a stabilizer and that's where I'm going to save costs.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
What a great way to frame that up. If somebody wants to learn more about nitrogen stabilizers, how best do they do that?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Well, it's time to have another great conversation with some of the leading technology in the grain handling industry. And nonetheless, than one of the most popular men with Sukup that we know, Kerry is back on the podcast. Welcome.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I was sweating my tail off and you guys are out here in the cool breeze underneath the beautiful John Deere shade.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I want to know where these shades are going afterwards because we might need one of these at the studio. We can work on that. Got to work on that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I'm excited because when we did a conversation like this at Commodity Classic, our listeners really loved the relatableness of the actual human beings that are inside the company. that are putting together one of America's greatest products and greatest brands. So welcome to the podcast. We have Michael Porter. You are the go-to market leader for large tractors and tillage. That is correct.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Happy to be here. And then we have Eric Halfman. I said that correctly? Yes, sir. All right. The go-to market manager for gators and utility vehicles.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
I love that. Oh, yeah, it's gator utility vehicles. Not and. It's the same thing. I want to know, what is the go-to market leader, manager, any of that title? What does that mean inside of John Deere?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
So you're literally, you take the item and take it to market. Absolutely.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Well, it is kind of an exciting job.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
For sure. So it's fun for us right here in the heartland, the Midwest, the Corn Belt, all the great terms that we use for corn country, the best state in Iowa that grows corn, use a lot of these large tractors and tillage tools. Absolutely. So we got to see the unveiling of the 830 at Commodity Classic. Yep. What else has evolved since we talked then?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Innovative Grain Drying Solutions and Big Equipment Advancements
Right. Did I say that correctly? One of the most popular guys within the company.