Kurt Boris
Appearances
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
With all the time we put into developing our single auger grain cart and our dual auger grain cart, it's kind of a linchpin at harvest. Now, Kyle touched on an auger. It's your bottleneck for most operations, but having a dependable grain cart in the field servicing one or multiple combines just keeps the entire operation moving on time and in sync.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Kurt, what about you? Yeah. Uh, thanks for having me as well. Um, Kurt Boris, I'm the director of product marketing. So I cover all of our manufacturer products, which includes our ag products, but, uh, extends into our construction and purpose built product lines as well that brand covers. Um, Been with the company about eight years now. Work primarily on the egg side for a couple years now.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I've been overseeing the whole portfolio, run a team of guys that are working with our sales teams, working with our internal marketing teams, making sure we're talking about our products the way that we want to and the way that our customers understand them and selling the value on that side of it. Been around the farm all my life.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Grew up on a small grains farm in Western Canada, so I'm based out of Regina, Saskatchewan, where our head office is. Worked for a number of different egg companies coming up out of school.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
dabbled with tech for a little bit, got used to doing some digital products and stuff like that, but it's always been tied into marketing and product development, and that's kind of where I'm sitting these days in Brant, too.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, absolutely. So we've been around for 80-plus years as a manufacturing company. We got our start in agriculture, making grain augers and handling products there. But ever since the mid-90s, we got into the dealership side of the business as well as manufacturing. We're the world's largest John Deere construction and forestry dealership.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
So all of Canada, 56 stores, covers our construction forestry side of the business. And then we extend into Australia and New Zealand as well with dealerships that we run there on that side. We recently, and a few years ago, got into the agricultural dealership side of things, selling John Deere out of the ag stores as well.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
We're also in the Peterbilt truck industry as well with dealerships throughout Canada and New Zealand on that side of it too. So very diverse, just even on the dealership side of it. And then you flip over to my world within manufacturing, lots of ag products that we're here and well known for throughout the US and Canada.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
But we also deal with construction attachments for the John Deere machines that we sell through the dealerships and manufacture there. As well as purpose built machines. We do everything from a hydro excavator truck on a Peterbilt chassis to a scrap material handler for scrapyard recycling operations.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
So large John Deere based machines that we work very closely with a value partner like John Deere. and use donor source machines to convert into purpose-built construction, scrap handling, pipe layers in the oil and gas industry. We're kind of all over the board with that, but do a lot of business with very unique customers throughout our dealership side of the business.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
We're always looking for an opportunity to say, where is something that that original manufacturer doesn't provide a solution for our valued customer and how can we get in and close that loop a little bit with something that's very specific and neat for us.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I guess in which industry are we talking?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, I'd say it's primarily attachments with our close relationship selling deer products back in Canada and overseas. So... Again, really unique position. We make a very purpose-built suite of attachment products that suit the Western Canadian market and, well, I should say the entire Canadian market and some of the unique climates and geographies that we operate in up there.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
So that really sets us apart for our customer base in Canada.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I'm digging deeper here. We've got a full range of buckets for a full line of John Deere equipment. So you're talking about dig buckets and clean-out buckets and everything, thumbs and grapples, everything in between for – wheel loaders, excavators, compact construction equipment.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
We have our facility based in Hudson, Illinois, just outside of Bloomington there. It's a dedicated cart facility, so all of our grain carts are coming out of that factory.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, they're coming back to Canada that way too.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, I think it was a bit of a strategic move on our part. We have been in the U.S. selling products for a long time now, but having a presence here locally... right in the heart of the Midwest, made a lot of sense for us. Distribution is a big advantage for it then too. Yes, all those carts are coming back to Canada where we have really strong brand presence.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
But if you're looking to grow and push and really develop the market, having that local presence on the ground for parts distribution, access to product is a huge advantage on our side.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, for sure.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
You'd sneak over there for that. I was going to say, you try to stay or they try to keep you out.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I think we're pretty steady at that point now. We've grown substantially over the last even five years with our dealership expansion. It allowed us to get a lot more sophisticated and progressive with how we're sourcing and supplying components, developing really strong relationships with our suppliers.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Since some of that downturn that we saw throughout the pandemic and whatnot, we have really pushed and solidified our supply chain on that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Absolutely. We value that. The customer's voice matters. throughout our development process above all else within it. There's no stronger advocate than our own users and customers and I think every company here at the show would say that but we take it very much to heart and there's no better
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
example the fact that cory's talking about his forward reach auger on his xt grain car yeah somebody that's missing here you're not supposed to call it big stick yeah somebody had a sore neck at one time tanner was on our customer advisory group for the development of that project i reached out to him through social media and developed a little bit of a conversation there and we got him involved and picked his brain quite a bit with a number of other customers throughout the uh
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
couple of years that we were developing that product there. And, uh, really we, we try to go and seek, uh, users of our product, you know, some guys that have some loyalty and awareness of our product, but we go out and we try and find just as many guys that are using competitive product to understand, uh, kind of what they do really well, where some of the opportunities may lay for us.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
And we bring them in multiple times throughout our development of that, uh, product, reviewing concepts, going through actual designs, validating things that maybe we're assuming versus just knowing through data and whatnot. But, uh,
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
and then getting their feedback all along and having them work directly with our engineering team, working directly with our sales team, with the boots on the ground guys, just to make sure that we're not missing some of those obvious points.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
In fact, not 30 minutes ago, we were on the phone as a group with the engineering team about some things that we noticed on a product that we're making tweaks to right now, going, hey, if we just do it like this, we've heard a couple things here at the show. We've talked to a few of the sales guys that have been selling more of these products than anybody else right now.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Here's what they got to say. Let's make the changes on the fly as we go right now kind of thing.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I don't know. Kyle's looking at me on that side.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I think for the most part with domestically manufactured product, there's not really any hiccups that I've been ever aware of on that side of it. I mean, there's a set of standards and rules that you follow, but they're not difficult to follow.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, that's a big part of it.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I think it's generally positive, right? We continue to grow and expand very aggressively. We have a private ownership group that has eyes on big goals, right? Uh, worldwide that includes our manufacturing division that includes our dealership division, uh, looking to grow and continue to build the relationships within all the dedicated industries that we operate in.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
And, uh, I think it's that motivation from the family owned business aspect that really pushes everybody within the company to kind of achieve those same goals. And, uh, I think it's positive. We we've stuck through and survived quite a few ups and downs in the industry. whether that's on the construction side or definitely here on the ag side for sure.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
And we haven't gone away and we haven't shrunk back from the challenge by any means. So we keep pushing forward and generally a really good outlook.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
do you have a feel for the whole world and what the economy is of scale there i know it's a loaded question that's a lot to put on my shoulders is just a product guy on that side we're gonna get a crystal ball and we're just gonna make it blurry that's all we're gonna do i'd say definitely canada and even worldwide we're experiencing a lot of the same challenges that we're seeing down here for sure with commodity prices you know we had some really good years recently uh with with crop prices uh back home and around the world and
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
You know, things aren't always going to stay where they are in the good times on that side of it. But there's still a lot of general optimism. Our crops are looking great back home. We've heard good things from overseas in Australia as well, too. So, I mean, that's going to put the optimism in the farmer's hands a little bit, right? And we work with that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, for sure. I'll try and say something that doesn't get me in trouble with my higher-ups. That's for sure.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Greg would probably be happy over there looking at me. He's excited for me as a few things that are on their highs. And I think the big thing for Brent right now is – Doubling down on our commitment to the quality of standard product that we put out there right now.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
We definitely have always got something in the pipeline, whether it's new versions of what's kind of gotten our success levels to where they are right now or looking for the next great idea.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I mean, that's why we have people like myself and a number of other guys that are coming down to the booth right now that are out there walking through the show right now, talking to customers, talking to other manufacturers and dealers alike, just seeing where things are moving. What are those growing needs?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
You know, the, the big companies like deer do a great job of fulfilling their core customers needs, but there's always an opportunity that's kind of lies, lies a little bit deeper for companies like brand to take advantage of on that side of it. And, and we work really hard to, uh, to make sure that we're committed to filling those needs. Awesome.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Going into harvest? Yep. Going into harvest. One of our brand grain belts for sure. The hardest grain belt, if you're growing any sensitive crops or anything like Corey was mentioning that you're going to experience any type of dockage or anything like that that affects your world, I'd say get into our grain belts.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I'd say our high-speed disc. Okay. It's a big, huge entry into— And I have a disc already, so why? There you go. I would say we—elevator pitch-wise, we have the most consistent and ground engagement with any high-speed disc on the market.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
We put a lot of detail into that in achieving—you know, coming in late to the market to the high-speed disc space, we learned a lot from everybody that's out there. We got to cherry pick a lot of really good things and develop some innovations on our side as well.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yep.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I mean... I got a lot of good Canadian products I can throw out there that don't really have the established presence down here. Getting into spring, open up the fields. You can't beat a good heavy harrow when you're dealing with cereal crops. But I'll speak a little bit more down here, too. I mean, you can keep on that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I would say land rollers are a really good one coming into spring post-planting, getting out there, making sure that you're dealing with any ruts or uneven fields, and we offer a really good, again, ground-engaging tool that gives you a good, consistent field finish.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
grain cart with all the time we put into developing our single auger grain cart dual auger grain cart it's it's kind of a linchpin at harvest now kyle touched on an auger you know it's it's your bottleneck for most operations but having a dependable grain cart in the field servicing one or multiple combines just keeps the entire operation moving on time and in sync i'm putting you a little on the spot here but do you have a how many how many years to pay that off
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I don't have that number off the top of my head, to be honest with you. I guess it's different for every operation. Yeah, there's a lot of variables there, but we try to keep those things in mind when we're developing it so it can be calculated into a customer's ROI for sure.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, hardly ever.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, I get the benefit of not having to sell and having all the pressure on it. The one I like talking about most, I'd say field belts for sure. High-speed discs have a lot to offer, a lot of good unique value. Grand carts as well, all equit, all stay on that side of it. They just are an undervalued piece of the harvest operation for sure.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Well, I mean, it's an indirect application. I've been looking for a good opportunity to squeeze this one into the conversation, and it kind of ties back into something with you, Dave, is even just in transportation and logistics in general, whether it's hay or anything else that you're moving on the product, we have a full line of... equipment hauling trailers now.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Everything from a small 8-ton tilt deck or 5-ton car equipment hauler type trailer all the way up into we do low boy heavy hauls as well. Oh, really? Okay, very good. Again, that's part of that diversified portfolio of products that we manufacture.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
But getting a heavy-duty, well-built trailer that we design around construction contractors needs, but being able to find a place for that on the farm, whether it's moving the skid loader, whether it's throwing a few bales of hay on it, whatever it may be. Love it. It's just a great gap filling product kind of thing for us.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, for sure. We've taken technology to heart. I mean, I think You were hesitant to say short-line equipment earlier. I'd say a lot more people would say it's the dumb iron of the farm on that side of it. And I say that with love in my heart on that side of it. But technology is the next big play for us.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
I mean, we've seen it from the innovations that we've made in our electric swing hoppers, on our swing augers and our harvest belts, to some of the automation systems that we're now baking into our grain carts with the joystick operation, but then the scale systems that we're doing it.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
And we've worked very closely with some of our technology partners that supply the hardware and some of the software for that for us. But now we're seeing some of those same companies taking big steps forwards on their own with autonomous grain carts and things like that. So we're in a really good place with a strong internal development team.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
but really valued partners that are already working in these spaces, and we're really confident that we're going to be in a good position.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Yeah, no, I think that makes a ton of sense. Yeah, for sure.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Well, I mean, thank you for being on the show. It's a really good opportunity for us to come in and talk about the value that Brandt provides to all of our customers. But I've been really excited to be down here. As the Western Canadian guy coming down from head office, I love getting down here to Iowa.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
And then, you know, when we alternate over into Decatur and stuff in Illinois, it's just always a good time. It reaffirms kind of. The assumptions that I have to make thinking about the U.S. market on that side of it and making sure we have the right product for what you guys need down here as well as back home on that side of it.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Here comes the stereotype. No, no. I'd say America is the foundation that we're here for on that side of it. You keep us propped up on that side of it.