The future of agriculture remains in good hands with innovators even in challenging times.
This week’s cover story is about Blake Chance’s Quick-Pin and it shows how innovation does work. A potential baler fire on the family farm in Mayetta, Kansas, led the young man to develop Quick-Pin, which is designed to unhook an implement quickly in case of an emergency. His concept became a project that ultimately entered into the marketplace.
The project led to his quote, “I had quite a few people who thought it was a good concept and liked the idea so I figured I might as well see what happens. I didn’t want to look back and say ‘what if,’ so I’m going to go all in and try to make something out of it.”
This week’s edition highlights companies offering products and services to help farmers and ranchers. During a busy fall season one can easily see innovation in action. Whether it is with combines, grain carts or on-farm storage or livestock handling operations in which one or two people can accomplish what once took many people many hours.
The challenge of managing all that technology and innovation ultimately comes back to farmers and ranchers who have to decide how all that might help them to be more efficient in their operation.
The industry has come a long way because the forces of technology mesh with innovation. As a retired college agricultural engineering professor once said, innovation is often spurred during times of difficulty in a farm economy because the ultimate buyer of goods and services remains the operator who benefits generally from saving labor costs.
Today’s producer also has many ways to learn about products and services and through the internet can watch videos and email questions to companies. Officials in those companies often have local dealers and representatives who can answer questions on a one-on-one basis. Those local companies have employees and their families are the linchpins to local schools and communities.
Our edition this week, the annual Ag Solutions, in many ways provides information about what is available today and a peek into what is ahead for the future. The agricultural economy is going to continue to face challenges, and farmers and ranchers understand that better than anyone because they are at ground zero. Yet our admiration about the adopters of innovation is while they look at what’s right in front of them they also have an eye for the long term.
It was once said that farmers and ranchers are the eternal optimists—it is great to know they have many industries behind them providing common sense solutions to help them. Blake Chance is one of those entrepreneurs and it is uplifting to know that he and many of his peers are bullish about an industry that must not be neglected.
Dave Bergmeier can be reached at 620-227-1822 or [email protected].
