[Video] Dealer Panel: Recruiting & Preparing the Next Generation

Finding and retaining qualified precision techs continues to be a challenge for dealers of all colors and sizes. During this session two dealers share how they are approaching recruitment and on the job training to prepare their next generation of precision staff.

Calvin Knotts, Precision Farming Specialist, Redline Equipment, Rossvile, Ind. — Knotts is a precision farming specialist at Redline Equipment, a Case IH dealership with 12 locations across Indiana, Ohio and southern Michigan. He serves customers within a 3-store territory and has been with the company for 4 years.

Redline Equipment hired Knotts fresh out of Purdue Univ. He returns there regularly to speak about precision agriculture, the day-to-day duties in supporting farmers, and how students can leverage an agronomy degree within a machinery dealership. He is also uniquely positioned to share what dealers must do to attract the coming generation.

Karl Huebner, Vice President of Precision Ag, Hutson Inc., Murray, Ky. — Huebner joined the 30-store dealership in 2011 and manages a growing precision team serving Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan.

Hutson Inc., a John Deere dealership with 30 locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee, is looking beyond the farm for its newest hires. The dealership started an internship program to train people without a background in agriculture to become sales representatives. The interns learn about the industry and get hands-on experience working with the products they’ll eventually sell.

“We’ve kind of gotten away from an apprenticeship-style model in this business, and it feels like, in some…