Tim Norris was the CEO of Precision Farming Dealer’s Most Valuable Dealership recipient, Ag Info Tech. Since selling the business, he continues to consult (Box Concepts Consulting and as peer-group facilitator) and operates a 1,800 grain farm in Ohio.

Editor’s Note:Farm Equipment magazine asked its Alumni Group (comprised of recipients of the Dealership of the Year Award and Hall of Fame) a thought-provoking question that we call the “It’s a Wonderful Life Question.” In the famed Christmas movie, protagonist George Bailey gets to see – via a dramatic intervention by an angel named Clarence Odbody – what the world might have been like had he never been born. Similarly, we asked our award-winning executives to ponder that same challenging question, and to consider how their communities might have been altered had their businesses “failed to launch” or perhaps failed to survive trying times. Here’s what we learned. – Mike Lessiter, editor/publisher.

It’s a Wonderful Life is one of my favorite movies. When George Bailey gets the chance to see the impact his life had on others, his community and even the world, he is humbled and honored to learn how much his life mattered in the lives of others. I often wish I could truly gauge the impact I have made in my lifetime, hoping that it was much more good than bad. Just as tossing a rock into a still pond can send ripples to the other side, many daily decisions send ripples through others' lives that we often do not see.

I wrote a book called Growing with God about what I learned about God through my life growing up on a farm and through my business. Reflecting on the experiences I have had and the people who impacted my life was very beneficial. When Mike asked his question about what it would look like if Ag Info Tech (AIT) had never started, I admit I was happy to try and think about how things might be different now if AIT had failed to launch.

I started AIT in 2004 and sold my last shares to two of my team members in 2019. It is now owned by one of them, Derik Geitgey, and I asked for his thoughts on this question, too.

Derik Geitgey

Derik Geitgey

Our Employee Family

Our first thought was of the more than 40 team members we’ve had in our history, several of whom are still there today. If AIT had not been started, we never would’ve had the privilege of getting to not only work with these talented individuals but to truly get to know them and their families as well. We’ve also been honored to help them grow in their level of skill and professionalism throughout the years, and that has been a true joy to watch.

Precision With a Purpose

Part of our mission statement was to serve God and mankind by bettering our customers' lives. We made it our mission to provide “Precision with a Purpose.” We wanted every product and service we offered to help better our customers' lives in some way. We believed that this approach made our relationships with our customers more than just a business transaction. Our team was always encouraged to understand the real needs and goals of our customers and to suggest ways to help them meet those needs and meet their goals. Because of that, we’ve formed many great friendships with several of our customers.

I was fortunate to be involved in precision agriculture since 1995, at the very beginning of its evolution. Precision ag challenged the old ways of doing things, and it was hard but rewarding work, but it was met with a lot of opposition in the beginning. We were laughed at by many at farm shows. I had one customer tell me that the day he had a computer steer his tractor was the day I had his permission to take him out back and shoot him. Three years later, he had 3 auto steer systems.

I have personally spoke and presented in 19 states, Canada and in Brazil on the benefits of precision agriculture. My main audience was generally farmers, but also presented before some dealers. I have presented at the Precision Farming Dealer Summit,National No-Tillage Conference,Dealership Minds Summit, Info Ag, Vision Conference and several others. I’d like to think I had a positive influence somehow everywhere I spoke, but there is no way to know the results of those efforts and the effects they yielded.

Tim Norris speaks at the Precision Farming Dealer Summit

Tim Norris speaks at the Precision Farming Dealer Summit

One thing that put meaning into bettering our customers' lives via the use of technology came through the words of a customer's wife. “You gave me my husband back,” she says. She explained that before he had autosteer I would bring out lunch and dinner and he and their son would stop and eat as fast as they could and get back into their tractors and continue farming. She was left with very little time with them and a big mess to clean up.

Tim Norris

“Precision ag challenged the old ways of doing things, but it was met with a lot of opposition in the beginning. We were laughed at by many at farm shows. I had one customer tell me that the day he had a computer steer his tractor was the day I had his permission to take him out back and shoot him. Three years later, he had 3 auto steer systems.” –Tim Norris

“After auto-steer, I take lunch to him and ride along in the tractor while he eats lunch,” she continues. She added that it brings them quality time in conversions, as he also gets to eat while continuing to work. When he gets home at night, he isn’t as tired as he used to be, and she gets even more quality time with him because he is more relaxed.

AIT has helped over 2,800 customers implement some type of precision agriculture on their farms. We estimate a reduction of over 26,000 tons of phosphate on the farms that utilized our smart sampling program in the last 10 years. At an average price of $800 per ton, that is $20.8 million in savings. Cost savings wasn’t the only benefit to less phosphate. The environment reaped a huge benefit as well by not applying that phosphate on areas that are highly saturated and prone to runoff. Those savings are for just one nutrient alone, and don’t include potassium and lime.

Tim Norris Ohio No-Till Council

Tim Norris

We tried to live by the Golden Rule as well, which is to do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. One year, a new, extremely accurate autosteer system came out, and we sold close to 40. We got them all installed, and as soon as farmers started to go to the fields, it became evident that trees within a range of 50-100 feet of the tractor would cause the system to lose GPS. These systems were designed out West and were not tested in the Eastern part of the U.S., where trees are prevalent around fields. They worked well in other areas of the U.S. but wouldn’t work in our area.

We helped more than 2,800 customers implement some type of precision agriculture on their farms. We estimate a reduction of over 26,000 tons of phosphate that alone resulted in $20.8 million in savings in the last 10 years.

We had to act fast as a company; in some cases, removing those systems and installing systems from a different vendor to get farmers into their fields and planting — at our cost. This almost ended AIT, but it was the right thing to do. We sold some of the used systems to dealers in the areas where they worked well and also worked with our vendors to get trade-in programs to help us get rid of those used systems we had left. We took a huge risk, but doing the right thing paid off. If we hadn’t done that, several people would not have continued with precision ag.

Peers

Besides considering our impact on our employees and our customers, our minds also went to our peers. We were founding members of two different precision ag peer groups, the Independent Precision Ag Alliance and the Ag Leader Peer Group Number 2. These were groups of precision ag dealers that get together 2-3 times per year to help each other grow their businesses. I know how many of the members of these groups helped AIT, and we hope that we’ve helped them through our experiences as well.

Suppliers

We also thought about our suppliers. Of course we have benefited them financially, by purchasing millions of dollars of products from them, but hopefully they have benefited from their partnership and relationship with AIT. We also passed along many ideas from our customers and from our own work on the systems to affect changes and improvements. These suggestions were made constructively and were never meant as complaints.

We had to remove those systems and install systems from a different vendor to get farmers into their fields and planting – at our cost. This almost ended AIT, but it was the right thing to do...

To answer the question, hopefully, many more people are using precision ag products and services to better their lives because of AIT.

Last and most important, we at AIT have made it our mission to serve and honor God by being open about our belief and devotion to Him. We have seen Him work through our business to bring others to Him. The true definition of our success as a people, and as a business, is how many of our team members, partners, and customers we will meet in heaven -- that we had a part in bringing to or closer to our Heavenly Father.


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