In my experience, one of the most ambiguous consumer labels is “user-friendly.” This is especially true of technology, when companies promise technical bliss is only a download, install or mouse click away.

Returning from the second Precision Farming Dealer Summit last week in St. Louis, I am slowly sifting through a notebook of takeaways accumulated during formal sessions, roundtable discussions and hallway conversations.

We’ve all been in a situation at a party, conference or even a meeting where we’re asked, “So, what do you do?” It’s the simplest of questions that somehow seems to bring out the most complex of answers.

The first step to structuring a successful and productive precision farming internship program is to establish what the goals are for both the dealership and the intern.

In the last edition of our e-newsletter, I related the revolving-door professional path of a friend to the fluctuating job market for precision farming specialists. After talking with a diverse group of independent and farm equipment dealers last week about their recruiting and retention practices, it seemed like a topic worth revisiting.

We asked dealers: How are precision farming specialists at your dealership using mobile apps as business tools and what features/new apps would be useful for sales and service of technology in the future?