Josh Gruett is in a real bind, he’s the service and general manager as well as a co-owner at Waupun Equipment. So what’s the problem? Like many shops out there, he getting by but can’t find as many service techs as he’d like to hire.
The problem started a long time ago and is two fold. As farm equipment became more and more complicated it required technicians to leave behind what they knew and take on learning more complex systems. At the same time, farmers who used to do their own maintenance and simple fixing couldn’t always keep up with the changing technology and turned to their local shops to take on what they used to do on their own.
Josh says that now farmers and equipment dealers have a bunch of issues coming together at once and causing problems during harvest. In addition to not having as many skilled techs on hand as he would like, having delays on getting parts and not having equipment on hand to loan out can put farmers in a bind if they have a breakdown.
Of course an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and Josh wants to remind everyone that taking time to do routine maintenance is your best bet for avoiding the big breakdowns. Not to mention, taking time to really clear out your combine each day and remove debris could be the difference between a combine fire and a successful harvest.
But things are looking up! A new shift in interest among high school students from getting a four year degree to attending trade school or technical college is happening. Josh credits social media stars in part for the interest. He thinks that people watch the content put out by Millennial Farmer, Cole the Corn Star and others and it gets them interested in agriculture and machinery.
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