An All-in-One-Place Review of Membership

The Association’s Board of Directors gathered for its summer meeting last week. The agenda included a discussion of benefits the Association offers today and what services it might introduce.

Directors offered great suggestions on what members may need in the future, and we are excited to pursue those possibilities. Stay tuned for details.

While we work to expand our services, we also commit to keeping membership affordable. Members will pay no more for their annual dues in the new fiscal year. And, for companies whose income from farm equipment sales has slipped, there may be an opportunity to pay less.

Directors also noted last week that the Association can do a better job of reminding members what’s available to them now. In this issue, we offer an overview.

Connections – This is the benefit our active members identify as the most valuable. By attending conventions, they’ve formed professional friendships that have influenced how they operate their business and understand the industry. These are powerful connections.

Beyond the time together, the Association keeps you in touch through a print and digital directory at FarmEquip.org. You can find one another by executive name, company name, member type, products, and headquarter location.

Online Resource – In addition to our online directory, there is a host of resources behind a password-protected wall at FarmEquip.org. You can find archived copies of this newsletter, a database of laws organized by state relating to buyback, warranty, and lemon laws, a farm show calendar, samples of dealer contracts, legislative resources, and a Section 179 tax deduction calculator.

Savings – Members receive discounts on freight and logistics through our partner YRC. You also pay less to register for the annual Supply Summit & Showcase and Marketing & Distribution Convention.

For regular members who do not also belong to the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, the Association provides a free digital copy of the annual ASABE safety standards (a $650 value).

Finally, the benefit that can singularly recover your membership dues (and then some) is access to attorneys who specialize in human-resource law and dealer law. Members receive no-cost, confidential, 60-minute consultations with these attorneys for every new legal question.

Peace of Mind – Through a partnership with Sentry Insurance, members have access to a program that offers outstanding depth and expertise in insuring farm equipment manufacturers. Policyholders can tap into outstanding consultation resources to assure their products, their property, and their workforce are as safe as possible and well-insured.

Product councils are also available for manufacturers of rotary cutters, towed implements, post hole diggers, and tillage equipment. The groups discuss product-specific safety issues.

Advocacy – Shortline manufacturers’ needs are not the same as multi-national tractor corporations, and neither are your resources. You are affected differently by standards revised to comply with European specifications, for example, or by a push to sell only one color of equipment on dealers’ lots. We are here to be your voice, and we cultivate relationships, monitor legislation, regulation, and standards development to be perpetually prepared to advocate on your behalf.

Information –  We stay engaged in industry news to bring you the information that matters the most through this newsletter, the quarterly Ag Innovator magazine, speakers at conventions, our social media channels, and more.