Farm Show: Crowd braves the cold, sees ‘tools for the tool shed’

It was about 10 degrees below zero on Sunday morning, Jan. 14, and Zach Moritz was dreaming about the green lawns of summer. Mr. Moritz, owner of The Mower Shop in Moline, had a series of big lawn mowers on display during the opening day of the 2024 Quad Cities Farm & Equipment Show at […]

It was about 10 degrees below zero on Sunday morning, Jan. 14, and Zach Moritz was dreaming about the green lawns of summer. Mr. Moritz, owner of The Mower Shop in Moline, had a series of big lawn mowers on display during the opening day of the 2024 Quad Cities Farm & Equipment Show at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island.

1 of 6

His vendor booth was positioned near the front door of the expo center. He had a good view of the shivering crowd walking into the building to see the big combines and tractors, skid-steer loaders, drones equipped to do field work, and lots of smaller tools. They also saw Mr. Moritz’s series of orange riding mowers from the company Bad Boy Mowers. “We’re hoping people forget about the cold and come out to see us. … We’ve already seen four or five families stop by to see the mowers,” he said during the first hour of the show Sunday morning. (The Farm and Equipment Show, which has free admission and free parking, continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Monday, Jan. 15, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16.) One of those attendees looking over the Bad Boy Mowers was Andy Feckers and his family, who drove in from Wyoming, Iowa. He was at the show to get a look at the new equipment – like lawn mowers – that he can use during warmer days. “I’m just kind of meandering around the place and seeing the new stuff they have here,” he added. For many show-goers, though, the stars of the hour were the bigger farm machinery. That equipment included New Holland tractors, Case combines, KIOTI compact tractors, a Schaffer wheel loader, and companies selling the latest ag technology – including drones that do a variety of jobs on the farm. Birkey’s Farm Store, which has 19 locations in Illinois and has participated at the QC Farm Show for many years, was on hand again showing some of those drones. Hayden Harshbarger, a precision farming drone specialist with the company, said this is the first time Birkey’s has been at the show with a drone. He was demonstrating for potential customers the advantages of using a drone – called the DJI Agrast T-40 – that can handle crop spraying and many other jobs on the farm. “They’re a little hesitant at first (about using the drone technology) … but we’re here to show them they’re easy to use. The drones are just more tools for the tool shed,” he said. The DJI drone Mr. Harshbarger was showing has a price tag of about $20,000. But he also was pointing out the advantages of buying the drone package deal that includes a generator, spreader equipment, extra batteries and much more. That entire package costs about $35,000. Whether people at the show were looking at drones, tractors, lawn mowers or other equipment, a big part of the event centered on getting to know the customers. That was the case for Brandon Meadows, a salesman for Vern’s Farm Supply, a Hooppole, Illinois-based company that designs and builds grain bins and does other jobs. “We always get a couple of good leads here for grain bins. … But this show is really about building relationships with our customers,” Mr. Meadows added. Brett Esbaum, a commodity trader with CHS of Davenport, also was at the show on Sunday and had some of the same goals as Mr. Meadows. “I’m here to get out in front of customers and tell them what we can do for them,” said Mr. Esbaum. CHS is a cooperative that connects growers to consumers around the world. It buys grain from a network of cooperatives and farmer-owners and matches it with the needs of domestic and global food and feed customers in 65 countries, according to the company website. Some of the vendors building those customer relationships aren’t directly related to ag fields. Some of the services and companies at the show on Sunday were featuring knives, chocolates, almonds, construction services, financial services and gutter guard systems for the home, to name a few. Mr. Mortitz was also busy building customer relationships at the show. He was hoping people would shake off the winter cold, look at his series of lawnmowers and think ahead to the lawnmowing season. “We’ve got to think about summer,” he added.