Hurst Farm Supply - Texas Tech University

Issue XXXVIII : April 2012Hurst Farm Supply - Lorenzo, TXTexas Tech UniversityStory, Photos & Design By: Sa m antha BorgstedtTimes are changing in the farming industry. The seed producers plant, chemicals they spray, andequipment they use have all advanced at a rapid pace due to technology. And there seems to be no slowingdown.Since 1955, Hurst Farm Supply, headquartered in Lorenzo, Texas, has stayed in-step with the everchangingtechnological advancements of the farming industry, all the while putting their customers first. Astheir mission statement reads, Hurst Farm Supply strives to be a company with high touch in an age of hightechnology.“Moving from iron to technology has been a big change for us,” Joe Hurst, general manager, said. “Inthe past, John Deere just came out with newer, larger and better equipment. Now it seems they areconstantly releasing new technology. We believe this is the direction farming is going, and dealers mustembrace the change or get left behind. We will embrace it and go all the way.”Larry Combest Endowed Chair in Agricultur al CompetitivenessACC NEWSLETTER | | 1

ACC NEWSLETTER | 2Larry Combest Endowed Chair in Agricultur al CompetitivenessHurst said in all their years in business,the movement from iron to technology is themost drastic change his company has seen. Hesaid his customers are implementing the newtechnology John Deere is putting out, and hesees the demand doing nothing but increasingwith both large and small operators in thefuture.In order to educate their customers onJohn Deere’s newdevelopments,Hurst Farm Supplyhosts customerclinics and areconstantly sendingproduct informationto the 14thousand on theirmailing list.This mailinglist has grownas Hurst FarmSupply expanded.Beginning with the Lorenzolocation, the company later opened a servicecenter in Crosbyton in 1973. They then boughtlocations in Lubbock and Slaton in 1991, thenAbernathy in 2004, and recently Snyder andColorado City in 2011. The company sells productsall over Texas and the United States, aswell as exports to Australia, Greece, Israel, andMexico.Hurst said he can view what is happeningat each dealership live from his officecomputer housed at the Lorenzo location.Jerred Hurst, the company’s IT specialist, haswritten an inventory program that immediatelyupdates the company database when a sale ismade. Each location can constantly see whatequipment has been sold and what is in stock.This also allows the customers to have an accurateview of availableequipment on theHurst Farm Supplywebsite.While Hurst triesto visit each locationonce a month, herelies on the managersto lead their employeesand developstrong relations withtheir customers.“We have greatemployees withinJoe Hurst, General Manager of Hurst Farm Supply our company,” Hurst said. “Wehave been able to train in-house, allowing usto carry on our same business structure as wehave expanded to new locations. We have nottaken on a corporate structure, but instead tryto keep a family atmosphere the best we canon a larger scale.”Several members of the Hurst familywork within the company. While Hurst serves as

Larry Combest Endowed Chair in Agricultur al CompetitivenessACC NEWSLETTER | 3general manager, his brother Terry is the corporateservice manager. The family, along with the otheremployees, operates their business from a Christianpoint of view.“We feel we have been blessed because ofour obedience and trust in Him,” Hurst said. “Wehave accomplished a lot, and we know we did notdo it on our own.”Hurst said their trust in the Lord, coupledwith having fantastic farmers as customers, has ledto their company’s success.“Farmers in our area are dedicated to theland,” Hurst said. “Last year our irrigated farmerswere great proof of this. Although they had no helpfrom rain and it was not in their best financial interestto keep trying with their crops, they did not giveup.”And they continue to not give up. As farmersin the area prepare to plant their next crop, they aredoing so with hopes to have more cotton to harvestthis coming fall. Hurst said he has already sold 57new and close to 100 used strippers, not bad comingoff of a horrible drought year.While Hurst sells new equipment, such asthese strippers, the company also moves a lot ofused equipment, allowing their customers to havean option that may better fit within their budget.Hurst sells between 300 to 350 used tractors annually.The company also has an aggressive leasingmentality and will rent or lease almost any piece ofequipment they have.Hurst Farm Supply has also developed a RTKNetwork Infrastructure covering roughly 6.3 millionacres. This network is made up of dealer and cus-

ACC NEWSLETTER | 4Larry Combest Endowed Chair in Agricultur al Competitivenesstomer owned towers. GPS coverage managed by Hurst Farm Supply both inside and outside thisnetwork coverage area makes up about 7.7 million acres.Hurst said GPS navigation has led to JDLink, a machine monitoring system allowing producersand service centers to know exactly what is going on with a tractor in the field. This systemdelivers machine hours, location, dashboard alerts, diagnostic trouble codes, maintenance tracking,and more. A text is sent to the farmer as well as their service center alerting them to shut downthe machine when a problem occurs and lets them know exactly what is wrong and what parts areneeded to fix the problem.Hurst Farm Supply also offers smaller scale equipment such as compact tractors, lawn mowers,and weed eaters. The dealerships offer Stihl and Honda products, in addition to John Deere.Hurst said this area of their business has greatly increased in the past three years, especially at theirLubbock location.To say the least, the farming industry has changed, and Hurst Farm Supply has kept upwith the advancements without changing their way of doing business. Putting their faith, familyand customers before all else, the company has been able to grow and be successful, all the whilegiving back to their community by supporting the American Museum of Agriculture, Texas BoysRanch, and youth livestock shows.“Entering this new era and moving from iron to technology was something I was nervousabout at first and knew would be a challenge for our business,” Hurst said, “but now I am excitedabout the change and integrated solutions we can offer our customers. We now are able to selliron and couple it with beneficial technology. Being able to do that will move both us and our customersforward.”For more information on Hurst Farm Supply, visit: www.hurstfs.com