Starting when he was 11 years old, Tyler Ringler would spend 12 hours a day helping his father during the hay season. He would use his father’s John Deere equipment to cut, rake and bale hay. During those years, Ringler said, he would rather have been playing with his friends instead of working on a tractor. But what he did not realize was that he was gaining experience that would be valuable to John Deere a few years later.
Last December, he graduated from Emporia State University with a degree in geology and earth science. In May, he got a job working for John Deere as an agriculture and marketing representative in the hay and forage division in Ottumwa, Iowa.
Experience leads to job
After graduation, Ringler found that jobs in geology were limited, but because of his farm experience he was in demand at John Deere.
“Lots of people here have agriculture backgrounds but not as extensive as mine,” he said. “A lot of people will come to me because they have questions about basic operational functionality of hay equipment. I can answer it just because I have been on it for hours and hours and know the ins and outs.”
Since John Deere is a huge corporation, Ringler said he finds it interesting when he runs into people who have limited field experience.
“We had a photo shoot in Kentucky and there was a guy there who had just got a job with (the) copyright (division) out of Lenexa and he never been up close to a tractor. He was from the Bronx in New York,” Ringler said.
Big transition
As an agriculture marketing representative, Ringler’s duties include communicating with dealers about demonstration units, getting equipment to farm shows and attending farm shows to answer questions, updating sales manuals and coordinating photo shoots.
After being on the job three months, Ringler says the best part is meeting new people and networking.
“Making the transition from farm life to corporate life has been an eye-opening experience. Lots of integration and attention to detail that you wouldn’t realize that went on in a big company,” he said.
“All the information can be a little overwhelming, but I am getting a grasp of how things work.”
Emporia photo shoot
Ringler’s job duties have already brought him to Emporia for a photo shoot.
When too much rain in Iowa last spring prevented the company from getting into the fields for a photo shoot, his boss asked if he knew any place to go that had good hay. Ringler suggested his family farm back in Kansas.
So they sent a crew of six with equipment to Emporia for a photo and video shoot. They shot in the fields around Emporia, at John Deere retailer PrairieLand Partners and at Steve and Ann Knecht’s house in rural Lyon County.
On the shoots, they featured the new 5-D series utility tractor, along with hay-cutting equipment and a mower conditioner.
Ringler said he is enjoying his work and expects things to get better as he learns more.
Growing up, Ringler said, he may have preferred playing with his friends to being on a tractor, but now he has a real appreciation for the work he was doing.
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Posted by Summer_Breeze (anonymous) on August 27, 2008 at 12:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Awesome!
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