Farewell to the Ag Retailer’s Ultimate Champion

“Of course, everything I just said could be completely wrong.”

This was the quip that wrapped up the majority of consultations and back-corner-of-the-reception discussions I had with one Ron Farrell over my 20 years of covering the ups and downs of the agriculture distribution channel. The truth is (and he would debate me on this, too), he was right about 90% of the time. Spending your entire career dedicated to serving an industry you love will get you that kind of record of accuracy.

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Ron Farrell was a regular participant at CropLife’s annual PACE meeting.

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We lost Ron last week, something I knew was coming for some time, but was still a shock in its finality. Steve Watts, one of his closest friends and business associates, gave me a personal call to let me know.

Ron worked his way up through crop protection and retail for three decades, eventually serving as Vice President and Division Manager at Wilbur-Ellis. He was a co-founder and driving force behind the Certified Crop Adviser program. He served as President and CEO of what would become the data standards organization AgGateway.

All of this would have been enough. But what’s really mattered as far as I’m concerned was his “second” career as one of the biggest champions for independent agricultural retailers.

Let’s face it, retail is almost always under siege. We get the visit and pat on the back from manufacturers talking about how important we are, only to have those companies go back to their boardrooms and bang out strategies to marginalize our influence. We have farmers printing out and waving broker-driven crop protection quotes demanding lower prices, without regard to the services we provide, or our place in the community.

OK, the above paragraph is exaggerated (a tad) for effect, but the point is, this is a tough business with few life rafts, and getting tougher. Through his more than two decades of work on the Farrell Growth Group, a consortium of independent retailers and cooperatives determined to sustain and grow business against the angry tide, and his thousands of interactions and consultations across the industry on behalf of ag retail (not to mention schleps like me), Ron championed the important contributions of the retailer as the trusted advisor. The number of people he influenced and inspired in his career are literally impossible to count.

I talked to him a ton, to share ideas, get feedback, and test direction on stories. He always, and I mean always, took the time to chat and share. He asserted that every business leader should spend seven hours a week thinking about the business, something I have tried to do at some measure, mostly failing. If he thought an issue was not being given its due, he lit a fire under me. He also calmed me down, or channeled my anxiety into a productive direction, when my thinking was off target.

My friend Jeremy Wilson, who came to know Ron later on but who was profoundly impacted by his advice and counsel, told me simply, “Ron was always willing to give me time to share an idea, and always pushed me to be passionate about what I thought was right.”

Jeremy had to negotiate a lot of twists and turns through his journey through his consulting business, into leadership within AgGateway’s precision field data initiatives, and finally into a management position with software company EFC Systems. Ron provided guidance through all of it.

As for me, Ron was a mentor, a consultant, and good friend. Last summer I got a three-hour breakfast at the Big Biscuit in Kansas City with him that bookended a 20-year relationship that will serve me for the remainder of my ag career.

Every move retailers make to improve customer service, solidify manufacturer partnerships, and increase the efficiency and profitability of the operation is a tribute to the work Ron Farrell performed over more than five decades in agriculture.

Thanks for everything, my friend.

Editor’s note: Ron Farrell was always available to give us his thoughts on the state of the industry, as was the case in this 2017 video.

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