text: “Customers in that area tend to pay more attention to seeding data and varieties, whereas our California customers just plant,” Turrubiates says. “We don’t really see any variable-rate either, but I’m hoping we can change that, because it’s an untapped market here.”
  Last summer, he helped set up a variable-rate compost spreader for orchards to apply gypsum. With the cost and care that goes into managing a high-dollar crop, Turrubiates says it makes sense that farmers would want to protect that investment as best they can.
  Customer diversity — not only in terms of crops — also poses obstacles to more rapid precision adoption in the area. While Turrubiates has some family farm customers, many are corporate entities that rotate equipment operators each year, many of whom don’t speak English.
  “One problem I run into fairly frequently is that companies don’t really want to spend the money for precision products because they know that their operators aren’t going to understand how to use them or they’ll use them incorrectly,” he says. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out on a service call for the same company and it’s a different operator every time I stop out. In a lot of cases, they are migrant workers who will only be there for 6-9 months and then move on.”
  On some days, Turrubiates is more of a teacher than a technician. He will take the time to walk operators through setups, mapping fields or creating boundaries, but is grateful when he encounters a customer who has baseline experience with GPS systems and displays.
  Troubleshooting simple errors or giving tutorials on quick fixes comes with the territory, but Turrubiates says the end goal is to keep customers satisfied and coming back.
  “That’s the main point — we’re there to help them out and give them the tools to be more profitable,” he says. “It all goes bask to our dealership’s motto ‘We deliver equipment and solutions.’ That’s the mentality I have and how I’m looking to build our precision farming department.”