Members of the Equipment Dealers Association (EDA), the Midwest-SouthEastern Equipment Dealers Association (MSEDA), the United Equipment Dealers Association (UEDA) and the Western Equipment Dealers Association (WEDA) voted to merge their organizations to form NAEDA.

The vote was the final step in approving the process. The consolidation will be effective July 1.

NAEDA will represent more than 4,000 dealer members in the United States and Canada.

“We appreciate the overwhelming level of support that we have been given by our members,” said Tom Rosztoczy, president and CEO of Stotz Equipment and chair of the long-range planning group. “Now that our members have ratified the merger resolutions, we will start with our transition plan and consolidating our resources—taking the best of all four organizations to enhance our value proposition to dealers.”

The new North American Equipment Dealers Association will represent dealers on a national level focused on manufacturer relations and federal government affairs in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa. It also will represent dealers in 24 state capitols in the U.S., regulatory issues in states involved with this merger, and nine Canadian provinces.

Six regional associations opted out of the consolidation effort. They were:

• Far West Equipment Dealers Association
• Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association
• Pioneer Equipment Dealers Association
• Montana Equipment Dealers Association
• Northeastern Equipment Dealers Association, and
• Deep Southern Equipment Dealers Association

The news release issued by the merging associations said NAEDA will “continue to work with all regional equipment dealer associations in North America effectively representing agricultural, construction, industrial, forestry, outdoor power, lawn and garden and/or turf equipment dealers.”

Source: EDA, MSEDA, UEDA, and WEDA

The next step is a vote by dealer members of each association. That process should conclude by spring with a goal to finalize the consolidation by July 1.

The new North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA) will represent over 4,000 dealer members in the United States and Canada.

“The goals, objectives and vision of our four associations are closely aligned,” said Tom Rosztoczy, who is president and CEO of Stotz Equipment and chair of the long-range planning group. “This consolidation will be undertaken on a long-term sustainable basis with a continued commitment to grassroots involvement and a localized approach.”

Rosztoczy said dealer members of the four associations will experience little to no change in their daily interactions with their association after the consolidation. 

“Our four boards of directors’ have acknowledged that the dealership network has evolved over the past number of years, and the service level that they require from their association has changed,” Rosztoczy said. “A major reason for proceeding with this merger is our members will benefit from a larger, financially strong association that will provide more services to address the needs of today’s equipment dealer.”

He said this is the right time to consolidate and anticipates the move will offer a level of industry recognition that members enjoyed in the earlier version of NAEDA, which was renamed the Equipment Dealers Association as part of a shift toward regional associations. He also said the new structure will continue to provide the benefits of regional equipment dealers associations across North America.

“This consolidation is as a result of a dealer led process that was started in October 2018,” Rosztoczy said. “All regional equipment dealer associations were invited to participate and to contribute on how we can have a strong national association, while at the same time position our organization to address the changing needs of equipment dealers across North America.”

Six regional associations opted out of the consolidation effort. They were:

• Far West Equipment Dealers Association
• Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association
• Pioneer Equipment Dealers Association
• Montana Equipment Dealers Association
• Northeastern Equipment Dealers Association, and
• Deep Southern Equipment Dealers Association

Hours after the announcement of this consolidation, four of the six regional associations that opted out sent a letter urging their members who also belong to EDA to vote against the merger.

“EDA was formed as the equipment dealers’ National Association,” the letter said. “Its role as the voice of equipment dealers across the U.S. is crucial and very challenging. It requires a focused mission and dedicated human and financial resources. Our national association, EDA, should not dedicate limited resources attempting to manage the affairs of individual states, provinces, and two countries. The concept would require EDA to advocate to at least 28 different state and provincial governments … in addition to the U.S. and Canadian governments!”

The letter came from the boards of directors of the Canada East Equipment Dealers Association, and the Deep Southern, Far West, Montana, and Pioneer equipment dealer associations.

Source: Equipment Dealers Association, opposing regional associations

This comes days after a congressman from New York introduced a bill dubbed the Fair Repair Act that takes what has historically been a state legislative issue and elevates it to a coast-to-coast question.

In the announcement Tuesday, Psaki noted that the USDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will be ordered to make rules to foster greater competition in the agriculture industry.

In turn, this could boost farmers’ and ranchers’ earnings while fighting abuses of power from giant agriculture conglomerates, she said. Details were few in the announcement, but the press secretary said the rulemaking will “give farmers the right to repair their own equipment how they like.”

The legislation introduced last month would require manufacturers to provide device owners and independent repair stores access to the tools, parts, and information they need to fix electronics.

Nathan Proctor, who leads the right-to-repair campaign for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, characterized Biden’s move as “great news for farmers” and “great news for everyone concerned with repair monopolies.”

Dealer groups, however, see it differently.

The Equipment Dealers Association (EDA) and nine regional dealer associations brought the issue to the attention of their members after the right-to-repair bill was introduced in Congress.

EDA’s letter, said, in part: “For the past few years, EDA and other industry stakeholders have been hard at work fighting Right to Repair legislation. These very broad bills have been introduced in 30-plus U.S. states and lump ag and construction equipment in with consumer electronics in an effort to give end-users the right to modify equipment. Unlike cell phones, modifying heavy equipment creates safety and environment violations that pose an inherent risk to those who operate, repair and sell it. Thus far, EDA and its coalition partners have been successful in defeating this state legislation (not a single state has passed a Right to Repair bill), but now the stakes are higher.”

Sources: The Drive,
Motherboard (Tech by Vice), and Farm Equipment

The campaign—Technicians for Tomorrow—seeks to familiarize parents and educators of middle and early high school students with the benefits of a career as an equipment service technician and inspire their children and students to explore these careers by focusing their skills at an early age.

The campaign features videos and a suite of other materials to be used across social media platforms and more traditional media channels. Dealers can customize the content and use the campaign to bolster recruitment efforts in their own communities.

The effort geographically targets communities with farm equipment dealerships.

The videos feature interviews with professionals in service departments and dealership management, breaking down perceptions of what the job is and what it entails.

“EDF wanted viewers to relate to the people in the video, envision themselves in their roles and feel that the profession could provide them with a well-paying and rewarding opportunity,” the group said.

The campaign also seeks to emphasize that “a career as a service technician is incredibly rewarding: not only is the job itself challenging and engaging, but it is also highly valued by the farmers who rely upon their services. In this way, service technicians are respected and appreciated in their communities more than ever before.”

The Foundation intends to continue its campaign for the next five years by following students as they complete high school and enter the workforce.

The announcement from EDA says the Coalition Opposed to Illegal Tampering will argue against “vague and overly broad right-to-repair bills across the United States and Canada.”

“We are pleased to lead this next step in advocacy for our industry,” said Kim Rominger, president and CEO of EDA. “This is the largest coalition that we are aware of on this issue and it will require the attention of legislators moving forward.”

Natalie Higgins, EDA’s vice president of government relations, said EDA has “worked in lockstep with our industry partners at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Associated Equipment Distributors, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association and our regional dealer association partners ..” in response to “an onslaught of so-called right-to-repair bills filed in some 23 states.”

Source: EDA

Dorhout owns Town & Country Implement, a Case IH, New Holland and Kubota dealership with stores in Iowa. He has owned the dealership since 1979 and has grown a single location with three employees into two locations with more than 40 employees.

Dorhout previously served as chairman for the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association and currently holds a seat on its Board of Directors.

Heart Mountain Farm Supply in Powell, Wyo., has changed its name to Heart Mountain Equipment. It will also become a full-line Kubota dealer; it has been a Case IH dealer.

The Equipment Dealers Association recently elected a new director and re-elected two current directors to its Board of Directors. Each will serve a three-year term.

Newly elected was Josh Vines, vice president of Goldman Equipment LLC, a 13-store Deere dealership group in Louisiana. He will represent the EDA’s deep southern region. Vines also serves as a director on the board of the Deep Southern Equipment Dealers Association.

Re-elected to the board were Andrew Snih, president of Huber Farm Equipment, a two-store Kubota dealership in British Columbia, and Dan Scheuers, dealer principal and service manager for Waupun Equipment Co., a two-store dealership in Wisconsin. Snih represents EDA’s Canada region; Scheuers represents the midwest-southeastern regions.

Regions were recently redrawn and approved by EDA’s board to more closely mirror current affiliate association regions.

Sources: Illinois AgriNews, EDA, Farm Equipment