The agriculture technician facility on the campus of Arkansas State University-Beebe looks like a large John Deere dealership.
Tractors, spray rigs and all manner of equipment circle the multi-bay shop. Young men scamper about, using laptop computers to diagnose “problems” and tear down and rebuild the machinery. A new utility tractor has its transmission removed. A much more experienced field tractor is in for an overhaul.
And off to the side, a new six-bay facility and storage shed are nearly ready for the program’s 60-plus students.
But this isn’t a professional ag equipment shop. These technicians are students, and their supervisors are instructors. The students are learning their craft in a sparkling public-private partnership that began long ago when one of the industry’s heavyweights recognized a need for highly trained technicians who speak the language of John Deere Co.
The program, almost two decades old, is one of 21 across North America sponsored by John Deere.
Dr. Keith McClanahan, director of advanced technology and allied health at the college, explained that ASU-Beebe’s program originally started in Helena.
“It came here based on us having residence halls and being closer to airports. We are a little more centrally located, but the program has grown so much,” McClanahan said. “We are drawing students from Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana.”
Students don’t apply to the school to join the program. Instead, they must secure a sponsorship from a local John Deere dealership. In Arkansas, Greenway Equipment, with its 27 locations, is the largest supplier of students.
Once accepted into the program, participants work for the sponsoring dealership. They have some or all of their tuition and room and board paid for by the sponsoring dealership. When not in school, they have the chance to work at their sponsoring dealership. When they graduate, the students have a job waiting for them.
“The dealers are finding the students in their areas. So, they do the cut, and if they sponsor a student, we bring them into the program,” McClanahan said.
John Deere Co. provides the equipment for the students to work on and the parts, too. At any given moment, the school will have in the neighborhood of $1 million worth of equipment on hand, from behemoth combines to weed trimmers. The program includes training on everything that carries the yellow deer logo.
“The tractor that we are needing or the combine that we are needing, it may be one that a dealer in the area has ordered,” McClanahan said. “Then Deere gives that dealer a discount for letting us use for nine months or a full school year. Then, they take it to the dealer who has purchased that piece of equipment. It really is a partnership between the dealership, John Deere Co. and ASU-Beebe.”
To recruit students, John Deere employs a college partner manager who works with the colleges to visit FFA programs at high schools and other events for prospective students and also facilitates the equipment requests.
McClanahan said ASU-Beebe’s program and others like it serve two needs. One is the high level of training required by increasing technological advancements. Two is an undersupply of students going into the agriculture technician field.
“We can’t turn out enough technicians to fill their future needs,” McClanahan said. “The students can go anywhere in the world they want to go, but most of them want to stay close to home. This is a way they can stay close to home and make really good money.”
Both McClanahan and Stephen Yokley, a program instructor, said that graduates can expect to earn $30,000 immediately — a salary well above the state’s median income and one significantly higher than other jobs in many areas of the Delta — and can double or triple that in two to three years if they continue to advance in John Deere’s training programs.
“That’s great for an associate’s degree,” McClanahan said.
Though the program certifies the technicians on the ubiquitous green-hued equipment, the skills they learn are valuable in other ways.
“We are running out John Deere service technicians, but are the skills transferrable? Yes,” McClanahan said. “Tearing down a diesel engine is essentially the same for other brands of equipment. … The Deere dealerships have gone above and beyond any internship I have worked with. They are doing everything in their power to make sure that the students stay with Deere, but the technology is also in locomotives and other things.”
But Deere invests in the program because it benefits the company. One of the company’s dealer requirements is a fully staffed and trained service department.
“Three of our bigger dealers have hired full-time recruiters to go out to high schools,” McClanahan said. “You can’t go out and pull someone off the streets and have them work on the equipment these days. With Deere and most of the other companies, there is proprietary information that they only release to dealers. That information is something that helps the John Deere techs diagnose and repair the equipment more easily and quickly. That’s one way that programs like these give these students an advantage in the workplace.”
McClanahan said that repairing farm equipment is a career that isn’t for everyone.
“It appeals to a certain person, someone who likes to get in and get their hands dirty, but also probably as important as that, it is turning out technicians who can explain to the farmer what they are doing and why they are having to do it,” he said. “There is a whole lot to it, not just the technical skills. The majority is strictly technician coursework, but we do have courses in English. They have a computer class that helps them primarily for the work order they have to complete, and we have math and science.”
McClanahan said that the program is expanding as funds are available, noting that university officials have continued to invest in infrastructure for the program because they see the success of its graduates.
“It really is working for the students,” he said.
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