ARTHUR, Ill. — The Kuhns family has assisted farmers in the Arthur area with their farm equipment needs since 1956.
“I grew up in this business, I was 3 1/2 years old when dad started,” said Howard Kuhns, owner of Kuhns Equipment that has dealerships in Arthur and Gibson City.
“The company started with Ferguson equipment, and when they merged with Massey-Harris, we sold Massey Ferguson starting in 1958,” Kuhns said.
Massey Ferguson along with Minneapolis Moline and B.F. Avery equipment will be featured July 8-11 during the Historic Farm Days at Penfield. The four-day show is organized by the I&I Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Club.
Kuhns’ first job at the farm dealership was in the parts department.
“My dad took me out of school after ninth grade because he needed a parts man,” he said. “It was less complicated then because we didn’t have a multitude of lines or machines dating back 60 years.”
After about 1973, Kuhns worked in sales.
“I was manager until 2013, when I took ownership,” he said.
The Gibson City location was added to the family business in 1995, and it is managed by Kuhns’ son, Ben.
“That was a long time Allis Chalmers dealership, but by then they sold AGCO equipment including Massey Ferguson,” Kuhns said. “Our primary area of responsibility is 17 counties in east-central Illinois.”
In addition to Massey Ferguson, farmers also can choose from Versatile and Fendt tractors at Kuhns Equipment.
“Fendt is the new state-of-the art tractor,” Kuhns said.
Kuhns has experienced lots of changes in the farm equipment business during his lifelong career at his family dealership.
“There was a time when it was very fashionable to have a two-row corn picker mounted on a tractor,” he said.
As farmers started trading those pickers for self-propelled machines, demand for the pickers diminished.
“We had a dozen or more that we ended up selling for scrap,” Kuhns said. “I remember that quite vividly.”
The decade of the 1980s was quite challenging for many aspects of the agricultural community.
“The ’80s were very difficult. We paid some 22% interest,” Kuhns said. “That was extremely tough, but we survived and we’re still here.”
Working to develop financing packages is Kuhns’ favorite part of his work at the farm dealership.
“I really enjoy putting finance packages together that work out for everyone involved including the farmers, the companies we represent and our company,” he said. “The opportunity to make it cash flow is really important for people to be able to afford today’s machinery.”
In addition to selling equipment, the company also does some renting of machines and quite a bit of leasing.
“We offer them a lease and then have a purchase option to spread the payments out over several years,” Kuhns said.
The Kuhns family enjoys their farm equipment business.
“We think a family owned and operated business is better than a large company where customers tend to become a number and they lose that personal touch,” Kuhns said.
For more information about Kuhns Equipment, go to www.kuhnsequip.com, or call 217-543-2154, or 217-784-4731.