The video is a 20‑year anniversary montage of SunSouth John Deere, featuring seven speakers (A‑G) who share personal reflections on the 2006 merger that created SunSouth and its evolution since. Speaker A recounts his role in the merger and the business‑system overhaul, noting initial resistance but eventual pride. Speaker B describes meeting his wife through the Henry Farm Center store and how the merger benefited his life. Speaker C emphasizes the pride of working with people who produce the nation’s food and fiber. Speaker D likens SunSouth to a living organism that requires all parts to work together, expressing pride in being part of its creation. Speaker E highlights the increased product availability, information, and collaborative assets after the merger, praising the current team. Speaker F discusses the dramatic technological advances in farming over the past two decades, such as autonomous tractors and predictive maintenance alerts. Speaker G shares a family legacy, noting his grandfather’s dealership and the blessing of 20 years of continuity. Overall, the montage conveys a narrative of collaboration, growth, technological progress, personal connections, and enduring pride in the SunSouth community.
Chapters
Thinking back to 2006 and a little bit prior, I actually had the pleasure of being involved in some of the discussion before we actually merged. But we started the merger, I was part of the team that changed the business system. So there was a period in there where I was the most hated individual and SunSouth because I not only did I was I involved in the merger but also changed their business system at the same time. Now in the end that wound up being a great decision through a difficult time but we got through it because everybody worked together and I'm extremely proud that I made some really neat friends there.
Henry Farm Center and SunSouth have been good for me. I met my wife Cindy in 1988 at Henry Farm Center. And then when SunSouth and Henry Farm Center and all the other stores merged, it's the best thing that ever happened to me. It's been a pleasant ride. It's really been short.
So what kept me here this time is getting to work with some of the best people that there are in the country. The men and women that provide the food and the fiber to sustain everyday life for the people here in this great country and just be salt of the earth type people.
The things I guess I'm kind of proud of is, um, being in since the beginning, you kind of feel like you've been part of making a creation, so to speak. SunSouth isn't just a job or workplace, it really is almost like a living being thing. It has parts. All those parts have to work together. If one part doesn't work well, the rest of the parts don't work well. So just being part of a creation and then kind of keeping that creation alive.
When we became SunSouth, one of the good changes that I saw was the availability of more product, more people to bounce ideas off of, a lot more information, a lot more assets at your fingertips. Where the company is today, I love the people I work with. Trying times sometimes, but everybody enjoys working with everybody, and I can't think of anything else I'd rather do.
Technology has really changed in the last 20 years. And it's been fun to watch not only our customers change to the new technology, but the younger generation really likes the way technology has changed. For instance, this tractor is, you know, driving itself. Technology tells you, hey, your oil needs changing. Things like that is, you know, It's really changed in the farm industry, especially over the last 20 years.
I've been around this business all my life. My granddad had the dealership when I was a kid, so I've been in the store for the last 40 years. We merged in 2006 with SunSouth, and here we are 20 years later. It's really been a blessing.
When 5 John Deere dealers got together to start talking about the merger that would result in forming SunSouth, we really didn't know what the end results would be. We thought that by joining together and having greater resources that we could build a bigger, stronger, better company for our people and our customers. We probably didn't realize that SunSouth would grow into the amazing business that it is today. And today, throughout a large part of 4 states, when people think about John Deere, they think about SunSouth. The exciting thing to all of this is that I truly believe that the best is yet to come.
