Eric Betcher helps farmers meet equipment needs

Eric Betcher grew up on a dairy farm in the Zumbrota area with three brothers. He attended Zumbrota Mazeppa schools and was busy with football and farming. He always enjoyed going along with his dad when they would go to his relative’s implement shop in Mazeppa. Eric said his parents would take them along when they went on a fishing trip to the Grand Rapids area for a week each year. When he turned 18 he stayed home, and took care of the farm work when they would be gone.
Eric attended the University of Wisconsin — River Falls and majored in Ag Engineering Technology. Eric would also work with an implement company while attending college. The school was only an hour from home so he could also help his parents out on the farm at times during the year. During his senior year in college a friend would call on the MN Ag Group in Kasson, and he suggested that Eric should reach out and talk to them about a possible job. He did and he was hired when he graduated, and 21 years later he is still at the same dealership.
When he joined the MN Ag Group, they mentioned that he would be in a good position as the company was just getting involved with precision farming with GPS-systems in tractors and other technology in equipment. Eric had been exposed to some of this technology when he was in college. Eric worked in machinery sales for several years, and got to know their many customers throughout their area.
MN Ag Group took over the Kasson dealership in 1997, and also has sites in Plainview, Hastings, Northfield and parts inventory in Adams. Kasson is considered the oldest International Harvester dealership as it was owned by the Brewer Family for 100 years, and then Bishop and Wachholz for the next 30 years.
Eric is the store manager in Kasson, and oversees the store in Adams. There are 24 employees at the Kasson dealership, and he estimated that 10% of employees across the MN Ag Group have also attended the same college that he did for their education.
During COVID, parts were much more difficult to obtain with the issues in the supply chain channels. They now have more than doubled their parts inventory, and are building a new building to house this to help reduce the down time when farmers need to get their crop work done.
It has been a very good couple of years for the dealership, but with high interest rates farmers are cautious but also optimistic, and are not displaying the doom and gloom we hear on the news too many times.
A lot of improvements are taking place at the dealership right now with the new parts inventory building on the east side, a shop expansion of 9,200 sq. ft. to the main building plus a wash bay area. The building that was moved on the site when it became the implement dealership in the 1980’s will now be moved again to a new location. The new entrance road will also make it easier for semis and machinery.
Eric was enthused about the recent internship fair held at the Kasson-Mantorville school for students in their junior year to learn about businesses in our area. It may lead to considering a possible career in the future, and on the job training can be a real positive thing. He encourages students to take part in extra activities while in school such as FFA, FCCLA, and 4-H as it will help them broaden their experiences.
Eric said if he could do it over again, these organizations would be something he would definitely take part in as he was also too busy farming. For too many years students were not encouraged to take classes such as industrial tech, welding, electrical, and automotive, and we are now paying the price as we need more people in those fields, he said. Since farmers now make up less than 2% of the country’s population, it is harder to find students and employees that have grown up on farms and know how food is produced.
Eric lives on the same farm that he grew up on. His father grew up in the Bellechester area, and was a hired hand on this farm, and actually slept in a closet room in the house that Eric lives in. Eric also farms 350 acres of corn, beans, hay, and feeds out 200 Angus-Holstein steers each year, and buys bottle fed calves from a cousin running a dairy farm. They sold the dairy cows in 2019.
His parents live close by so they will also help take care of the young calves when needed during chore time before Eric makes the 25-minute commute to Kasson.
Eric goes to the Rochester Athletic Club three — four times each week, and enjoys weight lifting for relaxation. He needs to stay active and keep moving as he spends 50 — 60 hours per week at the dealership and too much time sitting, he said.
He is a Viking and Twins fan and tries to take in a couple of games during the season with his seven-year-old son. Eric said he does enjoy playing a round of golf when it fits into his schedule. Being around tractors for years, he does not restore tractors like many people do, but he does enjoy seeing them at fairs or machinery shows to see the changes in the progression through the years.
Since Case IH has a partnership with the Twins and Wild, this also is a way to involve customers to attend a game at times. He was excited to be part of the presentation of the Farmall 75c utility tractor to the winner of the 100th anniversary of the Farmall tractor by Case IH at the Plainview dealership this past fall. The three-time cancer survivor video from Rochester was selected from almost 8,500 participants across the nation with people sharing their stories and videos how the Farmall tractor had an impact in their lives.
Eric would like to do some more traveling in the future, and attends dealer training at different places across the country each year. This winter he will be in Orlando, Fla., and will travel down the coast to Key West after the dealer conference has finished. He would also like to get to some places in Europe at some point in the future.
It has been a busy but a great experience for Eric these past 21 years at MN Ag Group in Kasson, as he really likes working with their customers that cover a large area in southern Minnesota.