Terry Rindels and Tom Greiner recently sat down to discuss the changeover of leadership occurring at the Preston Dairy & Farm Association. Although there will be a new manager, they assure their customers that very little else is expected to change.
Regarding his tenure at Preston D & F, Rindels stated, “I’ve done it as manager for 13 ½ years, and been here for 26. But I’m getting to the age that I just don’t want the pressure anymore. And as a manager, it’s all about the people you’ve got around you. And we have a very good staff here, second to none in my opinion.”
“Tom is the new manager now,” Rindels explained, “And I’m going to stick around and help him out as much as I can.” When asked how long that will be, Rindels answered, “I don’t know… a year at least.” Greiner then quipped, “Tom would like more than a year.”
Rindels said of the business, “We’re a full agronomy service, fertilizer, chemicals, seed, we do application, and then we have feed for dairy, sheep, goats. We’re an independent co-op, there aren’t very many of us left, but it’s been working. We have loyal clientele.” He went on, “I’ve known Tom, he’s been my seed corn rep for quite a few years. He’ll do a heck of a job.”
Greiner added, “I’ve been in the seed industry for the last 23 years as the district sales manager. And what intrigued me about Preston Dairy & Farm is a good manager, a good quality person that is being successful is as good as the people around him… That’s why I chose Preston Dairy & Farm. Terry and I have had a very good long working relationship. We’ve worked together 10, 11 years. And I’ve worked with a lot of other businesses that do the same thing, but hands down, when I’ve had guys that were looking for recommendations, Preston was always the one I recommended to them. It’s just a wonderful business that the town is lucky to have.” He clarified that technically, Preston Dairy & Farm shouldn’t be considered a full-service agronomy, since it doesn’t offer grain or fuel. But he adds that sometimes they do grain hauling.
When asked about seasonal fluctuations in the business, Rindels replied, “The feed’s pretty steady year-round. The agronomy, that’s spring and fall. But in the winter, we do a lot of our own repairs on equipment. We’ve got good men in our shop that know what they’re doing.”
Greiner said, “I will also add, Terry doesn’t give himself a lot of credit, but Terry actually built his business from being downtown to moving uptown four or five years ago. Terry actually started downtown with three or four employees, and in 13 years as a manager he’s brought it up to 16 employees… There’s a lot of big shoes to fill.”
When asked what accounts for the business growth, Rindels said, “A lot of hard work.” He also stressed that the success and growth would have been impossible without great employees and customers. Greiner concurred, saying the staff is well-trained, and receptive to training. He also said they believe in trying to have fun on the job too.
Looking to the future, Greiner, summarized, “In order for survival, you have to have growth.” But he and Rindels agreed that overall the business simply hopes to keep doing well at meeting the needs of farmers in the area. That’s always seemed to work for them.
Photo by Rich Wicks
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