38 | Power Farming Northland T T Virginia Wright Keeping the rural economy running A tight unit: from left Craig, Jeff and Brett Maber. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Power Farming Northland is one of the four biggest agricultural machinery retail providers in Northland. They sell everything from 24 hp lifestyle tractors to 400 hp heavy contractor tractors as well as whatever fits on the front or the back of them: balers, mowers, front end shovels or anything else that any farmer of whatever size could ever need. “And everything we sell we obviously stock parts for and have a service department to back them up as well,” explains owner Dave Thomas. The front-end and back-end machinery they sell makes up around two thirds of their business and sets them apart from most of their competitors who generally concentrate on tractors alone. Dave believes that makes a difference especially when combined with the back-up and servicing their company provides once the machinery has been purchased. “It’s to do with our focus on a fast turnaround time for service, the deep knowledge that our parts guys have (every tractor has literally millions of parts that can break and need to be refurbished), and the hands on support that we provide to our customers. Everybody knows that we’re available on the phone 24/7 and we can be out in the field within a couple of hours.” Luckily it doesn’t happen often, but Dave knows that when a tractor goes down in the middle of the night in baling season it doesn’t matter if it’s 3am they need to be up and running again within an hour or two. To achieve that Power Farming Northland has 15 to 20 service staff depending on the time of year and how busy they are, plus three full time staff in parts, and another three full time salespeople. Even more important for Dave in terms of what sets them apart from their competitors is their ongoing relationship with their parent company. Laurie Maber started the company in Morrinsville 76 years ago as Maber Motors. His son Geoff, now 76 himself, leads the company, and his two sons Brett and Craig both work in it. They rebranded as Power Farming around 30 years ago while remaining New Zealand owned and operated. “Around half of the individual dealerships are still half-owned by the family, in a model that doesn’t exist elsewhere in the ag sector,” Dave explains. “Geoff is the most switched on energetic 70 something year old you’ve ever met. “He lives and breathes tractors and ag machinery. Times are tough but after a meeting with him you come out ready to knock a wall down,” says Dave. It’s not just Geoff’s energy that makes the model strong. As the company has grown in New Zealand over the years it has also expanded to Australia and America thus spreading the load of any economic downturn. According to Dave the roughly 4000 tractors that used to be sold each year has potentially halved recently with tough economic times and high interest rates. Retailers who have finally got the stock they were so desperate for post Covid have been left with too many tractors across the board sitting in their yards. Having their customer base spread across three countries means Power Farming isn’t experiencing the losses of some of its competitors and continues to provide solid support to all of its co-owners which means a great deal to Dave and his staff. “Right now it means that even though it’s tough we know they’re there to help us get through. We can continue to focus on supporting our customers and being there when they need us because they still need parts and servicing for what they already own, and when interest rates come down they’ll be buying again and hopefully remember our support.” Power Farming Northland believe in being efficient and doing things right first time. This means staying on top of the knowledge needed to achieve that. Again this is where having a parent company pays dividends. ”Pretty much every week we have someone going to Morrinsville for training whether it’s in new software capabilities if it’s in the tractors, or just basic hydraulics flow,or something to do with electronics. We keep right up to speed with the machinery that we sell and service,” explains Dave. For Dave being part of a company where you can walk in to the Head Office, shake hands with the owner, and have a chat about what’s concerning the farmers of Northland knowing they’ll listen, means as much as knowing they’ve got the means to help him weather the tough times. It’s now a seriously big company but it still feels like a family business and he’s proud to be part of it. For everything McHale including service and genuine parts ensure you get the best out of your equipment by choosing your locally owned McHale support and distribution team. Whangarei | 09 438-9163 We keep you growing Power Farming Northland proudly locally owned and operated 100% kiwi owneD
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