The Elkhart Truth 2019 Business and Industry - Elkhart County

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Embracing Automation

Business Industry 2019 Inside: • • • • •

Introduction Page 2 Industry Page 3 Business Profile Page 10 Demographics Page 12 Agriculture Page 14

Embracing INTRODUCTION

the future

W

hen a report from the well-respected Brookings Institution came out in January 2019 suggesting the Elkhart-Goshen metropolitan area was one of the most likely places in the nation to be affected by auJON GARD tomation, many feared the worst.

It was like a warning light, flashing red for laborers who had spent their lives building and fixing things by hand.

In an otherwise brisk local economy dominated by manufacturing, the report seemed to herald a time of joblessness and suffering brought on by mindless robots and distant technologies.

Fortunately, some had already seen the coming tide, in other industries and in other parts of the world, and were already thinking about how to stay ahead of the curve. Embrace the trend, business and community leaders said. It’s the future.

And for those willing and able to upgrade their skills, the future is bright.

Paul Troxel, a mechatronics apprentice at Lippert Components, is on the front lines

2 Business and Industry 2019 • Introduction

of that transition. Formerly a warehouse technician, Troxel is excited about what the future may hold.

“I still enjoy getting my hands dirty and fixing things,” he says. “I’m just going about it a little differently now.”

Troxel is also a lab tech at Ivy Tech Community College, where he’s learning about industrial robots, including some that use artificial intelligence to perform a variety of tasks from production to sorting to quality control.

In fact, work is expected to begin in 2020 on a hightech training facility at Ivy Tech’s campus on C.R. 18 – a $3.6 million advanced manufacturing, automation and robotics lab. The iFlex lab will allow residents to earn degrees or certificates in automation, robotics and Internetbased manufacturing – the kinds of skills companies say they’ll need, and be willing to pay for, in the years ahead.

It’s a significant step as the community learns what must be done not only to survive the latest technological revolution but to thrive in it.

Jon Gard is the managing editor at The Elkhart Truth.

He can be reached at 574-2965939 or jgard@elkharttruth. com

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INDUSTRY

Elkhart Truth photo / Jon Gard

Department Chair Natalie Medich, Advanced Manufacturing, Robotic & Industrial Technology-Elkhart, Ivy Tech Community College, chats with Paul Troxel, a mechatronics apprentice at Lippert Components and Ivy Tech lab technician, about the FANUC robot in front of them.

Automation capital of the world?

Area businesses, community leaders brace for next wave of industrial evolution take adaptation from businesses, employees and educational institutions. Those who are he latest evolution in best at adapting will thrive – industry – work done and some believe Elkhart with more automation, could become the automation artificial intelligence, wireless capital of the world. connectivity and sensors – Will it cost anyone their job? makes many promises: Better Well, that depends on how you pay. Better health. Less repeti- look at it. More on that later. tion. More efficiency. Growth.

According to Natalie MedCan it deliver? ich, who leads the Advanced If you ask local stakeholdManufacturing Department at ers, the answer is that it will Ivy Tech Community College

BY RASMUS S. JORGENSEN rjorgensen@elkharttruth.com

T

in Elkhart, manufacturing workers of tomorrow will need to complete tasks such as industrial maintenance, automation engineering, lean engineering, supply chain management, computer-aideddesign, computer numerical control and (what one might now be tempted to call good old-fashioned) information technology.

“That’s the future. That is part of what it’s going to take

for us to be industrious in this county in the next ... actually in the current state and the future state,” Medich said.

Since the United States is experiencing slow population growth, she said, we need to find other ways to increase our output than just adding more hands. Setting up more manual production lines is a thing of the past.

And when the fourth See CAPITAL, PAGE 4

Industry • Business and Industry 2019 3

Capital From page 3

industrial revolution, commonly called Industry 4.0, has rolled through the county, getting a manufacturing job with a high school diploma and nothing else will not be possible.

But there is good news for those who are able to get an associate degree at a place like Ivy Tech, Medich said.

The average starting salary for those who join the workforce with the technical skill sets that can be taught at the Elkhart campus is $64,000 per year in Indiana.

But what about people already in the workforce. Ask Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce president Levon Johnson what first comes to mind when he hears the word “automation” and he’ll say “disruption.”

4 Business and Industry 2019 • Industry

Elkhart Truth photo / Rasmus S. Jorgensen

An Ivy Tech student tests an electrical system in the lab.

“Not necessarily in a negative way,” he added.

Making production more efficient is no new pursuit, and while it may disrupt what we have grown used to, it is usually for the better, Johnson believes. But as local businesses increase their

dependence on technical equipment, they will need to send employees to places like Ivy Tech for a skills upgrade.

“Automation does not cause a loss of positions.

It just causes people to do things differently,” Johnson said.

And Industry 4.0 isn’t an overnight thing. If every company in the county decided to take the automation plunge tomorrow, that’s when the community would be in trouble, according to the chamber president.

“We don’t have the workforce to support that,” he said.

So just how far along is this change in Elkhart County?

If you have a scale of 0-10, where 10 is the most automated, there are businesses here on both ends of that scale, according to Medich.

She said one example of a very automated facility is a new Lippert Components plant that produces chassis with the help of artificial intelligence.

Since you need to have the right people available to implement automation, Johnson describes Industry 4.0 as a kind of “reverse disruptor.”

“We’ve got to skill up

Elkhart Truth photo / Rasmus S. Jorgensen

Ivy Tech students have a good time while making adjustments on an electrical motor.

enough people fast enough to be able to do this, because it doesn’t make any sense to go do this if we don’t have the people,” he said. “It’s not going to increase quality, it’s not going to increase production.”

But it’s not just manufacturing that is being disrupted by new technologies. Robots can cut your grass and clean your floors. And when you go shopping, it is no longer out of the ordinary that you’ll be asked to check out your own groceries. That clearly puts a damper on the demand for cashiers.

A situation like that could not have come at a better time for Elkhart County, where the unemployment rate was 2.8 percent in October.

“It’s allowing me now to not have to pull cashiers to go do stocking because I’ve hired people to do that work,

and I don’t need them to go be the cashier,” Johnson said.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows automation may be having a negative effect on job numbers in the retail sector: 140,000 of roughly 16 million retail jobs were lost between early 2017 and early 2019, according to the bureau, a decline attributed largely to automation.

For manufacturing, the numbers are quite different.

So far this year, 76,000 new jobs have been created in U.S. manufacturing.

However, BLS data also showed that Elkhart County had the largest decline in weekly earnings in the country from 2018 to 2019.

The average decrease in the county from March 2018 to March 2019 was 7.6 percent, led by a 12.7 percent decrease for manufacturing workers.

None of the other 355 larg-

est counties in the country came close to such a decline, and earnings went up in the country as a whole. Johnson believes the local decline was a result of overtime in the RV industry at the beginning of the period turning into four-day weeks at the end of it – nothing to do with automation.

And automation will be a good thing for our area, he said.

Improved efficiency, a human endeavor that began thousands of years ago, creates more wealth for society as a whole. When a machine takes over tasks previously done by humans, people’s time can be used at something more worthwhile.

That is what happened when tractors replaced horses and Henry Ford introduced the assembly line. But that new job is not always in the same

organization, and workers are displaced in the short term.

That can be particularly critical for those who cannot afford to upgrade their skills or who are nearing retirement age.

Johnson said he is not concerned about that, mostly because Elkhart County has such a low unemployment rate. He said government does play a role in ensuring that jobs with decent pay continue to be around. The City of Elkhart, for instance, uses tax abatements to incentivize business openings and expansions. In return for the abatement, the city requires that a certain number of jobs are created and that at least 70 percent of those jobs pay above the Elkhart County median hourly rate of $17.34 per hour.

See CAPITAL, PAGE 6

Industry • Business and Industry 2019 5

Capital From page 5

Attracting new business to the county is a significant part of Chris Stager’s job.

He is the president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Elkhart County, which is paid by local governments to attract and expand businesses in the area.

“We’re constantly growing our industrial base,” Stager said.

Certain production jobs could be at risk, he knows, but specific steps are being taken to train the people who hold those positions.

One of them comes from a $42.4 million grant from the Lilly Endowment given to the University of Notre Dame earlier this year. The money was given to let Notre Dame form the Labs for Industry Futures and Transformation

(LIFT) Network, which will enhance and connect cuttingedge expertise, technologies, workforce development programs and innovation-based facilities throughout the South Bend-Elkhart region.

“All of us share a common, hopeful vision for our region’s future. We who live and work in the region know that a quiet transformation is underway, and that the Lilly Endowment grant is a powerful catalyst for a brighter, resilient future,” Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins said when the grant was awarded.

Lilly Endowment vice president for community development, Rob Smith, pointed to the region’s strong industrial base and talented employees when explaining why the organization was putting its focus here.

With that, can the Elkhart area become a leader in automation? Johnson and Stager

Top Employers Thor Industries Inc. Forest River Inc. Lippert Components Inc. Beacon Health System Patrick Industries Elkhart Community Schools Indiana University Health Goshen Goshen Community Schools Supreme Industries Elkhart County Government

say yes.

“It could eventually end up being that we’re exporting technology, because we have every conceivable type of process here. We have metal forming, we have electronics ... we have all of the critical elements in place to be able to produce automation,” Stager said.

But it requires that graduates of the local school districts are ready. Stager

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said the robotics and coding classes that are increasingly widespread in area schools are exactly what is needed.

STEM is the way of the future.

He also pointed out that Manufacturing Day, a threeyear-old effort to let students see what manufacturing in Elkhart County looks like, helps show that there are interesting career paths in this area.

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Employees with Lippert Components Inc. work on laptops in a manufacturing plant in Elkhart County. Experts say technology and automation are key to the future of manufacturing.

“Every student is getting exposed to the career opportunities that are out there for them,” he said.

Places like ETHOS Innovation Center and E3 Robotics Center allows children to see what STEM can be used for.

But robots are also coming into the classroom. At Ivy Tech, Medich gets to teach multiple skills that a community college could not afford to do just a few years ago. She is especially excited about her lab’s cobot – a collaborative robot – which students can teach new skills by taking advantage of the cobot’s artificial intelligence.

Medich said Ivy Tech is working with local school districts to introduce STEM career pathways to seventh- and eighthgraders.

“We want them to start asking questions,” she said.

Follow Rasmus S. Jorgensen on Twitter at @ReadRasmus

An employee with Lippert Components Inc. works at a plant in Elkhart where the company produces awnings, patio doors and lamination. Experts say technology and automation are key to the future of manufacturing.

Industry • Business and Industry 2019 7

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Business and Industry 2019 9

BUSINESS PROFILE

Startup ‘set for the long haul’ Alliance RV eager to launch production

Elkhart Truth photo / Jordan Fouts

From left, Coley Brady, Bill Martin, Ryan Brady, Steve Lidy and Ab Saleh stand with one of Alliance RV’s first finished units.

By JORDAN FOUTS jfouts@elkharttruth.com

A

lliance RV founders Ryan and Coley Brady joined other employees on a recent Monday morning as they watched one of the first completed fifth wheels come off the factory floor in Elkhart.

They stood back and admired it, sharing approving remarks and holding out cellphones to take pictures as a forklift carefully backed the 40foot vehicle out of a building on their Beck Drive campus.

The next few units were still underway behind them, in various states of completion inside and out.

It wasn’t the very first finished unit, the one they actually cracked a bottle of champagne over to christen it.

10 Business and Industry 2019 • Business Profile

But it was the first one to bear their finished graphics package across the side, as well as the model name.

Both are milestones they wanted to wait to unveil, when the vehicle joins other Alliance models at RV shows across the country. They have appearances at more than a dozen trade shows scheduled over the next few months as the startup company begins production and shows the RV world what they can do.

‘A new guy out there’ Company founders say their vehicles are the result of a unique business model and an original, customer-driven way of developing their products.

“There’s lots of little things that customers are asking for, so instead of chasing what our competition’s doing, we’re listening to what the customer

wants,” said Bill Martin, vice president of customer service.

“It’s kind of a different way of developing a product, so it’s not just following who’s currently leading the market, it’s following the customer.”

Martin said they’re starting with producing what they call luxury fifth-wheels, which will range in length from 35 feet to 41 feet. Those will have between three and five slide-outs.

They’ll have two to four floor plans to display at the industry shows in early 2020. Each one has features unique to Alliance, developed through what they described as crowdsourcing – asking RV owners what they want or don’t want.

“The large majority of them are current fifth-wheel customers of other brands,” Martin said. “We’ve been soliciting input and welcoming their

feedback from those who use them on a daily basis. And we’re using that kind of as a guide to help drive what the product becomes.”

The process resulted in a few design changes along the way. They posted an image of a coach with a large window behind the bed, something they thought looked nice but reconsidered after potential buyers didn’t like it.

Other issues they’re addressing are ones they say are common to the industry.

“As we hear issues and concerns with what the industry is currently offering them, we’re able to find, as a new guy out there, by building, engineering from the ground up, we can build it a little differently,” Martin said. “Take care of some of those common concerns we’re hearing from

customers.”

Those include providing more robust running gear and suspension than you might normally find. It’s the kind of thing he said a lot of people ask for, and that a lot of potential owners don’t know they should ask for.

“We’ve absolutely scrutinized the running gear system on our coach, every single component, and strategically compiled what we feel to be the best of the best,” he remarked. “So regardless of whether you’re an experienced, full-time RVer who’s been doing this for 15 years, or a newbie looking to get into the lifestyle, you can be confident with what we’re providing.”

The total list of unique features is about 30 items long, according to Coley Brady. The list includes bigger windows, residential-size ovens, slide-outs that are flush with the rest of the floor and soft-close drawers, cabinets and toilet lids.

Some features are meant to make the vehicles more people-friendly, like lever handles instead of doorknobs, or more maintenance-friendly, like color-coded wiring and water shutoff valves throughout the vehicle.

Other features are aimed at making the vehicles more DIY-friendly, like built-in preps for backup cameras, WiFi and solar panels.

“This has been a need asked by the industry for years, and no one’s addressed it, no one’s really listened to what the customer wants,” Martin said.

“We did think through all the different ways that some people like to customize their coach for their needs.”

‘A better way’ Coley Brady comes to Alliance after 15 years at Heartland RVs while Ryan spent nine years there. They said the rest of the founding team represents about 200 years of experience in the industry.

“We just felt like there was a better way, at the end of the day,” Coley said. “And there’s been so much consolidation in our industry that having a true independent, we felt, was a needed thing for our industry.”

Based on the response they’ve gotten from dealers over the past few months, they say they’ve had an overwhelmingly positive reception.

“From a dealer communication standpoint, I think what we’re doing has been validated, so we feel there’s definitely a need,” Ryan said. “Any time there’s a startup, there’s operational execution that needs to occur. But the good news is we’ve assembled a really, really quality team, what I’d consider an all-star team, to make sure we execute on the plan. If we do and when we do, we’re confident in our chances to be successful.”

They plan to sell through only one dealer in any individual market, who will carry every future product Alliance puts out. They also plan to have only one brand at each individual price point.

The idea is to avoid competing with themselves, Coley explained. Dealers benefit by getting a greater return on investment.

“You have brands in our industry, companies in our industry, who don’t do that.

In fact, the majority of them don’t do that,” he said. “You’ll have a laminated trailer that will be $25,000 to the dealership, that’ll be in purple, and then they’ll do another one in pink and sell it to the dealer across the street. So essentially you’re cannibalizing yourself, and the dealer has trouble holding a gross margin on the brands you sell and with those particular companies.”

‘Ebb and flow’ The core team behind the business relied on their experience and their reputations in the industry as they got off

the ground. They said they drew from the ties and the trust they had developed with dealers, suppliers and others.

The size of their operation offered advantages as well.

“The fact that we’re small allows us to be quicker and faster than our competition. We’re using our size as a strength,” Cole said. “It’s allowing us as owners of the business – and everybody in this room’s an owner of the business – to be on the ground floor and making those key decisions in a quick and timely fashion. And it’s allowing us to foster more creative thought here.”

The Bradys didn’t express too much concern with the changes they saw in the RV industry as they put things together over the past year and prepared to start operations.

That includes the steel tariffs and the talk out of the White House about a trade war.

Coley and Ryan indicated it was too soon to know whether those would have any effect.

It also includes indications the recreational vehicle market could be slowing down again.

“As we were leaving our jobs at the end of March, the market was shifting down at that point already. And that’s kind of stayed flat since we left,” Coley said. “It did not concern us. We feel pretty confident that if we do a good job and execute the plans we’re trying to execute, there’s interest and demand for what we’re trying to do here.”

Taking a long-term perspective, Ryan commented on the cyclical nature of RV sales. They may have hit a peak in 2017, but over the past 20 to 25 years, he said, wholesale shipment numbers are still very strong.

“There’s no question the industry’s cyclical. It’s going to ebb and flow. But we’re of the opinion that long-term, this is a secular growth industry.

People love to RV,” he said.

“That lifestyle is here to stay.”

‘For the long haul’ The Bradys eyed a few different locations in the Midwest before locating in Elkhart County. They said they wanted to be sure to do their research, but their goal was to set up shop in Elkhart.

The brothers bought a 110acre site they say puts them in easy reach of vendors, parts makers and employees.

They currently work out of a combination production space and front office. It’s a busy shared office, with marketing, production and engineering activities going on within arm’s length of each other.

The work space will be handed over to lamination duties once production starts in earnest in a much larger facility they built just to the south.

They’ll produce two units a day starting Jan. 13, Coley said. By that time they’ll also grow from 28 employees to about 50.

The site offers plenty of room to grow, while still allowing every part of the business to stay close enough together that they share the same company culture. It’s a site selected with long-term plans in mind.

“That’s the great thing about everybody in this room here, all of us have a really long-term horizon with this business,” Coley said. “We’re truly looking 10 years out.

How do we set this business up for success for the really, really long haul.”

But for now, they see being small as a strength.

“We don’t aspire to be the biggest RV manufacturer, by any means,” Ryan said.

“But we just want to be a great partner for our dealers, and then really take care of our end customers. Provide exceptional customer service and try to raise the bar for the industry.”

Business Profile • Business and Industry 2019 11

Steady population growth continues

DEMOGRAPHICS

BY LEJENE BRECKENRIDGE-PEETE

The Elkhart-Goshen area led the nation in non-farm job lpeete@elkharttruth.com growth from November 2016 to November 2017, jumping lkhart County con5.3 percent, according to the tinues to show steady U.S. Bureau of Labor Statispopulation growth, the tics. result of positive economic Additionally, he said, efforts circumstances as well as efforts to diversfy can be seen in many to make the area an attractive companies, including those in place to live, observers say. the RV supply chain.

According to the U.S. CenCompanies such as Lippert sus Bureau and the Indiana Components, for example, have Photo provided Business Research Center, begun making acquistions to Community leaders say the availability of jobs and the relatively low the county’s population has begin supplying industries as grown from 156,198 in 1990 to cost of living in the area have likely contributed to the county’s steady diverse as the marine manupopulation growth.

182,793 in 2000 to 197,559 in facturing sector and mattress2010. makers, Stager said. ty has been doing a better job on job creation,’’ Stager said.

In 2018, the countywide County economic developof talking about itself and the The RV industry is often population reached 205,560. positive aspects of living here, viewed as a predictor of what’s ment leaders continue their efElkhart County is one of he said. coming. As work here became forts to recruit companies from several counties statewide to outside the area in the realm Businesses in the area have available, recovery in other show population growth, and of agriculture, electronics and done a lot of work also, talkareas might not have been as community leaders say there advanced IT, he said. ing to possible recruits about robust, he said. are likely several reasons. living and working in the area, “Clearly there are opportun- Johnson said.

IT’S TIME TO ties for work, and housing costs One noteable demographic GIVE A LITTLE remain affordable throughout characterist of Elkhart County the county,’’ said Levon John- is the large number of commutAND SAVE A LOT. son, president and CEO of the ers who travel here to work.

November 22, 2019 - January 20, 2020 Greater Elkhart Chamber of The latest information from Commerce. the EDC shows 33,726 people Johnson said the availabil- live elsewhere but come to ity of jobs and the relatively work in Elkhart County. That’s low cost of living in the area about 19.3 percent of the have likely contributed to county workforce. making the county a place Most of those commutwhere the population coners come from St. Joseph tinues to grow when other County (11,863) or Michigan areas in Indiana are seeing (8,608). Others come from declines.

Kosciusko County (4,249), There are also initatives LaGrange County (3,436) and Stressless® Mayfair shown in Paloma Henna underway to emphasize the Marshall County (1,657). positive aspects of living in the Chris Stager, president and county, including the Econom- CEO of the EDC, said the ic Development Corporation county’s large manufacturing ‘Tis the season for Stressless® holiday savings.* of Elkhart County’s website base and facilities are signifiGet $400 off Stressless® Mayfair or $200 off any with information about jobs cant factors in the commuting Stressless® seating with a minimum $50 donation to charity. and business opportunities, patterns.

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12 Business and Industry 2019 • Demographics

AGRICULTURE

‘They always find a way’

Technology, education at the forefront of farming in the future

BY DANI MESSICK dmessick@elkharttruth.com

T

he agriculture industry is in a state of flux. High tariffs, low market values and changes in production leave farmers with a feeling the industry is not what it used to be and that small farms simply can’t survive in the current market.

NorthWood High School student Andrew Miller’s family owns a dairy farm on the south end of Elkhart County.

His father once ran an operation of about 80 cattle, but today, that number is closer to 30, and his dad must work a second job to supplement the family’s income.

Miller believes the state of agriculture not only impacts his family life – requiring his father to work two jobs in order to keep the business afloat – but also lowers the quality of the product.

“There are sacrifices made,” Miller said. “When you’re not on the farm all the time

Elkhart Truth photo / Dani Messick

In the small engines classroom, Cam Martin of Walkerton and Ryan Blosser of Nappanee run tests on an engine. Knowledge of engines is a crucial component of the agricultural industry that not only improves farm efficiency but saves money.

you can’t keep up with things like you used to. The overall quality goes down, I think,

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because we’re spending time at other jobs.”

It’s the same for the beef cattle farm of Taylor Martin’s family.

“When I was little I remember going outside and we’d have 60 head of cattle, and now we’re down to less than 20,” she said.

Purdue Extension Educator Jeff Burbrink said the situation is similar across the nation.

“It’s not an easy life and you just about have to have another job to support your farm,” Millersburg farmer Kate Rink said.

Farmers can’t add more head because it will bring already low prices down even further.

“It’s been a rough couple of years really,” Burbrink said.

“It’s those kinds of circumstances that make parents wonder if they really ought to bring their kids into the business or not.”

But the kids are coming into their family businesses, and kids not from agricultural families are joining the fold too, and they’re being armed and educated with facts and See FARMING, PAGE 14

Agriculture • Business and Industry 2019 13

Farming From page 13

skills their parents never had, in an effort to keep those heritage farms intact and even build new ones.

NorthWood student Ryan Blosser hopes to take his love of agriculture and use it to solve some of the problems in 21st century farming. Already studying mechanics, Blosser hopes to go to technical school to get certification in diesel agricultural mechanics, while he maintains the family’s dairy farm.

“I’m looking to use mechanics to supplement for the dairy cattle because dairy isn’t making anything right now, but in the future if (the dairy industry improves) I can look to that to be a fulltime thing,” he said.

The career path is not an uncommon one for many children from farming families. It offers cost savings for farmers who wouldn’t have to hire mechanics to fix their equipment, but it also offers a money-making opportunity thanks to the number of farmers who aren’t trained in the newer technologies.

Burbrink says it’s not enough, though.

“Equipment gets a lot of kids to come to the farm, but what’s going to keep them there is their management ability, especially managing people,” Burbrink said.

Burbrink suggests that it can take as many as 40 people to keep a farm running, between mechanics, farm hands, consultants and others.

Students at NorthWood are getting prepared for that, Martin said.

“Here at NorthWood, there are a lot of courses offered to us, and one of the courses is agribusiness,” Martin said. “In that class we

14 Business and Industry 2019 • Agriculture

Elkhart Truth photo / Dani Messick

Zack Evans of Bremen practices teaching Iolana Reedy of Nappanee to halter a horse. In FFA, education on animals varies from veterinary studies to training and students can learn through classroom and lab experiences, Supervised Agricultural Experience programs and student leadership organizations. Recently, students training in the veterinary field at NorthWood High School have been constructing lifesized sculptures of livestock in order to show exactly how to treat various problems among commonly used animals.

learned a lot about planning out a business, and creating a budget, learning how much we need to produce and for what price to meet our needs and make the greatest amount of profit possible.”

Burbrink said it’s about being a low-cost producer and finding any way possible to keep those costs down, whether it’s keeping rent down, stretching equipment to last longer, finding deals on herbicides or interpreting drone information for better yields.

“It’s only going to get more important,” he said.

“A kid that wants to go into farming, he needs to have a skillset that his parents don’t have, that other people do not have. It may be dealing with electronics, or supervision of employees. It may be taking the farm from whatever they’ve been doing over the last 20 or 30 years and modernizing it.”

Burbrink recalled in the 1980s when his father’s farm continued to grow corn in 38-inch rows when most

people had downsided to 30-inch rows. The change not only allowed for more corn to be planted and harvested, but the closer rows discouraged weed growth. His father chose not to upgrade and the decision was one of the factors that led to the dissolution of the family’s farm.

“The ones getting pushed out are the ones that don’t accept the new technologies,” NorthWood student Zach Klotz said.

Klotz works for a local farm that’s averaging 250 more acres yield each year despite recent struggles with-

in the industry. He attributes a portion of their success to the addition of cover crops, which they use now instead of plowing at the end of the growing season.

The cover crops have helped nitrogen reach three times deeper into their soil, according to Klotz.

“It makes more topsoil, which helps our yield,” he said.

NorthWood high-schooler Keaton Kitson believes improvements to the agricultural industry are most likely to come from education of the public.

At the Elkhart County 4-H Fair, Kitson and hundreds of other youth raise livestock not only for their own educational benefit, but to teach the public more about livestock in their community and agriculture in general.

“A lot of it is educating the public because I know that there is a lot of confusion about the ag world,” Martin said, adding that organizations like PETA put out misinformation that can make all livestock farmers look abusive or neglectful when it’s not the case.

Supervised Agricultural Experiences for youth through 4-H leaders ensure that projects are not only completed but that animals are well cared for.

NorthWood’s FFA adviser Amy Beer also talks to students in her various classes

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about tariffs and how they’re affecting the agricultural industry.

Students are learning about how tariffs for goods exported to China are increased, in an effort to convince China to lower its own tariffs, but the standoff is harmful to Chinese consumers as well as to American farmers. China is historically the largest importer of U.S. soybeans, and the decrease in exported goods can result in the loss of heritage farms. Klotz said larger farms, or those that can afford to store excess product, will survive the current market.

“You’re always going to somebody to benefit others with this waiting game if you don’t have storage for grain,” Klotz said. “Where I work, everything that we have is completely full, and we haven’t sold any because the price is low. We’re able to hold ours and still harvest next year’s crop, but for people that have to sell right out of the field, they have to sell at the lower price. All over the U.S., whoever can hold on and wait for the better price, there’s a benefit for them.”

State officials believe the situation within the agricultural industry to be a temporary problem.

Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Bruce Kettler claims the industry will continue to thrive regardless of the struggles placed before it.

“I’m frankly very optimistic and bullish about the future of the agriculture industry,” he said. “It’s an industry that, over the years, has consistently and continually found a way to make sure that it rises to address issues or concerns in the public.”

He described soil conservation as an example of one of those issues, explaining that despite continually increas-

ing productivity in the fields, farmers are still striving to improve the health of their soil through genetic modification of seeds and fertilizers.

In addition, technologies such as drones and robots make work easier for farmers who can afford it.

“Robots that can milk cows are becoming very commonplace,” he said. “The amount of information that a dairy farmer can receive about each individual cow every time they are milked is incredible.”

Students, he said, must continue to learn as much as possible about these new technologies and how to use them. Classes including plant science, animal science, math and engineering are vital to future farming education.

“When thinking about the future of the industry, agriculture is a large economic driver in Indiana,” Kettler said, adding that nearly 30 percent of the state economy is impacted by the state of agriculture, between support teams, family-owned businesses, consulting firms and technology and research groups.

“I think it’s all the more reason we need to be thinking about technology, the youth and how we bring them along. It’s an industry that tends to be pretty optimistic, and when we think about the ebbs and flows, ag is an industry that’s had a lot of financial issues.”

Despite the serious decline in dairy prices over half the decade, for example, which makes it harder for farmers to make a living wage on their product, the past several months have seen a rise in prices.

“For those that are able to think positively and adjust, they’ll find a way to add to their farm or to get more efficient,” he said. “They always find a way.”

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