[TheForge] rant concerning quality of products

[Keziah's Forge]

The irony of the image is overwhelming: a machine that John Deere the 
blacksmith could not have imagined,  bearing his name, pulling  Italian and 
French versions of the implement he perfected, because the company he 
founded  can't make a decent one any more.

We have a lot of work to do.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ries" <ries at riesniemi.com>
To: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>; "Blacksmithing List 
Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] rant concerning quality of products


> On the subject of Italian versus USA-
>
> I went for a walk today, and walked past my big field.
> I lease it to a real farmer, who farms around 2500 acres here, about a
> quarter of it in potatos every year.
> this year is a year for my field for potatoes- they only do em every 4
> years, and in between plant nitrogen fixing crops, peas or grasses.
> So they are out there tilling my field.
>
> Its 20 acres, and they are using two John Deere 8400T's- huge 225
> horsepower diesel tracked, as opposed to wheeled tractors. A ten year
> old used one will run you $80,000, these are hefty machines. So there
> is no question that this farmer can afford to buy the best.
> And hooked behind em, are two 10 foot tillers- one of em, a Maschio,
> Italian tiller.
> The other, a French made Kuhn.
> My guess is that for a professional farmer, its a no brainer, that
> there just isnt an american equivalent thats better than either of
> these.
> This guy is as all american as he can be- all his trucks are american,
> he owns a few million worth of John Deeres, and he would buy US if he
> could.
>
> Sad, but true.
> There is no real reason we couldnt make a tiller as good as the French
> or Italians, if we wanted to- if somebody was willing to invest the
> money to build a quality company, the market is certainly there. But
> instead, american money men buy watches, or cars, or third houses,
> they do silly, but profitable, IPO's and leveraged buyouts and CDO
> swaps.
>
>
> Ries Niemi
> Industrial Artist
> http://www.riesniemi.com/
>
>
>
>
>
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