A John Deere Publication

Mother, father, daughter, and son sitting in a row

The Haffners own and operate High Plains Harvesting based in Park, Kansas. Ryan and Laura, along with their children and team, travel from Texas to the Canadian border to harvest wheat, canola, and other small grains.

Agriculture June 01, 2024

Tech@Work

Life on the run.

The sun sets in a new town and the work is far from done. Custom harvest crews spend their summer and fall chasing a moving window of time northwards. That sliver of time is their customers' harvest window. When the crop is ready and the price is right, they're rolling through to harvest that crop before Mother Nature decides otherwise.

For Ryan and Laura Haffner, chasing the harvest is an adventure—in the challenges they face, and the tools and grit used to overcome them. The Haffners surround themselves with great support and some of the newest technology. They keep their machines running and their customers happy by relying on John Deere Operations Center™ to manage their custom harvesting business from their phone or laptop.

For all the control they do have, Mother Nature still trumps all. When it rains, the harvest stops, so each minute of uptime matters. They rely on Operations Center to monitor the health of their machines. When something goes wrong or is about to, the harvest support team is standing by to help. "I think I can tie that back to John Deere and just reliable equipment and a reliable support team. When we have the opportunity to run, when the weather allows us, we have to be able to run," says Ryan.

With their customers' permission, Ryan establishes partnerships between their Operations Center accounts and his account, allowing him to instantly share yield and moisture, two data points any farmer needs.

They track the location and health of their entire fleet, send work plans to operators, and get the data into the hands of the customer from one location. "I think there's something to be said for the peace of mind that this technology offers," Laura says.

So, the operation continues to move north, all the while carrying that peace of mind in their pockets. It's a long road and a short window but according to Laura, that's…life on the run. ‡