Published: June 08, 2009 09:27 pm      

Straeter, New Holland to be honored at Power Show

BY SHIRLEY WILLARD

GUEST COLUMNIST

ROCHESTER — Jim Straeter will be the parade marshal of the Round Barn Festival twilight parade on June 12.

New Holland Rochester will be the honored agri-business at the Fulton County Historical Power Show June 19-21.

The business is owned by Jim Straeter. He is a man of many interests: farming and implements, wind generators, school board, 4-H fair board, Little League and history.

He was born in 1951 in Breese, Ill., but grew up in St. Rose, Ill., where his father owned Straeter Equipment as a J.I. Case dealership beginning in 1956. The family lived in the small town and farmed 300 acres where they raised corn, beans and hay, did custom combining and ran the dealership. There are many dairy farms there, so hay was big business.

Jim moved his young family to Rochester in 1984, taking over the New Holland company store. The farm implement store had belonged to Charles Fear, who sold it to Denny Mikesell, located on Ind. 25 where Topps is now. New Holland decided to make it a company store and hired Jim to manage it.

Ford bought New Holland from Sperry and changed the name to Ford New Holland, so Jim added Ford in 1986. Jim bought out the company store in 1987. Jim moved the implement store to Ind. 25 south of Rochester in 1988. Fiat bought Ford New Holland in 1994. New Holland bought Case in 1998 and dropped the Ford name in 1999.

Jim says his favorite antique tractor is a Case RC, which is painted the original Case flambeau red that his father owned. However, he owns a 1917 Fordson which he has not yet had time to restore. One of his employees, Bill Crow of Plymouth, owns a couple of antique New Holland freeze-proof engines that are shown in Jim’s Rochester store.

Jim has four locations: Rochester, Logansport, Rossville and Bluffton. His son, Matt, and wife, Melinda, work at the Rochester store, and his son, Eric, works at the Logansport store. His son Jesse will graduate from Purdue on May 12. Son Mike is a junior at Rochester High School. Stepdaughter Hillary Tilden is a sophomore at Ball State.

Asked his philosophy of life, Jim did not hesitate: “There is value in hard work. Trust is something to be treasured.”

His hobbies are gardening, beekeeping and tinkering with mechanical things. He and Ott Schroeder made a pancake grill, a pumpkin seeder and a pumpkin picker for the Optimist Club.

His favorite period of history to read about is the American Revolution. He is currently reading a motivational book, “The Underdog Advantage,” which was given to him by New Holland when they had the author as a speaker at a meeting.

Jim and wife Melinda helped with the Woodlawn Hospital fundraising campaign last year, serving as co-chairmen.

Jim was elected to the Rochester School Board in 2002 and has served as president four terms. He is deeply supportive of initiatives to improve education such as New Tech High. He is proud that Rochester has raised its ISTEP scores and that all four RCSC schools are now certified as annual yearly progress schools. Education is deeply rooted in the family as Jim and four of his sisters have teaching degrees and son Jesse will get his teaching degree in math this month from Purdue.

A member of the Catholic Church, Jim has helped with several projects such as servicing the snow-blowers and donating items to raffles.

Interested in conservation, Jim has worked with renewable energy, strip-till equipment and the Nature Conservancy District.

Jim likes Indiana because the people are generally trusting and genuine, much like his native southern Illinois.

What does the future have for farming? Jim thinks it will be more specialized, and technology will be bigger, with specialized food and pharmaceutical properties being introduced. Farmers will need more capital. Traditional “Mom and Pop” farms will be a thing of the past, except for organic farming, wine, part-time farmers and “sun-downers” — those who work days and then do the farming in the evening.

Straeter has 70 employees in four locations, with 23 in Rochester. His is the largest New Holland dealership in this region, which included Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. The Rochester store is open more business hours than others, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The farmers appreciate it because they can get parts and service when working late or after they get off their regular job at 5 p.m.

Jim has helped the community in so many ways. He lends equipment to the Fulton County Historical Society, the 4-H fair, little league and other nonprofits. This has been a special boon to the museum as it has 35 acres and has borrowed equipment for special projects and tractors to pull the trams during the Trail of Courage.

Jim is a member and past president of the 4-H fair board. Their current project is to make a memorial stone wall 18 feet long and four feet tall. Plaques memorializing 4-H leaders will be attached. The memorial area will recognize 4-H patrons such as Calvin Braman, Tom Wilson and Walter Cumberland, who already have memorials on the grounds.

In February, Jim erected a wind generator at his Rochester store. It is performing well. He now sells Bergey wind generators made in Norman, Okla. The cost is $56,000, and they can pay for themselves in 10 to 14 years, depending on tax breaks, the weather, how much electricity used and other factors. With a 30-year life, that means the possibility of free electricity for 16 years.

Indiana will soon be the largest producer of wind energy in the world. There are big wind farms being erected in Benton, Newton and White counties. Crops can be planted around the wind generators. Jim says the idea that Indiana’s wind is not dependable enough for wind generators is a myth.

Jim expects ethanol to be replaced by butane as an alternate fuel because it can more easily be transported in pipelines and has more energy per gallon than ethanol. Alternate fuels such as butane will be made from waste such as straw, corn stalks and wood chips. He thinks that methane made from manure will be a part of livestock farming. The future of energy production is bright. Farmers will be involved.

• Shirley Willard is the Fulton County historian.