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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2016)
2C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016 Business grew from salvage yard to international player Thanks to the Internet, new IDUPHUV¿QG their way to company By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press T ANGENT — From Oregon 34, cutting west off Interstate 5 toward Corvallis, it looks like a tractor graveyard. Skele- tons of old International, Case and John Deere tractors, com- bines and other farm and con- struction equipment sit in neat rows. Most have been plucked of parts. That was Randy Raschein Sr.’s original vision for Farm- land Tractor Supply when he started the business in 1980. A recession was draining the country’s economic life, and 5DVFKHLQ¿JXUHGDWUDFWRUVDO- YDJH\DUGZRXOG¿QGDPDUNHW with farmers who were patch- ing old equipment instead of buying new. “There was a need here, for sure,” Raschein said. His instinct was on the money, and the business has Photos by Eric Mortenson/Capital Press grown steadily over the past Farmland Tractor founder Randy Raschein Sr. takes a seat on one of his favorites, a 1941 narrow-tracked International Harvester that he bought used 36 years. The view of the in 1963 and later sold. As a surprise, his family found it about 10 years ago, bought it and secretly restored it before presenting it back to him. original salvage yard from the highway is misleading, because Farmland Tractor Supply now covers 30 acres and has 2 acres of covered parts storage plus a machine shop and other manufactur- LQJVWRUDJHDQGRI¿FHVSDFH Individual parts are tagged and tracked by computer. “A lot of people think it’s an old junkyard, but it’s not,” Raschein Sr. said. Crankshafts to radiators The business still carries used parts, from crankshafts to radiators and rims, but in many cases they were sal- vaged from newer equipment WKDWZDVGDPDJHGLQD¿UHRU accident. Farmland also car- ries after-market parts made E\ RWKHU PDQXIDFWXUHUV WR ¿W various equipment lines. The business also overhauls and sells engines. $ VLJQL¿FDQW QXPEHU RI customers are small or begin- ning farmers. For them, a business such as Farmland FRXOG¿OODQLPSRUWDQWQLFKH said Garry Stephenson, direc- tor of Oregon State Uni- versity’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems. New and small farmers are interested in used equip- ment for the cost savings and because older equipment is RIWHQ VPDOOHU DQG D EHWWHU ¿W for the scale of their farms, Stephenson said by email. Randy Raschein Sr., founder of Farmland Tractor Supply walks down a line of tractors in various stages of salvage. The business, near Tangent, sells new and rebuilt parts and engines as well. Jaime Perez, mechanic at Farmland Tractor Supply, rebuilds a Case engine for resale. The company, in business since 1980, often sells to beginning or small farmers who can’t afford new equipment. Struggle to buy equipment “We’ve sent parts to Africa, Greenland, Australia Fellow Oregon State — we had a guy in here from Extension small farms spe- New Zealand,” Raschein cialist Heidi Noordijk agreed, Sr. said. His son, Randy noting that new farmers who Raschein Jr., has traveled don’t inherit family gear to China to meet with sup- struggle to buy new equip- pliers. He’s also introduced ment. A tractor is the biggest a new line of LED lighting need for most farmers, she systems called Tiger Lights that can be plugged into said. Thanks to the Internet, existing equipment and pro- new farmers and even inter- vides more light, for longer QDWLRQDO FXVWRPHUV ¿QG WKHLU periods, with less demand way to Farmland Tractor on the tractor’s electrical system. Supply. ? 9-1-WHAT? THE BEST OF THE WORST CALLS TO ASTORIA 911 DISPATCH A family business Farmland remains a fam- ily business. Randy Raschein Sr.’s grandsons, Ty and Dustin, also work in the busi- ness, as does his daughter, Suzy Klein. His 9-year-old great-grandson, Wyatt East- man, spends time at the busi- ness as well. The family worked together to pull off a surprise for Raschein Sr. In 1963, when he was farming in California, he bought an unusual nar- row-tracked 1941 Interna- tional Harvester from the U.S. Forest Service. He sold it when he quit farming, but always retained a fond- ness for International equip- ment. He sold parts for them at dealerships, including one that brought him to work at a store in the Willamette Val- ley before he started his own business. About a decade ago, his son, Randy Jr., came across his father’s paperwork from the sale. He tracked down the buyer, convinced him to sell back the International and set about restoring it in secret. “I didn’t want to let it get away,” he said. The family hauled the restored tractor to a show in Brooks, and took Raschein Sr. to look around. Coming across the tractor, and not yet knowing it was his, he expressed surprise because he’d never seen another one. “It’s not even in the parts book,” he said. A sign at the display told the story, and he happily realized he’d been had. “They rebuilt it under my nose,” he said with a laugh. He’s low-key about it, but Raschein takes pride in see- ing how the business has expanded and adapted over the years. The business has only a handful of competitors LQWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVW “We started from scratch, one tractor at a time,” he said. ³$Q\ZD\LWZRUNHGRXW¿QH´ Squatch out W e like a good practical joke as much as anyone. But don’t mess around with Bigfoot. Not in Oregon, for heaven’s sake. So we sympathize with the emergency caller who found a stolen 3-foot-tall Bigfoot statue on her front porch in Astoria. Thankfully, Bigfoot was returned to its owner. Follow reporter Kyle Spurr on his 9-1-What? Twitter watch, where a few of the sometimes head-scratching calls to area dispatch take center stage. The full feed is at www.twitter.com/9_1_WHAT. 3 W AY S TO GE T Y O U R CO PY TOD AY ! OR DER ON LIN E w w w .DiscoverO urCoast.com /order S TOP BY ON E OF OU R 3 LOCATION S A storia • 949 Exchange St. Seaside • 1555 N . Roosevelt Dr. Long Beach • 205 Bolstad A ve. E. #2 o r CALL HOLLY LAR K IN S at 503-325-3211, x227 Em ail: hlarkins@ dailyastorian.com
