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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016
Business grew from salvage yard to international player
Thanks to the
Internet, new
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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
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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-
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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
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accident. Farmland also car-
ries after-market parts made
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various equipment lines. The
business also overhauls and
sells engines.
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customers are small or begin-
ning farmers. For them, a
business such as Farmland
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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
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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.
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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
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“We started from scratch,
one tractor at a time,” he said.
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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.
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