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Tag: Alan VanNahmen

Now That’s Rural: Alan and Carol VanNahmen, RollBedder

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“I need to reach the stuff in the back of my truck. If only I could get to it better.” That statement could have served as the inspiration for this new innovative product which uses rollers to help truck owners access the material in their truck beds.

RollBedder kit
RollBedder kit

Alan and Carol VanNahmen are the owners of this entrepreneurial company which produces this new product for truck beds. It’s called RollBedder.

Alan grew up on a farm in southwest Kansas, attended Dodge City Community College and then Kansas State. He embarked on a career with Deere and Company which would take him across the United States and around the world – literally. Alan led initiatives for Deere and Company in France and China, for example. He later worked for a German company named Claas and at a research facility in Indiana before leaving corporate life.

Alan was also an inventor and entrepreneur. He served as a consultant on various projects such as the bi-rotor combine and the ARRO head harvesting system. As we have previously profiled, he founded the Farm Buddy company to help individual farmers advance their product ideas into corporate commercialization. Continue reading “Now That’s Rural: Alan and Carol VanNahmen, RollBedder” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Randy Burns – ARRO Head

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Have you ever looked for arrowheads in a field? Today in Kansas Profile, we’ll learn about a different kind of arrowhead, but it is still in a field – in fact, it’s working very effectively in various farm fields.

Last week we learned about Alan VanNahmen who created the Farm Buddy company to help farmers commercialize their equipment innovations. One of his current projects, called the ARRO Head Harvesting System, involves farmers in southwest Kansas.

Randy Burns is field operations manager for the ARRO Head Harvesting System. He has a compelling life story to tell. Randy grew up at the rural community of Cimarron, population 2,236 people. Now, that’s rural.

Randy married his high school sweetheart who became a nurse. He became a custom cutter during harvest time. Randy and his wife had a son and two daughters, one of whom married a leading local farmer named Kyle Kopper.

Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Randy Burns – ARRO Head” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Alan VanNahmen – Farm Buddy

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Who knows more about combines than anybody in the country? Some agribusiness companies would tell you that the answer to that question is Alan VanNahmen from rural Kansas. He is now working with farmers and others to develop even better combines and other harvesting systems for the future.

Alan VanNahmen
Alan VanNahmen

Alan VanNahmen comes from the rural community of Spearville in southwest Kansas. Spearville has a population of 817 people. Now, that’s rural.

Alan grew up in a farming family with three brothers and four sisters. That meant everybody had to pitch in on the farm. “As a kid, I drove lots of combines,” Alan said. They tried different types of equipment. It also meant that, when something broke, they fixed it rather than paying a repairman.

Some people would call that adversity. “Adversity created opportunity,” Alan said. It gave him first-hand knowledge of how combines work.

Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Alan VanNahmen – Farm Buddy” →