Editor's Note: FEMA is collaborating with Lessiter Media, publisher of Farm Equipment magazine, to commemorate their 75-year history. As part of the FEMA anniversary, we're asking the question: "What would be the industry impact had FEMA never come to exist or perhaps failed to find traction and permanence?" Send your answer to this question to [email protected] and your response may appear online.
Can you miss something that never existed? Can you mourn a loss that never occurred?
The simple answer is “no.” Fortunately, we do not have to imagine the past 75 years without the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Assn., or “the original FEMA.” The original founders of FEMA could not have known how impactful the organization they were putting in place would be, and how deep a difference it would still be making in agriculture 75 years later.
The FEMA website points to a group of manufacturers visiting their distributors in 1950 in Chicago who “recognized the need for a common voice that could connect them with one another and represent their interests.” From that initial meeting came an organization that today includes almost 700 members who continue to benefit from the numerous services and opportunities the group provides and supports.
I shudder to think what ‘might not have been’ if those early ag leaders had not taken a chance on creating a voice for small manufacturers.
FEMA has consistently been a home and a landing spot for the small- to mid-sized manufacturing firm that needed help in marketing its brand and connecting with other similar manufacturers and suppliers. From speaking with a unified voice on behalf of its member companies to bi-annual meetings that include speakers and product showcases that connect manufacturers with vendors offering cutting edge technology to offering free legal advice to its members and countless other “official” offerings, FEMA continues to deliver on its promise to connect and serve the agriculture community.
With all the “official” benefits FEMA offers its members (and they are numerous… simply check out the organization’s website at www.farmequip.org to see for yourself), I believe the greatest contribution FEMA makes in my life and the lives of other members is the opportunity to connect on a professional and personal level with others in the association.
My personal interaction with FEMA started in the early 2000s. I was a young engineer/product development leader looking to expand my professional network and learn about the next best thing in ag technology that would help me help my firm develop a better mousetrap. For the past 20-plus years, I’ve been blessed to meet and make hundreds of connections through my FEMA interactions. Manufacturing and distribution partnerships have developed out of those connections, as well as new component suppliers being added to my company’s vendor list.
Lifelong friendships with many of those FEMA connections are truly the highlight of my experience with the association and I look forward to many more in the years to come.
Thank goodness we can celebrate 75 years with FEMA in the life and fabric of agriculture. I shudder to think what “might not have been” if those early ag leaders had not taken a chance on creating a voice for small manufacturers.
I am excited to be part of today’s FEMA. With challenges at every turn, we can rest assured knowing that together we are stronger because of the bonds created by this association.
Here’s to the next 75 years of FEMA — may it be as transforming and impactful for agriculture as the first 75 years have been.
Join the Conversation! Email your answer to the question: "What would be the industry impact had FEMA never come to exist or perhaps failed to find traction and permanence?" to [email protected].
Read more from Reflecting on 75 Years of the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association
In the midst of celebrating its 75th Anniversary, the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA) has partnered with Lessiter Media to chronicle the Association’s past through an in-depth multimedia project that will culminate at FEMA’s Marketing & Distribution Convention in Las Vegas, NV., on Oct. 27-30, 2025. Key pieces of this special collaboration include a comprehensive history book (pictured right) on the association that highlights the significance of the organization and its independent shortline members and their innovations. The media group will also film, edit and produce a video documentary that will entertain, educate and inspire the industry about the accomplishments and mission of FEMA. Both projects will debut to attendees at the 2025 Fall Convention, and later to the entire industry through Lessiter Media’s ag division properties.
