In the 5th century BC, a general named Polycrates sought advice from the Oracle of Delphi on how to find a hidden treasure buried by his enemy. The Oracle replied, “Leave no stone unturned.” He took it literally, overturned every stone in the area, and eventually found the treasure.
Let me tell you about one of our farmers who faced a similar search: spend $24,000 rolling 3,000 acres the old-fashioned way … or try something different.
Rolling is part of his routine, pushing rocks down so they don’t end up in the combine. Nothing glamorous. Just another thankless job that saves thousands in damage, days in downtime. But when he looked at his 500+ HP tractor and did the math, 80 hours at $300/hour, his farmer instinct took over. That’s a $24,000 rock massage.
So, he got creative. Looked at the behemoth roller, popped the wings off, and hooked it up to his 115 HP autonomous tractor, a utility tractor completely fully depreciated. Then he cut it loose. For 2 weeks, that machine just rolled – literally. Day and night. No operator, no hotel receipts, no hand warmers, no nothing. Just fuel. The final bill? $4,000. That’s it. When the job was done, the field was pristine, the rocks were buried, and his checkbook hadn’t been flattened in the process.
It didn’t take long for the math to speak for itself. Autonomy isn’t only about taking the person out of the cab – it’s about rethinking where the real cost lives. In this case, it wasn’t in the roller. It was in the horse.
In a sense, that farmer is a modern-day Polycrates – only his treasure wasn’t gold. It was $20,000 in savings he made by turning over and burying every stone.
– Craig
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