2010 Chairman's Message
Welcome to the Expo
On behalf of the 1,200 volunteers and the Expo staff, welcome to World Ag Expo website. We are here to make your visit to the Expo enjoyable and informative.
Before you are more than 1,600 exhibitors showcasing the latest in products and services for agriculture worldwide.
This website is designed to make your visit to World Ag Expo a pleasant one. Check out the Digital Shows map and search for list of exhibitors to guide your day(s). Purchase your tickets for events and learn more about the 2010 expo before you put your boots on the grounds. Don't forget to Register Online for your badge before the expo.
Sincerly,
Bernie Cargle
2010 WAE Chairman
Cargle Chairs 2010 Expo after Long History of Volunteering
By, Harry Cline, Western Farm Press
Bernie Cargle, chairman of World Ag Expo 2010, grew up on a 127-acre dairy farm at Lockport, Ill. His family grew alfalfa and small grains, milked 21-cows daily at their small dairy, and his grandmother raised chickens, selling eggs to the local A&P.
It was an idyllic post World War II Midwest farm life. Cargle still has a scrapbook chronicling his upbringing.
“This is a picture of me on one of the two International Harvester’s Farmall H tractors,” Cargle said, pointing to a photo in the scrapbook. The H is still his favorite tractor model.
The H has spring-equipped seats and every young farm boy who has proudly climbed up behind the steering wheel of one for the first time has been the subject of one of the oldest farm pranks.
“My uncle snuck up behind me; pulled down on the seat and rocketed me right out of the seat,” laughed Cargle.
Fortunately, Cargle did not hold it against his uncle since uncle Rich Bromberek shaped his young nephew’s future.
“He worked at the IH engineering facility and came home one day wearing a company shirt with a grey IH patch on it. When I saw that patch I knew right then I wanted to work for International as a mechanic. I even wrote that in a high school autobiography.
“How many kids really know what they want to do before they finish high school? I did.”
He started with IH in 1966 and recently retired from the company, now known as Case IH, after 43 years. Little did he understand on his first day at IH that his career of more than four decades would move him across country several times to work in many capacities.
One of his first jobs was testing and experimenting with hydraulic systems.
He later did tested engines and worked in the department where the company established shop flat rates. “We would do a job three times and add 20 percent to it to set warranty rate work.
He was later an instructor both in the IH construction and ag divisions. Once he worked out of a large mobile training unit pulled by a semi. “We would go out for two weeks at a time teaching hydrostatics to dealers. I did that for two years,” he recalls. He also spent two years as product performance manager on cotton pickers.
Much of his early career was spent in the Midwest at various IH facilities. However, he had a chance in the mid- 1970s to work at the company’s Western proving grounds in Phoenix. He worked in the company’s industrial division there as a trainer. While in Arizona, he discovered something he really liked: warmth.
“One winter in Illinois I was pulling an engine out of a ’55 Chevy in my garage, and it was snowing. That is when I determined I hated cold weather.”
Nevertheless, he went back to Illinois from Arizona for another assignment, but his family could not get into their new home. “There was six feet of snow on the ground, and I told my wife we made a mistake moving back.”
Six months later he grabbed the first opportunity to move west, back to Phoenix.
Fresno became his permanent home in the mid-70s. He has held several posts in the Central Valley, and found himself working at World Ag Expo.
“I have been involved with World Ag Expo in some capacity almost from the beginning,” he said. When he was involved with pickers, he made sure his product was showcased at Tulare. Later as district service manager, he was involved in setting up the IH booth at Expo and manning it.
In 1996, he was invited to serve on the exhibitor advisory board, eventually becoming committee chairman. Today, he serves as the Expo chairman.
“I never expected to become Expo chairman. It was a total surprise when I was asked. It is a real honor considering how successful the show has become and with all those who have served before me,” said Cargle.
Like many past chairman, Cargle said he will not get in the way of the 1,200 orange-jacketed volunteers who make the Expo run smoothly.
“I let the chairmen of the various committees take care of their responsibilities. I am ready to help in any way I can. No micromanagement from me,” he said. “My biggest concern is that I want to represent the Expo as it should be.”
Cargle has suffered a couple of strokes over the past few years and walks with a cane. He did well last year as vice chairman and expects to do the same in 2010. “I would not have accepted it if I did not think I could do it physically.”
His year as vice chairman and so far as chairman for the 2010 has been very eye-opening. “There are a lot of things that go on at Expo I did not know about. It has made me much more aware of all aspects of the show. It will be very helpful in the future.”
After his year as chairman, Cargle plans to resume his post as exhibitor advisory committee chair. Cargle’s career at Case IH gives him unique insight into farm equipment shows. “I have been too many shows. World Ag Expo has more products and is more informative than any show I have attended.”
Cargle said, “If a farmer is looking for a particular piece of equipment or product, he can find it at World Ag Expo.” At other shows, the equipment is limited by the geography where it is held. “In California you have more than 350 crops that translate into tremendous diversity at the Expo.”
From an equipment manufacturer’s perspective, World Ag Expo is unique because a company doesn’t limit its display to one tractor model. “You need to have four or five models of the same tractor to satisfy the diversity of farmers who attend World Ag Expo.”
Cargle explains that World Ag Expo is a great opportunity for companies to display what local dealers may not be able to have on their lots. “Customers do not want to buy from a catalog. They want to kick the tires and see what the disk harrow looks like.”
Having spent countless hours at different farm equipment shows, Cargle says most farmers, however, ask the same questions: “What is the horsepower and how much does it cost? Farmers worldwide all ask, ‘What makes your product better than your competition.’ You’re going to have to ask me in person to find out.”
Cargle says World Ag Expo attendees looking for specific equipment, products or services and they may visit the same booth two or three times in one day.
“They initially look around and see what everyone has to offer. If they are interested, they come back. That is why the first impression is so important when a farmer walks on to your lot.”
Cargle says he has made sales from Case IH World Ag Expo displays, but it is more likely the farmer goes home and decides what he wants to buy through a local dealer.
“It is going to be another great World Ag Expo and I look forward to seeing you at World Ag Expo,” said Cargle.
