Monday, March 26, 2012

Red states vs blue states vs green states...


For my urban friends, you may not follow some of this, but hang in there, I promise there is a message (of sorts).

In parts of this country you got your blue states and your red states.  And you got your orange and green ones, too. And I’m not even talking politics, here.  I’m talking something much more serious.  I’m talking about tractors.

That’s right in some areas, you got your blue Ford Tractors or your Red CASE IH tractors or your orange Kubota tractors (they are the new kids on the block) and of course, you’ve got the mean green of  John Deere. And if you are on a Blue farm, you’re not going to see any red machinery. Heaven forbid.  Same is true of a Case International Harvester farm – a blue Ford or green Deere just isn’t going to be there.  We are talking brand loyalty of the highest order. (Great dealership networks and replacement parts have a lot to do with this, but still a farmer or rancher has a brand they are loyal to and that’s it.) I know a John Deere farmer who’s got Deere tractors, combines and even a riding lawn mower.  You even think about driving something orange or blue onto his land and he’ll shoot you.

Then there is Hector Reyes. Hector runs a family farm in the north central Texas area and has for years.  I knew his kids at the University of Texas about a billion years ago.  They have all grown up and moved to big cities like Lulling and Guthrie or even Alvarado.  All but one.  Charles staid behind to run the ranch.  And, as I understand it, to start a vineyard on part of their rolling estate. I saw Charles not long ago and visited with him out on his land.  There I saw red tractors sitting next to blue ones with a green combine and a yellow Case Bulldozer.  I mean it was a veritable rainbow of farm equipment.  Why they even had an orange Kobota tractorette for cutting their rather large front lawn and heaven forbid, for close work, a Honda push mower.

This just isn’t done. It’s almost un-American. I asked Charles about it and he spit a big wad of brown tobacco juice on the parched soil (this was before all of our recent rain) and said, “Don’t matter to me what color they are outside, long as I got Chevron inside.”

“Chevron?  As in gasoline?” I asked.

“Gasoline. Diesel, lube and oil.  Chevron makes the best products on the market today, hands down.” He spit again as if for emphasis. If it is running on our farm, it’s got Chevron inside it.”

For a moment I thought I was in a Chevron commercial. Then I asked, “Didn’t it used to be Gulf around here? Big orange and blue circle. That Gulf?”

He agreed it had. “They bought Gulf a few years ago. But the stuff that goes in the tractors and in the engines, it is still the same. Call it what you like.”

We talked some more about what he had been doing since college and I asked him how it was he did undergrad work as a Longhorn the got a agri-science masters at A&M. He smiled and said he just wanted to infiltrate the enemy a bit. (I am not sure which school was the enemy. But I let it go.) He told me they were expanding their grape production and had several wineries buying grapes from them – some from as far away as California.  Imagine that.  California buying Texas grapes.  “Also we are raising grass-fed beef,” He said nonchalantly. Something my wife is really interested in.  So much so, that we’ve switched grocery stores.  She grew up in the Cincinnati area and was brand loyal to Kroger, but now we march down the aisles of Whole Foods. Which creates new problems for me, since I no longer can find my favorite brands and I have to learn all new brands afresh.

There is tension in the Crawley household when it comes time for grocery shopping.

So, I asked Charles who was buying his grass-raised beef. He said, “Got us a big contract with Whole Foods out of Austin.  Good folk.” And I thought my wife would smile at that.  Then he quickly added, “Got a new contract with H.E.B. and one with Kroger, too.  Business is good.”

And there you have it. Brand Loyalty.  It is more about what is inside the box rather than the box itself. I guess.  I still prefer my tractors blue and my cereal from General Mills. But you get the point.

As for Whole Foods, if they just had the coffee creamer I liked, I’d be happy. Oh yes, and the dog food Sadie gets, too and the picante sauce and the steak rub and the….




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