Editor’s Note: This article was featured in the Farm Equipment Shortline Legends Hall of Fame edition. Al Myers is honored as a member of the 2024 Hall of Fame class.
The 1992 release of the Yield Monitor 2000 marked a historic moment in the burgeoning field of precision agriculture. This groundbreaking invention, the first commercially successful on-the-go yield monitor, was the brainchild of Al Myers, founder and president of Ag Leader. Myers, who spent years tinkering with the prototype in his basement, never envisioned the monumental impact his creation would have on modern farming. “I was just plain dumb lucky,” Myers modestly reflected during an interview with Mike Lessiter for Farm Equipment’s How We Did It podcast. “In 1992, I did not recognize how big precision farming would be, or the advancements that were coming.”
Based in Ames, Iowa, Ag Leader has grown into the largest privately-owned supplier of precision farming technology globally, boasting nearly 400 employees and offices in The Netherlands, Australia, and Brazil. This success is rooted in Myers’ unique blend of agricultural and engineering expertise, and his relentless drive to innovate. His journey began on his family’s diversified crop and livestock farm in Watseka, Illinois, where his mechanical aptitude caught the eye of his vocational agriculture teacher. This led to a career path in engineering, culminating in a Bachelor of Science degree in 1970 and a Master of Science in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Myers initially sought employment with industry giants like John Deere or Caterpillar, but a recession in the off-road machinery market thwarted those plans. Instead, he found himself at Sundstrand Corp. in Rockford, Illinois, working on high-pressure hydraulics. This role eventually led him to Ames, Iowa, where he worked at the hydro-transmission plant now known as Danfoss. However, the economic downturn of the early ’80s and subsequent R&D cuts nudged Myers to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams.
The Yield Monitor 2000, introduced in 1992, was a culmination of years of development and testing, much of it conducted on his father’s farm. Despite a slow start, with only 10 units sold in the first year, the product laid the foundation for Ag Leader’s future success. Myers learned crucial business lessons about cash flow and expense management during these early days, operating the company from his home and later a small rented office space.
Russ Morman, a long-time Ag Leader employee, recalls the early skepticism surrounding the technology. “If memory serves me correctly, the first yield monitor he came out with didn’t even have a GPS port on it because he thought nobody’s going to want a map,” Morman said. Retailing at $2,250, the Yield Monitor 2000 was a significant investment for farmers, but early adopters were soon impressed by its capabilities. One farmer discovered cyst nematode infestations and the beneficial effects of fungicide drift on soybean yields, insights that would have been impossible without the yield monitor.
As Myers expanded his dealer network, a significant breakthrough came in 1994 when Case IH approached him. By 1996, Case IH had incorporated 60 yield monitor systems into their fields, marking the beginning of Ag Leader’s foray into the OEM business.
Today, the legacy of the Yield Monitor 2000 and Al Myers’ visionary leadership continues to shape the precision agriculture industry. His inclusion in the 2024 Farm Equipment Shortline Legends Hall of Fame is a testament to his enduring impact on modern farming practices.
