Armstrong Implements Wins Dealer of the Year Award

Armstrong Implements of Swift Current has won the 2014 Rural Lifestyle Dealer Magazine Dealer of the Year Award, which has never been awarded to a Canadian ag equipment dealership.

"It's a great honour, due to the fact that it's never been awarded to a Canadian dealership in its history," said Owner Bob Talaga. "We succeeded in being the dealer of the year, competing against quite a few larger dealerships, some with as many as 13 stores, and so we're very proud and honoured to have won the award... it would never had been possible without the great staff we have. Many have been here for a very long time, they're long-term employees that work very hard, and without them, we would never have achieved the award."

Talaga adds the judging panel looked at a number of areas, including financial performance, return on investment, profit per employee and community involvement, and recognized that it was a three-generation family dealership."

Armstrong Implements was started by the Armstrong family as a Minneapolis-Moline dealership in 1929, and continued on to sell Cockshutt and White farm equipment. In 1979, Bob's father Ed purchased the dealership from Ed and Les Armstrong and kept the Armstrong name, then continued on sell the Agco line until 1993 when Ed took over. The dealership continued to sell Agco products until 2005, when they sold the dealership on North Railway Street to Full Line Ag. After the sale was completed, Armstrong Implements built a new dealership on North Service Road West selling Kubota equipment.

"We've seen a tremendous increase in sales since 2006, once we got the business up and going," Bob added. "We started up with six employees in our new business and we're up to 10 and looking for a couple more."

He says they are also excited with Kubota's plans to offer a new line of larger tractors in 2015, which he says will be a good fit for those in the cattle industry for handling more feed and larger bales.