Non-traditional career path leads to top job

Dropping out of college usually isn’t the road to success, but it worked for this guy! Cody Lyte of AGCO Fuse Technologies spoke to the Feed the World workshop attendees about how he made his own career path from “gear head” to director of technology for AGCO global ag manufacturing company. Lyte said he went to college and dropped out, then went to work for a local AGCO dealer. Once there, he progressed from tech trainer to sales engineer to a product specialist role, working with farmers and dealers on improving product efficiency. He’s now in a management role with technology.

Lyte’s job requires him to look at the future of technology and agriculture. He noted that the ag field is growing quickly, creating vast career opportunities and making the farming stereotype obsolete. “It may be that no one will be driving a tractor in the future, as we move toward fully autonomous vehicles,” he noted.

Technology is utilized to collect information from farm equipment about maintenance and service needs, and to make sure the tool or attachment being used is the right size or kind for the type of soil it is working. Technology can also gather task data such as seeding rate, fertilizer rate, client farm and field, and moisture and yield of harvest. Wireless data transfer makes it possible to get information from equipment far away quickly and easily. “Computer networks and tech pros are working to make these systems happen,” said Lyte.

So if you have mechanically-inclined students, or “gear heads” as Lyte calls himself, make sure they know about the many career opportunities available in agriculture!