Dylan Bakken has known since he was in grade school that he's going to be a farmer, and he's been buying equipment to get the job done since age 13, almost exclusively John Deere. The head office learned of it, and invited him to get a tour

Lately, he's been gearing up to strike out on his own, and buy his own equipment. He bought his first used equipment at 13 (a baler), and owns a 9600 Deere combine. This past year, Dylan bought a Deere 6170R tractor, which pulls his corn planter. 

"I bought an 8-row planter last winter, that's a John Deere. I go all green," Bakken said.

"I started when I was, I'd say 13, saving up from working with my neighbors and whatnot, and moving snow up in Fargo," Bakken said, who now owns a tractor, planter and a combine, minus the farmland. Bakken is still too young to purchase land

"I can't put any money towards land right now because I am young, so I figured (I'd) been putting it towards equipment and go from there," Bakken said.

People have told Bakken he is crazy to think he can start farming on his own, but he's driven and won't give up until he has land to call his own.

He's hoping people hear his story and are willing to work with him in helping this all become a reality.

https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/local-news/teenage-farmer-gets-royal-welcome-from-deere/

https://www.inforum.com/news/minnesota/all-i-wanted-to-do-is-what-my-heroes-did-local-teen-buys-farm-equipment-with-dreams-of-being-a-farmer

https://www.agweek.com/news/john-deere-ceo-sees-story-gives-breckenridge-teen-vip-tour-of-illinois-headquarters

Dylan (and his parents) spent the day including having lunch at the Moline corporate headquarters with Deere CEO John May and Cory Reed, president of Deere’s Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division: Production and Precision Ag, Americas and Australia.

In the afternoon, they took a tour of the sprawling John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline, with Deere employees and representatives of the Deere dealer RDO Equipment, which has a Breckenridge dealership and covered the Bakken family’s travel expenses (flying from Fargo).

“Dylan is an aspiring young farmer and he made a LinkedIn post that caught the attention of our CEO, John May,” said Miles Musick, factory engineering manager for John Deere Harvester.

“We’re happy to host Dylan and the RDO team, because only 1 percent of the U.S. population are farmers and that population is aging, so we need more Dylans in the world,” Musick said.

He bought his first used equipment at 13 (a baler), and owns a 9600 Deere combine. This past year, Dylan bought a Deere 6170R tractor, which pulls his corn planter. Most of his equipment is Deere.

They saw and met a ton of John Deere leaders, but the highlight was the Harvester Works combine factory.