Some significant upgrades are being made to Drummond Farm Services in Holland. Owner Morris Drummond outlines what's happening.

"We've been working on this for a few years. We knew we needed to expand our service buildings. We needed more land. So, we got a plan in place here this spring. We're adding on about 10,400 square feet to the west side of our shop. We're adding on about nine to ten acres to the west side with highway frontage. It's a major undertaking, but it's what we need to be able to service our customers in the future."

He says they've been doing their homework.

"We've been doing some pricing for a while with different construction crews and cement fellows. We're hoping that we can make a decision here by early next week about who we're going to go with. The premise is we'll be starting digging before the end of April."

Drummond shares how the project's affected them.

"It's a confidence builder for us. And it's a confidence builder for the customer. We farm as well. I know what's it's like for down-time. We're also hiring two more mechanics effective May 1st. The reason we hired more mechanics is because we know we're going to have the capacity inside, and we wanted to get them as soon as we could get them. You have to have room for all this big iron."

He says their service fleet is also being expanded to prepare for the future and move forward, seeing as they plan to remain an independent dealer unlike several other companies.

Drummond said they had an open house last week and received many congratulations. He adds the area's quite diverse with grain, pulse crops, beef, and potatoes, and they reach out over quite a range of customers. He notes he expects the expansion to draw business as well, so long as they can gain confidence in additional customers.