Great Plains’ success depended on its ability to establish itself as a leader in the grain planting industry. Dedication to innovative technology, quality workmanship and superior product performance quickly earned Great Plains a reputation with farmers and dealers alike as an industry leader in meeting and exceeding customer demands.

Great Plains’ strategy throughout its history has been to recognize market trends before they transpire in order to lead rather than to follow. In the early 1980’s increased fuel prices, lower commodity prices and a gradual reduction in farm related subsidies lead to Great Plains’ questioning tillage intensity while trying to meet the long-term economical and ecological demands of farming operations. As a consequence various drilling and tillage tools, materials and practices were studied. It quickly became evident direct drilling was the true passageway to maximum economic yields .It became especially clear that minor differences in equipment design or material quality greatly affected the ability of planting equipment to perform in diverse conditions.

In 1982 Great Plains introduced its very first direct drill. The basic concept behind the Great Plains drill was to put a Cultivating Disc ahead of the Double-Disc drilling unit converting the drill into a Triple-Disc Drill. It did minimum cultivation and combined tillage with drilling.

The Great Plains minimum cultivation concept became an immediate success and revolutionized American agriculture. Whether disc harrowing, field cultivating, ripping their fields, or going directly into the previous crops stubble, farmers finally had a drill easily adaptable to their farming practices and individual soil conditions. By the early 1990’s over 40% of all no-till drills for planting cereal grains, soybeans, cotton and rice were Great Plains drills.