If you’ve attended a farm show recently and walked by the Titan booth, you’ve no doubt heard bid calling and seen a large crowd gathering … and it’s all in the name of FFA.
“Our pool of candidates that want to stay in ag or be in ag gets smaller every year and it’s a great industry to work in — a lot of pride, pride American built, American owned, American made,” said Kim Boccardi, Vice President of Marketing, Titan. “All those farmers do so much for all of us and it’s really all that we can do to give back to them.”
For more than 20 years Titan has held tire auctions at a variety of farm shows to support state FFA chapters. For example at this year’s Farm Progress, Titan auctioned off 88 lots, including 25 lots of tires, to support the Iowa and Illinois FFA associations. The auction brought in $35,165 — $24,030 alone from the tires. The 480/80R50 159A8/B – Super Traction TL Goodyear was the highest bid at $3,000.
In addition to the Farm Progress Show, Titan often hosts auctions at shows such as Husker Harvest Days, Farm Science Review, and the Sunbelt Ag Expo, with 100 percent of the proceeds going back to FFA. In addition to the Titan and Goodyear tires, other partners have stepped up to donate skid steers, ATVs, implements, tools, seeds, toys, gift baskets, and more to support the cause.
Last year Titan raised $133,260 overall through their special event tire auctions.
“It creates opportunity for programs and it’s just our way of giving back,” Boccardi said. “We find a lot of value from it. A lot of customers come out to buy these tires to support FFA.”
And for Titan customers, the auctions have become expected.
“The auctions are one of those things that people look forward to,” Boccardi said. “We have a lot of loyal buyers that come back every year. Their kids are in FFA, they are customers of ours. We are committed to the FFA and will continue to support it.”
