He was called an encyclopedia of all things agricultural. But he was far more than that. John Inman could see the big picture and how agriculture benefits humanity in a thousand ways. He was Farm Advisor Emeritus, registered Professional Agricultural Engineer, and private consultant when he died unexpectedly in June. He was also long-time correspondent and columnist to American Vegetable Grower.
John epitomized everything that modern agriculture has created through centuries of progress in science and technology. Yes, he was an ag engineer and no one had more helpful and detailed knowledge about the nuts and bolts of ag machinery including trucks and tractors and treads, also harvesters and supporting equipment like tanks and conveyors. But, his knowledge and passion went beyond machinery to seeds and crop protection, to farm labor and wages, to food safety and stewardship.
A Big Picture Person
John was one of the outstanding few who knew the parts well enough so he saw the big picture and could make it grow. He was a graduate of the Land Grant College at Oregon State where he studied ag engineering. Out of college in l965, he took a job with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Salinas. He became one of the many exemplary graduates of the Land Grant College system.
Salinas, the salad bowl of the world, with 275,000 acres of vegetables and fruit, where a particular arrangement of mountain and ocean modify the climate to favor cool season crops, was the stage where John honed his skills and learned through the crucible of crop production. John extended his influence in the local ag community. He was a founding board member of the Monterey County Agricultural Education, started and led the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Ag Business Day Tours, and was a member of Ag Against Hunger and Hartnell College’s Agricultural Steering Committee. He won many awards including the Spirit of Agriculture Award from Monterey County and member of the month honors from the Chamber of Commerce.
An Eye For Detail
Once, John showed me his new truck with a hitch for his RV trailer. It was a new kind of hitch that distributed the load more effectively and was easier to haul. He had a keen eye for detail, whether it was vertical tanks vs. horizontal, where to display a slow moving vehicle emblem, the need for fuel tank filters, or the issue of farm equipment company consolidation vs. dealer purity. John had the answers.
He sounded the alarm, too. The new exhaust emission standards will add thousands of dollars to the cost of large diesel engines, and John described in detail the two ways manufacturers were going to alter their engines, and the effect for the grower.
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He could make the complicated relatively easy to understand, even for those not mechanically minded.
No grass grew under his feet. He was a traveler and liked to keep moving. He attended and had friends at all the big ag equipment shows including the World Ag Expo in California, and the International Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Exhibition in Bologna, Italy. He was instrumental in bringing innovative new machinery to the U.S.
Through his travels, and through his wide ranging intellect, John knew that man’s highest achievement is to make two grow where one grew before. He applied himself to this task, and it is no exaggeration to say that the world is better because of what he brought to it.
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John Inman 1940-2010
Richard T. Meister is chairman emeritus and editor-at-large of Meister Media Worldwide.
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August 6, 2010 
