Green Or Red? Those In AG Know What I'm Talking About, But Right

Green Or Red? Those In AG Know What I'm Talking About, But Right Now It Doesn't Matter. North Dakota has lost a couple of icons in the agriculture community and whether you're green or red, we are all mourning the loss of Steve Connelly and Mark Kreps. The two Vice Presidents of RDO Equipment were killed in a car accident West of Groton, South Dakota, which is a little West of Aberdeen.

According to the South Dakota Highway Patrol, the 54-year-old men died when their pickup truck collided with a dump truck west of Groton near Aberdeen on Tuesday afternoon.

Steve and Mark were lifelong friends, so much so that it was no surprise that their career paths followed the same trajectory, in an industry that supported their love of agriculture. Steve was the Vice President of the Midwest Agriculture Region, overseeing locations in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. Mark was the Vice President of Agriculture Sales. According to a RDO Equipment Facebook post, (they) “were everything you could want in a friend, team member, and leader.”

RDO Equipment is based out of Fargo, North Dakota and serves a huge territory of the upper Great Plains. They are a major distributor of John Deere equipment (the green) as well as Vermeer equipment for both agricultural and construction use. I knew both Steve and Mark and the impact that they had in agriculture in North Dakota and around our region will leave a void that the industry, their friends, colleagues and family will surely miss.