Last November, Yuma businessman Dennis Booth was recognized as Arizona Farm Bureau’s Lifetime Service to Agriculture. This prestigious award is given to those who have a lifetime of service to Arizona’s agriculture industry. 

Here is his story. 

An Oklahoma State University graduate, Dennis Booth began his career in agriculture equipment in 1977 with International Harvester Credit Corporation in California as a credit collector for trucks, agriculture equipment, and more. By 1980, he was an Agricultural Sales Representative with Caldwell Equipment in Yuma, Arizona. The job that landed him in the great state of Arizona. 

A year later, Connie Caldwell was looking for a General Manager for his Yuma store. A baptism by fire, Dennis applied and was hired. 

During all of this, Dennis had an inkling to buy the dealership. Caldwell and International Harvester Company both agreed to help Dennis with the purchase and in 1986, he started Booth Machinery and began his lifelong service to Arizona’s agriculture community.  

Booth Machinery was born in a tough economic period: farmers and their suppliers were going out of business at an alarming rate due to high interest rates and an extremely difficult farm economy. Dennis’s approach was, “the customer is first at all costs.” He stated numerous times and still says today that a business without good customers has nothing at all. Using rentals and leasing, creative financing, selling what the customer needed, and assuring that customer service after the sale was second to none, Booth Machinery survived these turbulent times. 

Part of Booth Machinery’s growth was due to a fundamental change in the Yuma Agricultural economy. Yuma had always been in cotton and alfalfa, but that changed in the early 1980s when produce started coming to Yuma from the Imperial Valley. Dennis was one of the first to see this change and positioned his company to participate in this new and exciting market. 

His service to agriculture is evident. A graduate of Project CENTRL, Class 7, Dennis served on numerous boards, including the Yuma County Farm Bureau Board, the Yuma Salvation Army Advisory Board, and the Arizona Western College District Governing Board (elected Chairman in 2012). He is a past chairman of the El Toro Foundation, the Caballeros of Yuma, and the Yuma County Republican Party. He also served as treasurer of the Arizona Republican Party. Dennis has also volunteered his time with the Arizona Western College Foundation, Hospice of Yuma, and the Crossroads Mission. In 2013, Dennis and wife, Anne, were honored as Yuma County's citizens of the year. It’s not uncommon for these groups and others to meet at Booth Machinery where he built a large meeting facility connected with the dealership and generously opened it to the community.

And, although Booth Machinery was sold in 2013 to Everwatch and later to Sonsray Machinery, the Booth family members are still employed and working with the agricultural community under Sonsray. 

Dennis Booth and Booth Machinery represent what’s best about agriculture: Perseverance and a forward-thinking spirit to survive and ultimately thrive regardless of economic conditions. Dennis has been an integral part of the Yuma agricultural community and ultimately helped contribute to the county’s agricultural growth and development. Dennis recognizes that the success of his business is due to the support of the community and his priority towards treating customers with integrity.