In October 1929, the wall street stock market crashed triggering the Great Depression. Just months before, Frank Novlan, Sr. transformed a single building in Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan, into a home and five businesses: a theater, barbershop, Massey Harris dealership British American Oil service station and bulk franchise. Joined by his three sons, he operated the business as Frank Novlan and Sons. The Depression years were difficult ones and required creative ways to make equipment affordable. In 1935, Frank Novlan sold 75 binders (a machine for cutting grain and binding it into bundles) for $200 each with no money down and promise for each customer to pay for the machinery from the first grain delivery to the elevator. He didn’t lose a cent: every binder was paid for. Frank, Sr. retired in 1949 and his son purchased his shares. Farmers were changing from horses to tractors and adopting new technological practices, like the New Holland automatic self-tie baler that changed forever the way haymaking was done. An agricultural revolution was underway. Through the succeeding decades, five generations of the Novlan family have been ushering in growth and change. Today, Frank, Sr.’s great-grandson, Doug Novlan, heads the family-owned business with locations in Paradise Hill, Lloydminster and North Battleford. They’re located in an area where cattle and cash crops dominate the agricultural landscape. 

 In 1968, Novlan Bro’s took on the New Holland line, selling balers, rakes and other haytools. “We were a big Massey dealership, and we sold a lot of combines,” says Doug Novlan, who joined the business in 1975. “In the 1980’s when Massey went out of business, New Holland was starting to sell the TR70 Twin Rotor combines. We were one of the first dealers to sell the TR70s and the conventional TX combines as well.” The Lloydminster area in West-central Saskatchewan has large reserves of crude oil, and in years past, a lot of young people left the family farm to work in the oil business. That’s changing, says Doug. “I’ve seen in the last five years or so that technology has brought the young farmers back onto the farm,” he continues. “The average age of a farmer is about 38 years old. Dad is still involved, but he wants his son to be part of the farming operation and willing to share the profits and work. The young guys love the technology amd they’re very comfortable with it. They’ve found that precision farming is saving them money.” Providing good customer service has always been important to the Novlan family. “You have to have a good team. That really hasn’t changed from the earlier days. To quote my Dad, ‘You only need salesman to sell the first one, parts and service sell the ones after that.