Our Story:
In the spring of 94’ Dave and Charissa Rubey moved from Southern California back to the Rubey farm in the Red River Valley of North Dakota.
After farming for 5 years, Dave developed a herniated disk in his neck, and had to have a cervical fusion. For 8 weeks following, he was relegated to wearing a full neck brace. Well folks, a full neck brace doesn’t go over too well when wheat harvest is upon you; so Dave went in search of a way to help him see what he couldn’t. After checking into several different camera systems, and finding nothing satisfactory, he decided to draw upon his engineering and electronics knowledge from his previous life in California and proceeded to build his own.
The first draft of the "AgCam" was a small black and white camera and a 5" travel Black and White Television. This first system worked tolerably well, but B&W doesn’t give you a very clear picture when you get the camera pointed into the sun, or in heavy dust conditions, it was also worthless after dark if you didn’t have any additional light source. After going through a variety of different camera boards, lenses and bodies, and several different styles makes and models of small flat screen TV’s (rest assured by this time Charissa was beside herself with the cost of the whole venture, and was ready to go nuclear when Dave "Baked" over $500 worth of camera components in the oven in an endeavor to more quickly set a resin) he had put together a unit that was easy for him to move from one piece of equipment to another, durable enough to handle farm life, and clear enough to provide the information one would need.
So... for them, it goes to reason, that if Dave had needed something like this, than likely other people did to! And, for anyone who has had anything to do with Agriculture: farming/Ranching is like a smoking habit, it’s really expensive, and almost impossible to quit, so they had to do something to support their nasty little habit.
On with the story...
Over a period of years, the AgCam system has been honed into a product that has made a name for itself, even at times being referred to as "the bullet proof camera" (15 times with a .22 and it keeps on tickin!).
As technology has grown, Dakota Micro has grown with it, and has risen to the needs of larger customers desiring to work with a company who has established themselves as honorable in business dealings and of producing high quality product at an affordable price. Being located in a rural setting has allowed DM to function with lower overhead costs that are associated with big city real estate and payroll demands. Considering the fact that houses often auction for $20,000 or less in our local community, cost of living expenses are lower than most other heavily populated parts of the United States (I believe we are the most "Moved Out of State" in the union).
DM is now involved with an ever-expanding security and emergency market, and adheres to the same principals of durable and affordable product coupled with honesty and integrity. Our company is based on these principals of hard work and honesty, and we strive to constantly earn the trust and loyalty of all of our customers, be they big or small.
Thank you again for your interest in our story... and be thankful I didn't share the one involving a grain bin, a muskrat and the statement "I didn't think he'd TAKE IT!"
Kind Regards,
Dave & Charissa Rubey