“My blood is orange! I am, without a doubt, a true Kubota fan.”

At the confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers is one of the south’s most historic cities, Clarksville, Tennessee. This growing city boasts a beautiful downtown, plenty of sites worth seeing, and many famous one-time residents including gold medallist Wilma Rudolph and author Robert Penn Warren. And, of course, if you look just outside of Clarksville, you’ll also find the current home of retiree, farmer and Kubota cheerleader extraordinaire Bob Thomas.

“To be honest with you,” effuses Bob, “I don’t think there’s any comparison. Kubota is so far ahead of the competitive brands I’ve owned, it’s unbelievable!” Those are pretty strong words from a pretty convinced man. But if anyone should know, it’s Bob. Currently, he owns an L-Series L3430 cab tractor, a ZD21F zero-turn mower with pro deck and a utility RTV. And we’d say that’s enough to go on.

Bob Thomas owns 50 acres outside of Clarksville. The rolling hills are perfect for his rows and rows of watermelons and cantaloupes. And his L Series tractor is apparently the perfect machine to work in the rows, “I like to check my watermelons, and with my 3430 I’m able to till nice and easy between the rows.” He also has some vineyards he’s proud of, and he told us that his RTV with a sprayer on the back is ideal for spraying the vines. When speaking of his zero-turn mower, Bob says, “It’s mobile and nimble. I get around trees and it doesn’t tear up the turf—it does a great job in and around my fruit trees.” Bob also farms some large garden plots containing cabbage, broccoli, corn, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and more. “I have pretty much everything that your average farmer grows.” Says Bob, “Nothing special.”

But we disagree. Bob is definitely not your average farmer. No one quite embraces the Orange Way like Bob. When we asked him about reliability: “Excellent! From 1 to 10, I’d have to give Kubota a 10. There’s no question about that whatsoever.” He went on to mention that reliability equates to cost savings, “The only time I take my vehicles in is for service. They’re highly reliable; they don’t go back to the shop. This sort of durability and reliability makes them a very good value for the money—no down time means you can get more done.”