In the future, Steve predicts, farm toys may be officially licensed, complete with official tags.
"Every toy and memorabilia product John Deere makes has such a tag now," he says.
The Deere company has authorized production of some of its toys by outside firms.
The Ertl company has implemented similar licensing and tagging procedures, Steve said.
"Of course, that tag can be removed and put on an unlicensed product," he adds. "It's not fair to the consumer, though. He comes in here, in good faith, believing that what he buys is a John Deere product.
"You run into a lot of copycats and plastic that are trying to cash in on the John Deere name," he adds. "I'm afraid plastic is going to ruin the market. It just doesn't hold up. You just can't beat those old die-cast toys. They can be beat around, repainted, repaired, and they're as good as ever."
So how does the consumer know what is real?
"It just gets down to who you can trust," Steve says. "You have to learn to buy from reputable dealers."
And be sure to keep the box.