cq perspectives nov 2009

8/4/2019 CQ Perspectives Nov 2009

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OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CROP QUEST AGRONOMIC SERVICES, INC

C r o p Q u e s t P e r s p e c t i v e s

Volume 19 Issue 6 November 200

Continued on Page 3

Five founding members of Crop Quest were recognized for 30Years of Agronomic Service during the annual Crop Quest FullStaff Meeting on November 11, 2009, in Wichita, KS.

Kent Davis, a Colorado native, began his career in agron-omy in May, 1979, in Great Bend, KS with Servi-Tech after

earning his General Agriculture degree from

Colorado State University. After two longyears in Kansas, he was given the opportu-nity to return to Colorado to start a divisionin Yuma, on Valentines Day (Feb. 14) 1981,where he later became the division manager.Accepting a new challenge in January, 1985,Kent moved home to the Front Range of Colo-rado to start a new division. He has remainedthe Colorado Front Range Division Managerduring his 17 year tenure with Crop Quest. Heobtained his CCA certication in 1993 and isa member of the National Association of In-dependent Crop Consultants and the ColoradoConsultant Association.

Kent enjoys working with farmers and fellow employees

while getting to do something he is passionate about. Hereceives great satisfaction from the freedom of this career.Although he has tackled some challenging times inagriculture, such as the 1980 drought and the PIKyear of 1983, Kent prides himself on the service hehas provided his customers. He even had a customerin Yuma, CO, who called at Christmas time to tellKent to go to the store & buy himself a pair of bootsas a thank you for the work Kent did.

Kent and his wife Carrie have been married for 19years, and have two children Kirsten and Frederick.

Jim Gleason graduated from Fort Hays State Col-lege (yes, it was still a COLLEGE back then...) in 1979with a degree in Agriculture. He immediately began

work as an agronomist withServi-Tech in the Macksville/St. John area. He proceeded toserve as the St. John Divisionmanager from 1983, until thefounding of Crop Quest in

February, 1992, where he wasnamed Crop Quest EasternRegion Vice President. In ad-dition to working with manyproducers in Central Kansas,overseeing the Eastern Regionand assisting with recruitingfull-time and intern candidates,Jim is an elected member to the Crop Quest Board of Direc

Knowing that he has assisted farmers in contributing to tstatistic of one American Farmer now being capable of fee125 other people is one of the most rewarding aspects of Jicareer. He also commented that he works with the best peoin the world both as co-workers and as customers.

Married for 22 years, Jim and his wife Linda have two ch

dren Kristin, a K-State junior majoring in FACS Educatiand Jeffery, a sophomore at St. John High School.

Upon graduating with an Agrondegree from Kansas State Univerin 1978, John Hecht initially beghis agricultural career with DekalHybrid Wheat Research. It didnttake long for John to realize his psion was working with and helpinfarmers. Therefore, he accepted aagronomist position with Servi-Ton March 1, 1979. Moving up theranks, he became the Great BendDivision Manager in 1982 and

KentDavis

FIVE RECOGNIZED FOR

YEARS OF SERVICE

JohnHecht


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Global climate change doesnt come in a neat package. Extreme high orw temperatures or drought or ooding do not come in predictable cycles,ough climatic changes clearly affect all these weather phenomena.

For farmers, it all adds up to a big crapshoot, says Jerry Hateld, Labo -ory Director at the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environ-

ent in Ames, Iowa.Hateld reports that in the last decade in the Midwest we have seen

ore wet springs with signicantly more rainfall for longer periods of time.bsequently, we see longer dry periods rainfall patterns tend to be not asenly distributed as they were as recently as ve to six years ago. We areo seeing nighttime temperatures increasing more rapidly than daytime

mperatures, which can have an indirect, but dramaticpact on crops.Overall, I think we will see dramatic changes in

gh and low temperatures and rainfall patterns, if not

al rainfall amounts, Hateld says. For example, ine Southeastern U.S., growers were plagued by hot, dryeather in the growing season, but had the coolest Julyrecord. How crops adapt to these kinds of dramatic

anges will be critical in the future.Many people think global climate change means

tter or cooler weather long-term or oods ortended droughts, but those are more long-termnds. Agriculture can adapt to long-term weather patterns. Its the in-seasonanges in climate that wreak real havoc on crops, the USDA Laboratoryrector contends.

The biggest challenge for farmers, relating to climate changes is and willwater usage and management, Hateld says. We are not only seeing vari -le precipitation, we are seeing varying forms of precipitation. For example,anges in the snow pack are already creating the need for changes in crop-ng systems in California and other states, he notes.

As a component of our farming systems, we need to gure out how wee going to make the most efcient use of water to continue to produceops in an efcient and productive manner. These decisions will encompassrious farming techniques from crop selection to soil management practicesall related to water management.

Technology will play a role in evening out the extremes of weather thate go through. For example, a drought tolerant hybrid may not lose as mucheld as less drought tolerant varieties. Or, looking at other extremes, somerieties may be bred to withstand too much water in some parts of theowing season, store the moisture and have reduced yield losses in droughtriods, Hateld explains.Another piece of the water usage puzzle involves irrigation, especially

ross the Plains and western states. The erratic nature of climate changecreases the need to know precisely when to apply available irrigation. Forample, how much yield increase do we get by applying the most water dur-

ing grain ll from these new drought tolerant varieties? There likely wiseasonal dynamics that are different from traditional weather patterns ring growers to look at different capabilities of the varieties and of potedifferent crops altogether.

A big question is how to bring together water management to help buagricultural systems of the future? Hateld says there is a genetic compoNew GMO products and plant varieties are coming on the market at a rapace, and it will be critical to gure out how these new innovations t inoverall, sustainable farming program.

There is a soil management component to developing these farmingprograms of the future. We refer to many of the soil management practitaking the E out of ET (evapo-transpiration). Can we keep residue coversoil and limit evaporation so that soil water in the prole goes toward maa crop? We know the more water through the plant by transpiration, the gthe total biomass and ultimately more grain yield, Hateld stresses. A

we can do in soil management to increase water availability during the spays dividends in terms of improved plant productivity.Hateld explains that the typical Plains grain farmer needs to be aware

variable precipitation in the future. The grower must ensure they are growcrops that can best capture and use every raindrop, keep it in the soil, and mavailable to the plant at the optimum time the plant needs it.

Hateld also adds that grain farmers have done a good job of matchingfall patterns with nutrient application of the crop. They are going to need tothe water inltrate management in the nutrient package. Farmers will needvery opportunistic to manage around these dramatic changes in weather p

There is no doubt success in managing weather variability within thseason will come down to making good crop management decisions, Hcontends.

Organizations like Crop Quest will play a pivotal role in helping farmers make these sound decisions. In this variable climate, variability will a multiple set of scales. Over a large range, the scale of differences can bdramatic and likely wont be consistent across a relatively small geograparea. Having an organization, like Crop Quest, with good communicatioprofessional skills will be an asset in helping farmers in any one particultion to make better management decisions.

Indirect affects of weather variability may change the range of insectwintering of insects and changes of diseases. These changes will likely omuch more quickly than they have in the past. In Iowa, corn rootwormgo from a one generation insect to a two generation insect a result of retively minor climate change. That subtle difference would have an enormimpact on insect control, Hateld stresses.

I think these indirect impacts of climate changes on weeds, insects adiseases may cost farmers more money in the long-run than will the actuweather variability. Having a well-trained professional consultant or orgtion of consultants will be a big benet to growers trying to cope with thindirect, often subtle results of climate variability, Hateld conclude

Jerry Hatfield

ERRATIC NATURE OF CLIMATE CHANGE CREATESMULTIPLE CHALLENGES FOR GROWERS


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Member, National Allianceof Independent CropConsultants, CPCC-I

Certied

By: Ron OHanlonPresident

Five Recognized ... Continued from Page 1

For the second year in a row, Crop Quest has

been recognized as a nalist for The Wall StreetJournal and Winning Workplaces 2009 TopSmall Workplaces across America. Out of the 630nominations, there were 329 applicants and only

35 were selected as nalists. At a conference anddinner meeting held in Chicago recently, a groupof Crop Quest owners were on hand to receive the

honor and plaque. In addition to the nalist list-ing, there were 15 companies selected out of these35 who were recognized as the top 15 winners.Crop Quest will continue to strive for this addi-tional honor in the coming year.

According to information from WinningWorkplaces, The Top Small Workplaces Awardrecognizes an elite group of businesses and non-

prots who recognize the value of investing intheir people and illustrate the practices they use

to create highly successful organizations. These

organizations are typically growing, nancially

healthy, have an active

and engaged workforce,and are led by visionaryleaders.

It is our customers and

employee/owners who makeit possible for Crop Quest tobe recognized in this manner.

Our motto is Employee Owned andCustomer Driven and this keeps us striving tomeet the needs of our customers, hoping to exceedtheir expectations while helping our employee/

owners nd satisfaction and fulllment in thework they do.

Recognition such as this also helps our custom-

ers know that they have chosen a professionalagronomic services company who takes pride inthe service they provide in addition to the employ-

ee/owners having a stake in the success of their

company.

CROP QUEST RECOGNIZED AS AWINNING WORKPLACE

served in this same position for Crop Quest from 1992 to2000. Seeking a new challenge, the Hechts (John and Deb,who have been married for 24 years, and their four children Kevin, Alex, Lindsey and Meghan) moved to Farming-ton, NM in 2000 to begin work on both the Navajo IndianReservation in northwest New Mexico and the Ute IndianReservation in southwest Colorado. With this move, Johnbecame Crop Quests Special Projects Manager where he nowoversees the projects on these two Reservations in addition toprojects along the Red River in Oklahoma/Texas/Arkansas,

south Texas, southeastern New Mexico and along the GreenRiver in Utah.

Although the move to Farmington was one of the mostchallenging aspects of his career, John has thoroughly en-joyed the opportunity to work with very special customerswhile learning about diverse cultures. Adopting the mottoTheres no place like home, John and his family returnedto Kansas in 2008, and John continues to pursue new projectswhile based in Colwich, KS.

Following a similar career path, Cort Minor graduatedwith a Natural Resource Management (aka - agronomydegree) from Kansas State University in 1978. Upon gradu-ation, Cort worked two years for Garst / Pioneer Seeds inGarden City, KS before signing on with Servi-Tech in 1980.He became the Garden City Division Manager in 1984 and

continued with this title when he helpedform Crop Quest in 1992. Adding to his re-sponsibilities, Cort is a 16-year Crop QuestBoard Member.

Deciding to apply his agronomy expertiseto new endeavors, Cort moved to Roswell,NM in 2006 to develop a new Crop Questterritory in the Pecos River Valley. He en-joys working with the variety of crops pro-duced in New Mexico such as chilies, pecantree orchards and other alternative crops.He boasts that he has had the privilege towork with the greatest group of farmers intwo very different areas. Corts efforts in

building this new territory are succeeding as he will now hiring a summer intern for 2010.

Cort and his wife Connie have been married for ten yeaand have three step-children Kyle, Jana and Brandon.

Crop Quest President, Ron OHanlon, helped form CrQuest with Rollie Stukenholtz and 65 other agronomists fServi-Tech. Ron had worked for Servi-Tech from 1979-19as an agronomist in the Pratt Division, as the Pratt DivisiManager, and then as the Eastern Kansas Regional ManagHe started as Crop Quest President at Pratt, KS but in 199

he and his family moved to Dodge City, KS where the hequarter ofce is located.

Starting another agronomicservice company was one ofthe most stressful and chal-lenging times of Rons career,but it has also been one of themost rewarding. Ron is proudof working with the greatestcustomers (farmers) and em-ployee-owners. He has gainedgreat satisfaction by watch-ing new employees grow intoexceptional agronomists inaddition to helping bring CropQuest into the 21st Centurywith the use and implementation of computers/technolog

Ron received both his BS degree in Animal Science in and MS degree in Agronomy (Soil Science) in 1979 fromOklahoma State University. Before determining that agroomy was his career destination, he worked as the HerdsmSupervisor of 300 head of purebred cattle for the USDA/Reno Experiment Station and then as the Canadian CountOK County Extension Agent, 4-H. Ron and his wife Marhave been married 34 years and have been blessed with schildren and three grandchildren.

Congratulations to these ve outstanding agronomisfor their commitment, dedication and efforts to helpinfarmers succeed.

CortMinor


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Mission StatementCrop Quest is an employee-owned company dedicated to providing the highest quality agricultural services for each customer. The quest of our network

professionals is to practice integrity and innovation to ensure our services are economically and environmentally sound.

PRSRT STD

US POSTAGE

PAID

DODGE CITY K

PERMIT NO. 43

Employee-Owned & Customer DrivenCrop Quest Agronomic Services, Inc.

Main Ofce: Phone 620.225.2233

Fax 620.225.3199

Internet: www.cropquest.com

[email protected]

Crop Quest Board of Directors President: Ron OHanlon

Director: Jim Gleason

Director: Dwight Koops

Director: Cort Minor

Director: Chris McInteer

Director: Rob Benyshek

Crop Quest continues to expand itsoperations eastward by establishing

a new division in West CentralMissouri based out ofWarrensburg. Agronomist

David Renck, who will overseethe Missouri operation, joined Crop Quest in mid-September after previously working with Servi-

Tech and Missouri Farm Asso-ciation (MFA). In 2005, Renckgraduated from Texas A&Mwith an Agriculture Econom-ics degree and went on to earn

an MBA at A&M as well. Heworked as an agronomist forServi-Tech in Lincoln, NEfor a year before moving to

Missouri. With MFA, Renckworked in seed, chemical andfertilizer sales and agronomy.

Renck says he is particularly interested in nutrientmanagement and expects to be working with corn,soybean, wheat, alfalfa and pasture. He is look-ing forward to developing Crop Quest business inMissouri. Having grown up on a farm in NortheastArkansas, Rencks crop production roots run deep.But there is another dimension to his farming andcrop growing background: Rencks wife is an

agriculture economics professor at the Universitof Central Missouri in Warrensburg.

For Brady Huck, working in Crop QuestsDodge City ofce is something of a homecoming after having earned his degree in animalscience from Kansas State University last springTwo days after graduation, he returned to the arwhere he grew up. Huck is enjoying the otherside of the agriculture business now that he is aCrop Quest agronomist consulting with farmerswho mostly grow irrigated corn,dryland wheat and milo. Heplans to use his experience as a

third-generation cattle producerto develop a deeper under-standing of the challenges cropgrowers face in increasing theiryields and maximizing prots.Hucks father and grandfatherown a registered feed stockoperation with 250 pure bredAngus cattle, so he under-stands the interrelated aspectsof crop and livestock produc-tion. Growing up on the livestock side of the farHuck now says he has a practical appreciation fthe interdependence each segment of the agricuture industry has with the other.

Crop Quest Adds New

Consultants As It Moves

Into New Territory

BRADY HU

DAVID RENCK

cq perspectives nov 2009

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