OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF INDEPENDENT CROP CONSULTANTS

www.naicc.org APRIL/MAY 2008

Certainly a familiar phrase, however ithas recently taken on a new meaning tothose of us in agriculture. Where once itwas the exception to have agricultural relat-ed stories presented on the national newsor in a major newspaper, food and agricul-ture stories are now common on radio, TVor in the press. The latest popular newsitem seems to be a pending world food cri-sis with about every grain crop we produce;however, the problem may not always beone of supply but rather escalating costexceeding consumer budgets.

I find this sudden widespread interest inagribusiness and the forces that have

brought us to the current state of affairs aninteresting indicator of where our industryas agricultural consultants may be headed.True or not, biofuels have become a majorreason cited for the shortages and increasedcost of food. But those claims disregard thefact that an ever increasing segment of theglobal population is embracing capitalismand using the new found wealth to improvetheir diet. I believe the inference to bedrawn from recent events in Agriculture isthe emerging awareness that our ability toproduce food to meet the global demand islimited by the availability of quality arableland. Once that fact is accepted we canwork to employ knowledge and technologyto increase yield on the available land.

The need to increase yields with the mostcost effective inputs points to a brightfuture for agricultural consulting andNAICC. The products and technologies thatcorporations are eager to bring into thisvalue added market will need to undergo alengthy development process, and experi-enced professionals will be needed to bringthese technologies to market. AsIndependent Agricultural Consultants itcertainly behooves us to remain current onthe always changing factors affecting thedemands on agriculture in order to tailor

our services to meet those demands. Thecurrent public awareness of agriculture, itseconomic value, and the need to increaseproduction in the most cost effective man-ner offers an opportunity to create a verypositive image of agricultural consultingand NAICC.

NAICC has a very active MarketingCommittee working hard to upgrade ourwebsite and develop outreach materials topromote the Alliance and create a positiveimage of our profession that will help allmembers grow their businesses. Many inagriculture already consider the NAICCmembership list as a “Who's Who” in CropConsulting and Contract Research. Thanksto the hard work of our QA membersNAICC is also becoming the recognizedhome for Agricultural Quality AssuranceProfessionals. The current influence agri-culture has on geopolitical and economicevents offer an excellent opportunity for usto advance awareness of NAICC and thevalue of Independent Consultants inAgriculture. It is certainly an exciting timein our profession and I encourage everyoneto get involved in one of our many commit-tees or at least contribute your ideas togrow and promote NAICC.

P R E S I D E N T ’ S C O L U M N

By Jim SteffelNAICCPresident

Have You Heard the News?

When it comes to awards, it’s hard toknow where to start with NAICC membersbecause, frankly, nearly every one of ourmembers should be rewarded for hardwork, ethics and leadership.

This year, we have the honor to call outseveral people who’ve made a difference inour organization, within our industry, thecommunity they live in and the familybehind them.

Please join us in congratulating:NAICC/BASF Consultant of the Year

Award Winners: Shannon L. Gomes, StevenA. Hoffman, and Stanley J. Winslow

These three individuals exemplify thepurpose of the NAICC/BASF Consultant of

the Year award: they are outstanding leaders– people who use their time and talent tomake a measurable difference.

Shannon Gomes, with Cedar Basin CropConsulting, Inc., in Waverly, Iowa, has beenin the business for 21 years. He provides fullconsulting services – scouting, hybrid andvariety selection, soil testing, application ofprecision technologies, manure manage-ment and expert witness – on 34,750 acresof corn, soybeans and alfalfa.

Also a long-time member of the NAICC,serving as secretary in the past, Shannon isa member of the Iowa Independent CropConsultants and an ASA-Certified ProfessionalSoil Scientist (CPSS). He earned his Bachelor

of Science degree in soil science fromCalifornia State Polytechnic University anda Master of Science degree in soil fertilityfrom Iowa State University.

Shannon’s organization was the principaldeveloper of a statewide scouting network,linked with the Iowa Soybean Association.He said his goal is to continually think “outside the box” with respect to crop consulting and American agriculture.

Steve Hoffman, a business owner for 13 years and consultant for 21, is withHoffman Crop Consulting, Inc., inManitowoc, WI.

His company offers a complete integratedcrop management program (soil sampling,

Higher Standards Applauded, Awarded

www.naicc.org APRIL/MAY 2008

crop input recommendations, tillageadvice, scouting and agronomic recom-mendations, nutrient management plans,GPS mapping and calibration). A RegisteredTechnical Service Provider, Steve servicesmore than 14,000 acres of corn, alfalfa, soy-beans, winter wheat and other crops.

In addition to his active role in theNAICC, he serves as Board Member forboth the WAPAC and the ManitowocCounty Forage Council. Steve is ASA andARCPACS Certified and is a member of theMidwest Forage Association and the U.W.Ag Alumni.

Among Steve’s many ag related projects isa new tillage system called Zone Ridge,which is intended to improve corn yield onpoorly drained soils. He’s also spent severalyears writing nutrient management plansand is working on becoming a CertifiedConservation Planner to enhance bothenvironmental stewardship and productivityfor his clients.

Steve graduated magna cum laude with aBachelor of Science degree in soil and cropscience from the University of Wisconsin,Platteville.

Stanley Winslow, an independent cropconsultant who’s been in business for 17years, is with Tidewater Agronomics, Inc., inBelvidere, NC. His company performs full-service agronomy and pest managementwork on all row and many vegetable crops.He’s also heavily involved in contractresearch (efficacy). Stan consults on approx-imately 70,000 acres in North Carolina,30,000 in Virginia.

A long-time member and leader withinthe NAICC, Stan is active in the NorthCarolina Ag Consultants Association. Hesaid his company “serves nearly every clientwe started with in 1991, plus many more.”He also noted that Tidewater Ag strives to

serve customers when and how they needto be served, accommodating specialrequests as much as possible.

SERVICE TO NAICC AWARD WINNER DARYL WYATT

This award, developed to honor distin-guished service to NAICC and its members,is given to someone who goes beyond thecall of duty to help NAICC – someone whodoes it with a giving heart because of his orher love for the Alliance.

Daryl Wyatt, a research consultant withThe Carringers, Inc., in Louisburg, KS,exemplifies these criteria.

In his current role as project manager,Daryl serves as a liaison with sponsors andbetween the study director and principalinvestigator. He monitors field and analyti-cal phases of studies, writes reports, reviewsand amends protocols, assures GLP compli-ance, etc.

Prior to his work with The Carringers,Daryl was employed in various roles with

Bayer CropScience, including Scientist II,Scientist II/Senior Research Chemist/Senior Associate Scientist and SeniorResearch Scientist.

He also served as Senior ResearchBiologist at Aventis CropScience ResearchCenter (AgrEvo Research Center) inPikeville, NC, and as Research Scientist forAmerican Agricultural Services, Inc., inLucama, NC.

In addition to the NAICC, Daryl is amember of the Weed Science Society ofAmerica (WSSA) and the Southern WeedScience Society (SWSS). He has led orserved on NAICC’s Allied IndustryCommittee since 2000, received the NAICCTop Recruiter Award in both 2004 and 2005,was re-elected to a second term on theExecutive Board of Directors and servedfrom 2003 to 2006.

Daryl is a member of the Astrix SoftwareFieldNotes Steering Committee and theAuburn University Agronomy Club. Hishonors include membership in the GammaSigma Delta honor society, various place-ments in national and regional soil judgingand weed science paper contests.

He was awarded the 1988 Dr. A. L. Smithscholarship for outstanding M.S. graduatestudent in the Agronomy and SoilsDepartment. Daryl has attended numerouscritical industry meetings and trainingworkshops throughout his career, enablinghim to expand and share his wealth ofknowledge and leadership skills.

Daryl earned both his Bachelor ofScience in agriculture and Master in WeedScience from Auburn University. Whilethere he served as a Full-time GraduateResearch Assistant.

Raised on a family farm in Alabama,Daryl was exposed to agriculture – the production of beef cattle, soybean, wheat,corn, grain sorghum and hay crops – earlyin life.

RAY YOUNG, WHOM WE HONORTHROUGH “THE RAY YOUNGLEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

INITIATIVE”Strong leadership, essential to all organi-

zations, is exemplified in NAICC leaders likeRay Young, who has been instrumental inleading NAICC, raising our visibility, unbi-ased credibility and more.

Ray is being honored for his service – andhis leadership in all aspects of life – througha new leadership development programgenerously sponsored by AMVAC. The orga-nization has provided $12,500 in seedmoney over five years to identify and developinstrumental leaders like Ray.

A member who “defines the word leader-ship in all he does,” Ray was selectedbecause of his exemplary leadership in his

(From left) 2008 NAICC Consultant of the Year Award Winners Shannon Gomes, Steve Hoffman and Stan Winslow.

Daryl Wyatt (left) receives Service to NAICCAward from President Jim Steffel.

www.naicc.org APRIL/MAY 2008

church, community, state and nation. Ray, a past president of the Alliance, has

also served as a member of the Farm CreditServices Insurance Services board and isworking to provide crop input in support ofagricultural issues.

He is very active on Capitol Hill and hasestablished a good working relationshipwith the EPA. Ray has worked to positionhimself and the NAICC as unbiased sourcesfor input on pesticide regulations.

NAICC’s Board of Directors, along withEVP Allison Jones, are evaluating severalideas for how best to move the new RayYoung leadership development initiativeforward.

OUR TOP RECRUITER AWARDS! WEHONOR THOSE WHO’VE RECRUITED

TWO OR MORE NEW MEMBERS FROMTHEIR STATE:

Stan WinslowJames SteffelWendy ShoffnerDennis Hattermann, Ph.D.Dan Easton

TOP OVERALL RECRUITER – TOMARMSTRONG – GETS THE “BIG” PLAQUE!

For the second year in a row, TomArmstrong of Monsanto Company received

top honors as the NAICC Overall TopRecruiter. Armstrong, who has been anAdditional Sustaining Member fromMonsanto since 2000, recruited five newmembers for 2008! We salute Tom not onlyfor his recruiting efforts, but for his serviceand dedication to NAICC through AnnualMeeting speaking engagements, pre-con-vention workshops and multiple years ofservice on the Annual Meeting programcommittee.

We also need to applaud the NAICC NewMember Campaign which is generouslysponsored by Bayer CropScience is criticalto NAICC’s growth and vitality. As noted byDenise Wright, 2007 chair of theMembership Recruitment, Retention andRules Committee, “Bayer has long been astrong supporter of our efforts at furtheringthe crop and researcher consulting profes-sion. We are extremely grateful for theirleadership role and generosity in sponsor-ing our recruitment campaign. Efforts likethese help ensure the future growth of ourprofession nationwide.”

Kudos to all award winners – we appreciateyour hard work and wish you a successfulgrowing season!

News from the FEAEBy Don Jameson, Foundation President

Paul Vaculin honors Ray Young with the distinguished Ray Young Leadership Program.

Tom Armstrong is NAICC’s 2008 Top Recruiter forsecond year in a row.

NAICC members can take real pride inthe work of their Executive Board andExecutive Vice President Jones, who recentlymet in Washington, DC for a two-day boardmeeting and a day of visits to policy makers“on the Hill.”

While the cherry trees were blooming, afirst-time event took place: concurrentNAICC and FEAE board meetings. (For ournewer readers, the FEAE is NAICC’sFoundation for Environmental AgricultureEducation.)

As the NAICC recently celebrated its 30thyear, the FEAE has existed since 1991 and isgoing into its 17th year.

Your foundation has been ramping upover the last four years, starting in 2004 withthe contracting of Dr. Ken Bader to helpwith public relations in developing and promoting the Doctor of PlantMedicine/Health degree with universities in theMidwest. Secondly, in December of 2007 wecontracted Linda Kraft to serve as part-timeExecutive Director.

This April the FEAE board met inWashington, D.C., to develop its 18-monthplan – or road map – with several objectivesin mind. Our five primary objectives are as follows:1. Developing awareness of the value and

contribution the foundation can renderto NAICC members, the NAICC leader-ship and the foundation donor base.

2. Planning for robust fundraising amongour partnership groups of industry, otherfoundation members and legacy donors.

3. Developing continued goals of financiallysupporting our historical educationactivities of funding convention speakersand programs such as the PrecisionAgriculture workshops, which NAICC hasdeveloped.

4. Continuing to encourage and supportthe interaction with select universities todevelop and promote the D.P.M. degree.We further encourage our members toavail themselves to these students assummer interns and potential employees.

(I personally am now hiring my secondD.P.M. intern this summer.)

5. Improving our technique of communicationto NAICC members, other Ag scienceprofessionals and our current and poten-tial donor base. This will be done via animproved website, newsletters andbrochures.

We are currently promoting the RichardL. Jensen, Ph.D. Memorial Scholarship(updated with simplified application crite-ria). NAICC members: please direct yourfood, fiber, fuel and feed science students towww.NAICC.org/FEAE for more informationon this valuable scholarship!

For suggestions or questions regardingthe FEAE and our programs, please contactme, Linda Kraft or any director listed onpage nine of your 2008 NAICC directory.And thank you for your support!

www.naicc.org APRIL/MAY 2008

NAICC recently attended a critical meet-ing regarding lapse of funding for what areconsidered “mature” IPM-PIPE components.

The meeting, known as the USDASummit for IPM Pest Information Platformfor Education and Extension (IPM-PIPE),was held in Washington, D.C. It was attend-ed by approximately 40 key governmentand industry leaders, including Secretary ofAgriculture Ed Shafer and UndersecretaryGale Buchanan, Host of the Summit. BlaineViator, Ph.D. of Plattenville, LA representedNAICC at this meeting.

Representatives from USDA, APHIS,CSREES, EPA and industry met to addressthe issue that PIPE is in danger of lapsing in2009 if funding is not identified to maintainits core infrastructure. Current resources –the Risk Management Agency (RMA)Agricultural Risk Protection Act (ARPA)funds –can not be used to maintain fullydeveloped IPM-PIPE components, such asthe soybean rust IPM-PIPE, which is nowconsidered mature.

This component only has operations

funds through the 2008 field season. The2009 President’s Budget requests $2.27 mil-lion specifically to maintain the SBR IPM-PIPE and the core IT infrastructure of theIPM-PIPE.

Several key points were discussed duringthe meeting:• Funding for this request is not the more

negatively viewed “earmark” but a LineItem in the President’s BudgetAppropriations.

• The request is for additional funding ofthe IPM-PIPE program rather than a newitem, which is a larger barrier to over-come within the budgeting process.

• The RMA can legally only fund new,developing projects, not projects that areconsidered “fully mature.” This raisedquestions as to how to define a develop-ing project versus one that is fullymature.

• Lobbying by industry may be essential tohelp ensure funding for this line item,and there is concern that this issue maynot get passed until early 2009 (following

the presidential election), leaving IPM-PIPE with little or no funding for sometime.

• Mentions were made of the millions ofgallons of pesticide that potentiallywould not be applied due to the IPM-PIPE program, potentially inciting EPAinterest in cost sharing. USDA, CSREESand APHIS said they would look into thisopportunity further.

• NAICC made the suggestion that USDAconsider communicating about thebroader benefits PIPE could deliver(tracking human disease epidemics,bioterrorism, etc.). Naturally more fund-ing would be required for such an effort.

NAICC will continue to be involved inthis critical issue and the Executive Boardwill consider options for supporting thefunding efforts and for offering support forthis program to the Ag AppropriationsCommittee.

To learn more about the meeting andIPM-PIPE, visit http://www.ipmpipe.org orcontact Blaine Viator at blaineviator@gmail.com.

NAICC Among Select Group Sought to Attend USDA Summitfor IPM Pest Information Platform for Education and Extension

Servi-Tech and AgRenaissance Software Form a Strategic Partnership

2008 EOC Session and 2009 PerspectiveBy Phil Cochran, CPCC-I

In an effort to bring improved computersoftware, laboratory and crop consultingagronomy services to their customers andothers in agriculture, AgRenaissanceSoftware, LLC has entered into a strategicpartnership with Servi-Tech.

AgRenaissance Software is a softwaredeveloper of tools specifically designed forthe agricultural community, while Servi-Tech is one of the largest crop consultingfirms in the nation.

The partnership between the two organi-zations evolved after three years of utiliza-tion and testing of FieldReconTM by Servi-Tech agronomists. (FieldReconTM is a soft-ware recordkeeping product developed byAgRenaissance for use by agronomists,growers and others involved with agriculture.)

David Krueger, President of AgRenaissanceSoftware, said the partnership affirms the

effectiveness of FieldReconTM to improveand add value to agricultural production.“This partnership provides opportunitiesfor AgRenaissance to not only work withServi-Tech to enhance FieldReconTM withimproved field data collection and report-ing functions, but also to collaborate onother software projects that will benefit theagricultural community,” he noted.

Mitch Counce, General Manager forServi-Tech, added, “As farming becomesmore complicated and technologicallyadvanced, the ability to track and recall crit-ical information for the decision-makingprocess will become even more important.Our agronomists, who use FieldReconTM,indicate it is extremely user-friendly andvery easy to learn. FieldReconTM softwaremakes it very easy to keep, recall, sort, shareand utilize any specific stored information

associated with crop production and field history.”

AgRenaissance was founded in 2000 andis dedicated to making agronomy and farm-ing easier and more profitable by develop-ing software tools specifically designed forthe agricultural community. For more infor-mation about the company and its prod-ucts, visit www.AgRenaissance.com.

Organized in 1975 by three farmer-owned cooperatives, Servi-Tech is now oneof the largest crop consulting firms in thenation, with over 70 full-time agronomists.Visit www.servi-techinc.com to learn moreabout Servi-Tech.

For more information about the newpartnership between Servi-Tech andAgRenaissance Software, LLC, contactDavid W. Krueger at 919.518.8030 ordavid@AgRenaissance.com.

The Educational Outreach Committee(EOC) completed another successful ses-sion at our Seattle meeting. With 28 paidregistrants and 5 GIS software representa-tives we were set to tackle an intense day

and of information transfer and discussion.Under the able leadership of EOC ChairJames Todd, we talked about variable rate(VR) irrigation and VR pesticides the firstday. The second day started out with an

open discussion of VR fertilizers includingnitrogen. Tuesday afternoon was devotedentirely to the GIS software vendors havingone-on-one demonstration sessions withthe attendees –everyone was extremely

www.naicc.org APRIL/MAY 2008

This month we welcome two new members to the NAICC family!

Del Koch is the Principle Scientist forABC Laboratories in Columbia, MO. ABCLaboratories provides study managementand residue analysis services for the EPA, aswell as required crop and soil residue studies.Del sees NAICC as an excellent forum todiscuss how to offset lower labor costs fromoverseas providers by streamlining processes.

The second new member spotlight goesout to Dennis Laughton of DennisLaughton Consulting, located in Canada.Dennis provides services on canola, mus-tard, barley, peas, wheat and forage crops.Dennis indicated that he sees the future ofour services changing in the next 10 yearsas it will involve much more emphasis ongreater detail, higher technology use andgreater regulatory responsibilities.

happy with this session. There was alsomuch discussion about soil samplingmethodology at the Seattle meeting. As witheverything else, there are many ways soilscan be extracted in respect to sample size,zone sampling, grid sampling, point sam-ples and composite samples. I have cometo the conclusion that there is no legitimatesoil sampling method that NAICC membersdo not utilize. Many of us have changed

from grids to zones, zones to grids andeverywhere in between. The bottom line iswe are all doing whatever we feel is neces-sary within our own geographical areas andbusinesses to accommodate the best inter-ests of our clients. The conversations wehave are fascinating to say the least, butwhat we do individually does not necessarilywork for our colleagues in other areas.Perhaps we could dedicate a session to sam-

pling methodology in the next meeting.The last two Precision Ag Workshops

(PAW) have been tied to the Annual Meetingfor logistical reasons. However, in 2009 thePAW will be a two day regional meeting inthe Minneapolis area February 12 &13, inconjunction with the MinnesotaIndependent Crop Consultants Association(MNICCA).

We are deep in the planning stage at thistime, but the intent is to have open registra-tion so all consultants from surroundingstates and Canada will attend. The program-ming will center on production ag and usingGIS to enhance our client’s profitability. Ifthis regional program is successful, the EOCand the Executive Board have indicated aninterest in continuing to have regional sessions annually.

As most of you know, the EOC’s PAW wasdesigned from the beginning to be self sup-porting financially. No funds have beentaken from the general fund for these meet-ings – they have been paid for by the atten-dees and the sponsoring vendors. As withall NAICC meetings, a registration discountwill be given at the Minnesota regionalmeeting for NAICC and state organizationmembers. Please watch the NAICC Newsand website for further information on theregional workshop in Minneapolis.

NAICC New Member Profiles

Crop and Research Consulting – Never a Dull Moment

Allison Jones Executive Vice President Brenda Weber Managing Editor

349 E. Nolley Drive / Collierville, TN 38017 Phone: (901) 861-0511 / Fax: (901) 861-0512 E-mail: JonesNAICC@aol.comwww.naicc.org

National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants

Jim Steffel President

LABServices342 S. 3rd StreetHamburg, PA 19526(610) 562-5055 / Fax: (610) 562-5066 E-mail: labs@LABServices.com

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s a helicopter chasing birds out ofthe corn field!

Photo courtesy of James Todd

OOPS!Thank you, John Hecht, for submitting

the badger photo featured in last month’sNAICC News. We regret that we did not giveJohn credit for the image, and send him ourthanks for enriching our readers’ experience.

CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL CROP CONSULTANT

• NAICC – Only Way to CertifyYour Independence

• Certify with NAICC asa Contract Researcher

• Applications at NAICC.com