I really like my retail agronomist, but I feel like they don’t scout fields like they used to…how do you work with them to achieve my goals?

Honestly, this is about 75% of our clients. We don’t want to ever replace retail, and you still need them to deliver product on time for a fair price and make recommendations on some new products. With fewer locations, fewer agronomists, and larger territories retail mindset has shifted more to sales and less about in field agronomy.

Do you scout every field on every visit to my farm?

In most cases I am on the farm at least once every two weeks and usually more often than that. Normally, I scout every field of corn during our V3-V4 scout for weed pressure and any issues that may arise, and most soybean fields before a second pass/first pass of herbicide. At planting I like to be there at the start and during emergence across a few soil types and planting dates. During the season I walk fields as pests start and focus on certain hybrids and varieties that may be susceptible. We also do a scout before crop maturity to evaluate nitrogen efficiency, disease pressure, and many other factors in corn and disease pressure and program efficiency in soybeans. We can definitely discuss scouting every field if that is something you would be looking for at a higher cost/ac.

Can I pick individual fields, farms, and/or crops I want consulting on?

In the past I have done some specific crops with some clients but what normally happens is I end up consulting on the rest or providing input on the other crops. Alfalfa is usually the main crop that clients have decided to not hire consulting on when they spray every crop with insecticide. Most years we only spray 1-2 crops using IPM (integrated pest management) which would save most dairies $20-30/ac in spraying alone. I could provide hourly rates if someone was only wanting an individual problem solved.

I’ve never had a consultant before, I’m not sure where we would even start…

We have clients with past experiences with consultants ranging from one year up to decades and many that never had one before. It all starts with a phone call, text, email, etc. and there are many clients who know me and what we are about you could reach out to who would be willing to say if they like me or not…in all honesty, if we don’t click from both sides of the table I and you should know in the first few minutes. If it’s not a mutual relationship it won’t be good for either of us.

Is your goal to save money or make me more money?

Both, in some places there may be ways to cut and in others opportunities to create more yield by tuning inputs. A typical savings on chemicals for clients has been around 10-25% with upwards of 50% utilizing your own sprayer versus custom application. My favorite seasons are when we maximize money on inputs and get higher yields, this is always the goal. I also utilize spreadsheets and various other methods to get costs dialed in to $.01/ac so we can create a better marketing plan and analyze how various additional inputs may benefit profitability.

I’ve worked with those consultants on the ag retail side, and in most cases those scouting reports get handed over to the retail agronomist and put in a binder at the farm. There are only 2-3 times a year we can make effective decisions in each crop, those are the most important scouts. The rest of the year we focus on looking at fields for actionable changes that can be made for the future instead of “punching” a card that shows we spent hours looking at every field.

Do you have a preferred retailer, do I have to use cover crops and notill, and what are your philosophies for farming?

So these are common questions after someone has met with other consultants. Having a preferred retailer for every client is usually a sign that said retailer is offering something to that consultant for referrals (it happens, I’ve seen it), and the same thing goes for cover crops where many consultants are contracted by cover crop associations or seed dealers, and local municipalities (odd that they are at every meeting) to either promote or show the benefits of cover crops. My philosophy is that we work with everyone to maximize their equipment and farm the way they want to farm, if you want to use cover crops we can make that work, if you want to use tillage or notill we can also work with those as well. No one should tell you there is only one way to farm your ground, there may be ways to improve what you are doing or other methods to try but ultimately that is up to you.