CQ Perspectives Apr 2002

8/4/2019 CQ Perspectives Apr 2002

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Crop Quest is an employee-owned company dedicated to providing the highest quality agricultural services for each customer. The quest of our network of professionals is to practice integrity and innovation to ensure our services are economically and environmentally sound.

Economic times and pricing battles

Water shortages to come

Cotton acres increase

The changing face of farming

Risk management is key this season

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Official Publication of Crop Quest Agronomic Services, Inc.

Newsletter published monthly by Crop Quest, Inc. • Volume No. 11, Issue No. 4, April, 200

MISSION STATEMENT

PERSPECTIVES

Crop Quest welcomes new employe

Grid samples can provide a more accurate picturehard numbers on these fields, from the combine, yie

appeared to be more uniform.

“These producers have found value in grid samplin

even without yield monitors. But the next step is usin

yield monitor to really show what is going on. It’s amazi

how critical they {yield monitors} can be in managin

field. The ag economy is tough, but it’s hard to be a botto

line person without measuring the bottom line,” Schisays.

Grid sampling has allowed Schield and his producers

improve the way they have been fertilizing by redistribut

applied fertilizer, and it has shown in Schield’s agronom

recommendations. In one area of a field where, based

several years of normal composite samples, he had sugges

not applying any phosphorus. Grid sample results show

the area needed much more.

“With my normal sampling technique, I was actua

telling a producer to under-fertilize parts of the field. B

because grid sampling is more intensive, it detected probl

spots in fields that I didn’t know were out there. That h

happened in every field we have grid sampled,” he add

Stan Schield has been an agronomist for about 25

years, during which time he’s pulled his share of

soil samples. If one thing holds true, Schield says

soil fertility variability still offers some unexpected surprises.

Schield began grid sampling in 1998, on several fields

that proved to be good candidates because of inconsistent

soil test results in the prior years.

“There’s no question there’s variability—more than most

people realize. With my normal sampling techniques, I may

pull a sample every 30 or 40 acres, or even every 20 acres

because of some specific history on the field. Even doing

that, I still wasn’t picking up on all the variability,” Schield

says.

“I have some fields that when I sample a certain quadrant

every year, the phosphorus tests don’t vary three or four

parts per million. But on the fields we grid sampled, some of

the quadrants varied 10 to 15 parts per million. It shouldn’tchange that much from year to year,” Schield explains.

“When it changes that much, it’s a red flag. It told me

there is a lot of different phosphorus levels I was not picking

up with my normal composite samples.”

With the implementation of variable application, Schield

and his clients have seen a definite balance in phosphorus

levels. And although there is no yield monitor data to show

Despite knowledge of a field, there may still be fertility

unknowns that standard soil samples don’t uncover.

Jason Reichart joins the Silver Lake Division and will

servicing acres in the northeast Kansas region. He brings w

him four years experience as a Crop Quest intern and a

worked as a statistician for the USDA, prior to becoming a fu

time Crop Quest agronomist.

Reichart is a graduate of Kansas State University wit

degree in agricultural economics and minor in agronomy. comes from a farming and ranching operation in Valley Fa

Kansas, where his family raises purebred Hereford cattle an

variety of crops. He is also a collector of John Deere memorab

and enjoys sports.

Jason Reichart can be reached by email

[email protected].



By Rollie Stukenholtz, CEOMember, American Society of Agricultural Consultants • Certified Professional Agronomist

Chief Executive Officer: Rollie Stukenholtz

President: Ron O’Hanlon

Regional Vice President: Jim Gleason

Regional Vice President: Dwight Koops

Financial Vice President: Dave Wetmore

Manager, Garden City Div.: Cort Minor

Hard economic times bring on pricing battles

Crop Quest Agronomic Services, Inc.

Main Office: Phone 620.225.2233 • Fax 620.225.3199

Internet: www.cropquest.com • [email protected]

Crop Quest Board of Directors

Newsletter Editor: Tania Foster, [email protected]

Water could be in short

supply; efficiency is keyBecause of the low winter precipitation, many of our

producers had to crank up wells early to do what Mother

Nature usually does. It has been next to impossible to

get water through on flood irrigated ground, and the

winds have sucked out a larger-than-normal amount of

the water applied by sprinklers.

Snowfall has been far to short to supply enough

water for rivers and lakes to fill aquifers that supply

adjoining wells. Forecasts haven’t been reliable enough

to hang your hat on, but we can already see that water management is going to be mighty difficult this summer

if producers are to stay within their allocations.

We can increase efficiency a great deal during the

early season by running just at night and shutting down

when the spring winds suck out a high percentage of the

water.

This kind of management is very labor and time

consuming, but we may not have other options. Water

management has always been important, but could easily

be the main priority for this next crop.

is. I have never known of a person needing brain surgery

to seek the cheapest doctor to perform the operation.

Because of our network and vast pool of experience

there have been numerous cases where our people have

made a recommendation or provided information that

has paid for an entire year’s service.

We know what it costs to run our business, and we

know that if we cut service rates below our cost it means

we lose valuable people, or jeopardize the future of a

company that has become a valuable source for thefarmers we serve.

We think it is far more important to be the

best at what we do than being the cheapest. We

also know that we will lose some business to

cheaper venders. Most of us subscribe to the

theory that if it sounds too good to be true, it

probably is.

If we were like some companies that can

afford to pay huge salaries and multi-million

dollar bonuses to their executives, we would

have room to cut expenses.We can’t even compete with chemical and seed

companies with our salary scale. With 80 percent of our

expenses personnel-related, and our people putting in

extremely long, stressful hours, price cutting would

only lead to our demise, as it has for most of those who

try it.

We have been through the “no interest” car sales

period, the discount travel rates, and are now into

pricing battles many retailers are facing in agriculture.

You can never blame people for seeking the lowest

prices for services and products they purchase, but there

is usually a reason why some companies cut prices

below survival levels.

These reasons may involve such things as it being

more costly to shut a plant down than to sell at a loss.

Some industries and some businesses manage toescape the price battles. Seed companies seem to

be immune to price cutting.

Price cutting in manufacturing is much

different than price cutting in the service arena.

We constantly have people offer customers

lower prices. On the other hand, our producers

know how valuable continuity and experience



“Employee-Owned & Customer Driven”

By Rollie Stukenholtz, CEO

As technology changes with the ages, so does the face of farming

Cotton, a perennial plant native to tropical regions, needs

warm days and nights for optimum growth and development.

Cotton is mainly grown as a source of fiber and feed, but oil

may also be extracted from the seed.

Since the early 1980s, cotton has attracted interest in

Kansas as an alternative crop because it can be produced with

less cost than in the traditional cotton growing regions of the

nation. This is primarily due to the lack of insect pests that are

common to cotton.

The interest in cotton has grown, especially during the last

few years (table 1), according to the most recent data. At a

recent cotton production meeting in south central Kansas,

there were rumors that cotton acres may increase another

30,000 to 50,000 planted acres this year alone in the state. In

addition, there is a lot of cotton promotion being done by

various businesses, as farmers are looking for any crop thatwill make a profit given the poor agricultural economy.

As agronomists, we have a real concern when any crop is

being grown on the outer edge of its more commonly grown

area. The risk of crop failure is much greater. Southern

Kansas is just on the verge of having sufficient frost free days

to support a crop that requires such a warm growing season.

It was just a few years ago when the first freeze in September

was fairly common in southern Kansas.

Cotton acres continue to increase in Kansas

Table 1.

By Ron O’Hanlon, President As agronomists, we will work with producers and help

them to be successful with the crops they are planting.

However, we would encourage any farmer who is thinking

about growing cotton, or any crop outside of its normal

growing region, to understand all the risks involved and to

insure their investment against possible loss due to the highrisk.

A lot of the new equipment has computer technology

built into the system. Early on in the technology

revolution, as it was called, many of us in agriculture

observed that farmers who jumped into the revolution

often let their farming business slide.

The fascination with computers can be both good

and bad, but there is a definite generation gap between

the ages when it comes to learning how to effectively

utilize computers and the information they generate.

Nevertheless, the next generation of farmers are going

to be more inclined to capitalize on the newest

technology in their farming operations, but it won’treplace hands-on labor.

With fewer young people having the resources or

interest in farming, the trend toward fewer farmers and

larger farms will continue, and probably at a faster rate

than in the past. We already work with some large

farms, and I won’t be surprised if what we consider to

be large farms today won’t be the norm during the next

10 to 20 years.

When we look at the average age of farmers, reality

really hits home. It is conceivable that in just 10 years,

half of the current farmers we work with will have

retired or left the farm. With the current economic

climate, we can see the trend accelerate.

Those of us in the agriculture business world try to

guess what this will mean. We already know that many

of the replacements will be younger and more inclined

to utilize new technology.

While it isn’t necessarily a guide to success, a very

high percentage of replacement farmers will be collegeeducated. The younger generation will be more familiar

with computer technology, and familiarity is certainly

helpful with new technology.



1 2 0 4 F r o n t v i e w P . O . B o x 1 7 1 5 D o d g e C i t y , K S 6 7 8 0 1

“ E m p l o y e e - O w n e d & C u s t o m e r D r i v e n ”

By Ron O’Hanlon, President

Member, National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants • CPCC-I Certified

P R S R T S T D

U S P O S T A G E

P A I D

D O D G E C I T Y K S

P E R M I T N O . 4 3 3

Risk management a big factor this crop season

It is more critical during a depressed ag economy

that farmers take the necessary steps to protecttheir time and investment in the crops they are

growing.

We see producers trying new or different things

(new crops, new practices) during the tough economic

period we are currently experiencing, trying to turn a

profit given the low commodity prices.

Some changes to a farmer’s operation are needed,

and we highly encourage such changes. This may

include minimum or no tillage, or the use of certain

hybrids or varieties to reduce pesticide cost. In many

situations, these changes involve some risk, but the

returns usually outweigh the possible negative

consequences.

We all know there are no magic bullets in the

business of farming, and it takes good, sound

management practices to hold out through tough times.

So much of what happens is in the hands of our

creator, Mother Nature, and the banker. The chances

of some miracle product or alternative crop giving afarmer the necessary returns are probably about the

same as buying a lottery ticket and expecting a big

win.

In many situations, farmers are not carrying crop

insurance, or at lease adequate coverage, making the

decision to save money by not paying a higher

premium. In these times of high risk, it may be wise

for a higher level of protection since operating margins

have really narrowed.

Many areas throughout the High Plains this year

are going into the cropping season with insufficient

topsoil and subsoil moisture. This should be one of

those times when producers need to consider the risk

involved in planting a crop and take out the necessary

crop insurance to protect that investment. Sometimes,

despite the best crop management plans, it is not

sufficient to guarantee success.

CQ Perspectives Apr 2002

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