I have often been asked over the years, “So what do you guys do in your slow time during the winter months?” I have to admit, the pace of the winter months isn’t nearly as hectic as the summer months when crops are growing, but this period is far from slow.
With the constantly increasing and rapidly changing state of technology in agriculture, it is a challenge for producers as well as agronomists to stay up to date. To stay ahead of the curve requires a great deal of time and effort.
Crop Quest Agronomists spend a great deal of time attending in-house training meetings scattered over the winter months. These are meetings put together at the division, region or company-wide level. Topics at these meetings will vary from sales training, new information on seed varieties, pesticides, fertility, improved cultural practices, precision ag services, etc. Most importantly these meetings allow us to hear and share opinions and viewpoints on different items as to how they worked or didn’t work in different areas. This networking and brainstorming provides our agronomists with better knowledge of how to make various products perform to their peak performance back on your acres.
Crop Quest Agronomists also spend a great deal of time attending local meetings put on by seed and herbicide companies, retailers, machinery dealers, extension service, banks, etc. These meetings allow us to stay current on local information, as well as build relationships and partnerships with other local ag businesses. Crop Quest also hosts a number of meetings covering a wide range of agronomic and precision ag services.
The winter months are also the time when your Crop Quest Agronomist sits down and formulates and refines a game plan with you for the upcoming cropping season. The time when final decisions are made concerning seed, seeding rates, fertilizer, herbicides, etc. The time when you and your agronomist share ideas on what is working well and what could be changed.
As you can see, this slow time really isn’t all that slow. Key decisions are made during this time to assure a successful outcome next season.
Written by: Chris McInteer – Silver Lake, KS
Featured Image by: Fields of Snow, Iain Farrell, Flickr.com
