I am originally from North Central Illinois where I grew up on a small family farm. I worked my way through grade school and high school by running lawn mowers and tractors on the three farmsteads we took care of and learned many valuable lessons from my parents, grandparents and extended family. They taught me to earn what I wanted and not wait for it to be handed to me which has proved to be one of the most valuable lessons that I have learned. I worked at the local airport when I was in high school and paid for flight lessons by washing and fueling airplanes. I left home to attend Southern Illinois University in Carbondale for their aviation program but decided to switch back to agriculture.
I attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale for about 6 years. This gave me a chance to explore my own interests and to develop a second network of friends and family since home was a 5 hour drive away. I ended up lucky enough to find a job with a local family farm that took me in and kept me busy when I had time outside of classes. It was a great combination in that I could attend college where I got to know people from all over the world and was still able to be on a farm running a variety of equipment and staying in touch with the farm life that has been ingrained into me. This got me involved in the world of precision agriculture which is becoming more prominent on farm equipment every day. In 2008, I graduated with a B.S. in General Agriculture, a minor in Ag Business Economics, and a M.S. in Geography and Environmental Sciences with a Geographical Information Systems specialization.
I took an Opti-Crop precision ag position in Patoka, Indiana after graduating. I took over the precision ag soil sampling and fertility management program for a fertilizer and chemical retail store. I also played a technical support role for 15-20 other crop consultants throughout Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana. This was an interesting and challenging position where I was exposed to many more sides of agriculture. With the guidance and support of my boss, the store manager, and the sales consultant I was able to streamline and grow the soil sampling program. The variety of ag industry contacts and growers that I came in contact with during the course of my 4 years on this job helped to fine tune my precision ag skills. Playing the technical support role helped to fine tune skills in troubleshooting and how to manage data for the variety of precision ag monitors that are currently available. The precision ag program grew to include two other ag input stores and the acres I serviced grew each of the 4 years I was involved with the program.
As the program grew I found myself struggling between quantity of acres serviced and the quality of service I could provide my customers. This occurred at the same time that I found a growing interest from customers in making decisions using the data they were generating. Their interest was more in line with my interests in precision ag which include collecting, organizing, using, and evaluating the data.
Now I am branching off into my own precision ag data management company which has been a dream since I was in college. The driving force behind this dream has always been to have the ability to manage my own time and be able to spend as much spare time as I can with my growing family instead of spending countless hours in meetings hearing about marketing plans for the never ending lists of chemicals, seeds, and fertilizers.
The business is now up and running and off to a good start due to the support of my wife, family and friends and especially my customers.