Whether it’s reading a pH level, making fertilization recommendations, scouting for plant disease or looking for insects, crop service businesses work hard to help farmers produce the best quality crops possible.
Two crop service businesses cover the Pratt area. Servi-Tech and Crop Quest have both been in business in the Pratt area for many years.
Servi-Tech started their crop consulting business in 1975 and added laboratories in 1977. Area cooperatives own the Dodge City based business is the nations biggest crop consulting firm handling field consulting, soil fertility tests, irrigation scheduling, crop evaluation, equipment calibrations and many other services.
“We offer complete services or we can provide just one service,” said Mark Vierthaler, Servi-Tech director of communications.
Servi-Tech does a lot of work in grid sampling and Geographic Information System field mapping for fertility recommendation and pH levels.
Information is gathered for corn, wheat, cotton, soybeans, feed corn, melons, pumpkins, sugar beets and soybeans, Vierthaler said.
The staff includes 80 full time agronomists that consult on over one million acres in eastern Colorado, western Kansas, all of Nebraska and Iowa with a little bit in Missouri, South Dakota and Minnesota.
Over all, the 80 agronomists have a combined 1,000 years of experience that can answer almost question and maximize crop yield. If one agronomist can’t answer a question there are 79 others to call on.
“Our goal is to make the planet more productive,” Vierthaler said.
Crop Quest is a younger business starting in 1992 and they are the largest employee-owned crop consulting company in the country. They sell no products but are strictly service based, said Amy Gerdes, Crop Quest recruiting and education coordinator.
“We’re the eyes and ears for our farmer customers,” Gerdes said.
The service helps farmers manage what and when to plant, take soil samples, make fertilizer recommendations, do plant stand counts, scout for insects, diseases and weeds and make chemical recommendations.
Crop Quest is a full precision agriculture department that can evaluate elevations, soil types, get pH readings and take nitrogen levels.
“Anything the farm needs we’re here to help give advice and recommendations,” Gerdes said.
Also headquartered in Dodge City, Crop Quest has 80 full-time employees that consult on 1.2 million acres in 10 states including Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. During the summer Crop Quest hires from 20 to 25 college students as summer interns and learn from their expertise with the latest university information, Gerdes said.
