North Loup FFA Members Learn Real World Agronomy

October 1, 2007

Fontanelle District Sales Manager Jason Skalsky (second from the left) instructs North Loup FFA members Joey Timmons (left) and Brett Boyce (second from right) on how to examine corn roots for rootworm feeding with FFA Advisor Ron Tinkham holding the example corn plant."

Last spring North Loup FFA Advisor Ron Tinkham decided to give his students a unique opportunity this growing season-working with a seed company on growers' farms overseeing product testing and all the activities involved including sales and agronomy. "I wanted to teach students some agronomy techniques that we use every day so they would know what to look for and be able to do problem solving in the field," Jason Skalsky, Broken Bow, NE, Fontanelle District Sales Manager said. "The FFA system was the right fit to work with students interested in agriculture and Mr. Tinkham was willing to put this program in front of his students, and we got a great response."

The Fontanelle Hybrids, Fontanelle, NE, Western Regional team including Skalsky, Regional Sales Manager Nick Lammers, Wood River, NE and Fontanelle Dealer Russ Bloom, Scotia, NE, put the program together. "I'm a new district sales manager in this area and by working with the FFA students this gave me a way to meet the future leaders and help give them some agronomy experience no one else is doing," Skalsky said. "Plus we set this program up so that the FFA Chapter benefits because we are donating money to the Chapter to be used as scholarships for the students participating in this program."

The program involved Fontanelle's Sneak Preview process, which is asking growers to plant a side-by-side test on their farms with a Dominator Fontanelle corn product next to a competitive product. The grower's responsibilities include agreeing to have the FFA students monitor the test throughout the growing season gathering data such as populations and doing root digs to measure rootworm pressure. Then the side-by-side harvest data will also be collected by Fontanelle.

"Fontanelle's Sneak Preview process has been a strong and impressive educational tool for the North Loup-Scotia Ag Program," Ron Tinkham, FFA advisor said. "The knowledge gained during field surveys with the Fontanelle team are still being discussed in the classroom even now two months later."

The seven students started by going through the sales process with local growers to get Fontanelle corn ordered for the side-by-side test. "The students were amazing," Skalsky said. "We ended up with 21 Sneak Preview side-by-side tests sold by seven students." The seven students are: Brett Boyce, son of Paul and Shea Boyce; Joey Timmons, son of Dan and Kathy Timmons; Tyler Myers, son of Larry and Charlene Myers; Kay Lynn Wieskamp, daughter of Jeff and Karen Wieskamp; Nathan Harbourt, son of Chuck Harbourt; Ty Bloom, son of Russ and Annette Bloom; and Tyler Melnick, son of Tony and Cindy Jacoby.

"In order for the students to experience some of what I do on a daily basis in my job," Skalsky said, "we spent a day in the field conducting basic agronomy procedures. I think it really opened their eyes to the complexity of crop production."

"I want to thank the students and Mr. Tinkham for their time and patience," Skalsky said. "They are good students to work with. They are our future and with things changing so fast we need to help them prepare today because tomorrow could be a completely different story."

"The process of the Fontanelle team taking the time to share their experience and observations with the students so the students could go forward on their own made a lasting impression," Tinkham said. "I'm looking forward to participating again next year due to the personal involvement of seed professionals attempting to touch the lives and minds of students. I believe we have barely scratched the surface of potential education that can be acquired through this program."

Fontanelle Hybrids markets corn, soybeans, grain sorghum, alfalfa and sunflowers in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri and portions of Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and Texas as an independent operating company within American Seeds Inc, a holding company of Monsanto.

Fontanelle District Sales Manager Jason Skalsky (front leaning on soil probe) explains the importance of doing root digs to help determine if an economic threshold hold has been reached to treat for corn rootworms. North Loup FFA advisor Ron Tinkham (left) and FFA students (from left to right) Joey Timmons, Brett Boyce and Tyler Myers worked with Skalsky in the field to learn agronomic procedures in crop production."

North Loup FFA members will receive scholarship money from Fontanelle Hybrids for participating in a hands-on learning program conducted throughout the growing season this year. Pictured from left to right Fontanelle District Sales Manager Jason Skalsky, FFA students Brett Boyce, Tyler Myers, Joey Timmons and FFA advisor Ron Tinkham.

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