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Central Kansas | I just want to make sure you are thinking it through really well so I am going to show some pitfalls that could accompany your decision to take the position.
1. I have worked as a consultant and a retail fert and chem salesman. As a consultant I checked about 2000-2500 acres per day(irrigated) in dryland I could cover approximately 3000 acres per day. We checked all fields once per week unless otherwise specified on the contract. If we make an assumption that you will be scouting all fields every week it will take 2.5 days to accomplish best case scenario.
2. Spraying your own fields is a great way to get to know what's going on but covering 7000 acres with a sprayer is more than just a part time job. Lets assume you have scouted and need to spray 2500 acres. Now let's assume you have a 1200 gal self propelled sprayer with 90 ft boom spraying roundup at 10GPA spraying 10 mph at 50% efficiency(sorry guys but efficiency is generall lower than you think depending on field size and help/tendering situation) so in a 10 hour day you could cover 654 acres. So it will take you 4 days to spray 2500 acres.
3. I certainly see where your current boss has a lot of faith in your abilities and it sounds like you have the potential to do this but I would pose one more question and it is on which I think you and your boss should discuss before entering into this. Let's use wheat and make an assumption you have 2500 acres worth. In my world we are getting close to fungicide application timing so we'll use that. In my area the application of fungicide can protect from 0-20% of yield. Our wheat averages about 40bpa and if we shoot in the middle of the range we could be looking at 4 bpa by timing and applying fungicide properly. At today's price of wheat what is the economic impact of 4 bushels. Today's elevator price is $6.5 per bushel so that's $26 per acre income swing. Not much on one acre but compounded by 2500 it just became $65000 and in my estimation that is a pretty nice little number for my farm. So the question is will the boss be understanding of a young man with no experience if a mistake is made. I think this is a discussion that anyone in your shoes should ask his potential employer. I have been in situations where even a small mistake become a potential job threatening event. Perfection is not attainable no matter what (I have been an agronomist and CCA for 15 years) people tell you. I learn something new every year and you experience will be something new every day for a few years.
Zach if you are in Kansas fire me an e-mail(i think my address is in my profile) as a former consultant and retail sales person I might be able to give you some hints or help or depending on where you are I may know someone closer that could be useful as a coach. | |
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Beginner crop scouting help!
