Kent's Korner for January 1999

TSM Logo January 1999

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Kent's Korner

By Kent Durbin, President
TSM Services, Inc.

I sit here writing this article looking out the window to 16 inches of snow. Two of our employees didn't get to work until noon due to blowing snow. We have had an experience. Two of our people (Gary Grimm & Larry Schonert) are at the Ft. Wayne, Indiana Farm Show.

We have teamed up with a company (Bahr Enterprises, Inc.) who will help in financing farmers needing financial re-organization. If you have any farmers who might be interested, feel free to call on Tim Bahr and discuss what he can do for you. Keep in mind that you will get paid direct for any product and services you agree to provide.

Do you feel that all of your customers know what the costs of production really are? We have a spreadsheet that will bring their costs in perspective. It will show what each cost of production is for each input or cost. It will also give these costs in percent. And last, there will be a table showing you where the break-even points are based on your yield and selling price. If you are interested in having a copy of this "Crop Production Projected Costs", call your TSM Account Executive or this office.

One of my concerns about all the mandated programs we are hearing about is that all of them evaluate you according to your methods. The day could be here when you will have no decision making power when selling to farmers. You will be told when to sell, how to sell, what to sell and when to apply it. Any special marketing advantages you can develop (like the Total Soil Management program) will have to compromise to exist. Can you believe that a fertility program, which out-performs all others 90% of the time, would have to compromise just because our methods are not what have been mandated? Doesn't make any sense does it?

The industry needs to define the problem, indicate what the limits are and then let us decide how we are going to take care of it. If there is more than one way to achieve a goal, why is one way right and the other way wrong just because one of the ways uses a different approach. Remember that both methods can achieve the goal. This does not make any sense either.

Today, I am a Certified Professional Agronomist (CPAg) by the American Society of Agronomy (ASA). To maintain this, I have to earn 40 credits every two years (at a cost of approximately $10 per credit). I am also a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) also by the American Society of Agronomy (ASA). To maintain this certification, I have to earn 40 credit every two years (which also costs me about $10 per credit). I spend about $400 per year to maintain certification so that I can be told how to do fertility. I have no freedom to use my own methods even if they achieve the same objectives. Does this make any sense? Sometimes life just doesn't seem fair!