FarmLife: Ask an Agronomist
Danette Willford, AAT is a Professional Agronomy Consultant with Western Ag NorthWest Sask, based out of Saskatoon, SK. She grew up near Coronach, SK where she still actively helps out with the family farm in their crop planning, fertilizer decisions, scouting, and equipment operations at seeding and harvest.
Why did you chose to work with Western Ag?
The first introduction to Western Ag was in my Soils 312 class with Dr. Jeff Schoenau when Edgar Hammermeister came to present on prs soil analysis and crop nutrition planning. Since that day it had always been on my mind. The next year I was at a Career Fair at the University of Saskatchewan where I met Paul Tastad at the Western Ag booth and he took me on as a client so I could trial the technology on my own farm first.
I’d recommend agronomy as a career for anyone passionate about soil and helping farmers.
My career also allows me variety and flexibility, especially when it comes to having time to help with the family farm. I was able to sample and work on the crop nutrition plans for the entire farm this year, and can't wait to complete the BackCast (think of a 'yield review') after harvest.
What does your typical day look like?
Just like running a farm business; it really depends on the time of year. There is a lot of variety with my career. In the winter I am attending all types of meetings and conferences; networking and learning and finishing up crop planning (which we refer to as CropCasting with our customers). In the Spring and Fall I am generally sampling the fields before seeding or right after harvest; depending on when the customer wants to start his planning. Typically, 'sampling days' start by 7:00 am where I am travelling to customer fields to collect representative soil samples to fill the day's workorders and I am usually home around supper time. In the Summer I’m midcasting yields, which I absolutely love because it allows me to use the CropCaster® to give the farmer an accurate yield projection based on actual agronomy recommendation, precipitation, growing degree days, etc. I also field scout during the summer with Northland Agronomy.
What's your favourite part of the job?
During the growing season I have the ability to give the farmer a projected yield estimate, that we call this stage of the cycle, a 'midcast'. I enjoy midcasting because it allows us to get out in the field with the grower and get an eye on the crop we planned for and see how the farmer's season is progressing.
Challenges faced with this career?
I never planned on working with soil fertility so I didn’t focus on it when I started school, that changed when I took Soils 312 and discovered how exciting soil is and how much there is to learn. Therefore, I started out not knowing a lot about soil and soil interactions but the amount I’ve learned about soil and how important it is to grow a crop, I am glad I faced that challenge.
What are the main benefits to farmers using Western Ag?
The Plant Root Simulator (PRS®) probes are by far the most unique and accurate soil analysis tool out there. By picking up what nutrients are plant available to a variety of different crops allows the farmer to cut back or add more nutrients that they wouldn’t have had the insight or economic analysis to base their decisions on before. Basically the Cropcaster® puts the fertilizer dollars where they should be! And it also allows us to diagnose nutrient deficiencies, build soil health, grow higher quality crops, have better yields more sustain-ably while optimizing fertilizer dollars for an overall larger profit for them.
Who is your role model?
Well, I have more than one. To start; I wouldn’t be where I am in my career today without Guy Keeler - my mentor for the last year and a half.
He has taught me so much about soil fertility, crop staging, data analysis, fertilizer logistics and so much more. I look up to him because he has the drive to get up every morning day after day working dawn to dusk without sloughing anything off. I will always look up to Guy.
My family members have also been role models for me; seeing how hard they work to keep the family farm moving. They have all taught me so much over the years and as we farm together in future years I will always look up to them.
What would you do without Western Ag tools?
They are complex, yet simple to use and the model makes agronomy easy to explain, and economic decisions even easier to make. They help paint a picture of the field and soil fertility. Without them it’s a lot harder to understand what’s going on in the soil. I wouldn’t be able to know which nutrients are (and aren’t) plant available, how moisture and temperature effect the crop and it’s uptake of nutrients and much more. Without the economics it would be much more time consuming to nail down the most economic yield.
From a young agronomist's perspective what's the next big trend in agriculture?
Where to start; there are so many moving pieces and new challenges all the time; I'm really a big believer in the industry shifts that we will experience through precision ag and new technology like drone imagery, our PRS® probes, variable rate, machinery, monitors, and tracking yield data.
What advice would you give young professionals thinking about careers in agriculture?
Be curious, and open minded about everything you do and ask why you're doing it (or not doing it). Ask someone you look up to to mentor you and give everything you do 110%. That's my advice.