- Hello, and welcome to "Farm Connections" I'm your host Dan Hoffman.

On today's program we talk to Michelle Blomberg, CEO of AgVantage Software, about the benefits advances in software provide our farming community.

Wayne Gannaway from the History Center of Olmsted County share some historical perspective in these unprecedented times.

And the University of Minnesota Extension brings us a new best practices segment, all today on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat music) - [Male Announcer] Welcome to "Farm Connections" with your host Dan Hoffman.

- [Female Announcer] "Farm Connections" made possible in part by - [ Male Announcer] Absolute Energy, A locally owned facility produces 125 million gallons of ethanol annually, proudly supporting local economies in Iowa and Minnesota.

Absolute Energy, adding value to the neighborhood.

The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute, collaborating with businesses and entrepreneurs to foster long-term economic benefit for Minnesota through value added agricultural products.

You can learn more@auri.org.

- Welcome to "Farm Connections" We're so fortunate today to have the president and CEO of AgVantage, Michelle Blomberg.

Welcome Michelle.

- Hi, Thanks Dan.

Thanks for having me.

- You've got a wonderful company with a history.

Tell us how this started, first off, what kind of company is this?

What do you do?

- So AgVantage Software writes computer systems for ag businesses.

We're we are all strong in Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Midwest, and kind of, if you chop the United States in half across the middle, we kind of have a strong base in the Upper United States.

So, I'm mostly focused on agriculture, grain, agronomy, fuel, all of the things that ag businesses care about.

And we go all the way from, some of the biggest cooperatives in the country to small one and two person companies.

So it's really fantastic.

This is our 45th year in business which is really outstanding in agriculture.

Just to be a computer system in agriculture for that long makes us really proud.

And then the other part of us that is unique is we are employed fully by our employees.

Sorry, we're owned fully by our employees, So today roughly 50 employees and of the 50, roughly 30 of them own a variety of sizes of stock in the company.

So it's really great.

I love it so much.

- What a great way to have the employees invest, but also to invest in the employees.

- Exactly, Right.

They're just kind of proud to be an owner of a company.

- And you you're based in what town for your headquarters?

- We are based in Rochester, Minnesota, and kind of down in the South East corner of Rochester.

And that we have employees though, like everybody probably especially during COVID we have employees that work out of their homes even before COVID we had seven States employees working out of seven different States from their homes.

It was kind of a back when IP phone technology became a thing back, almost 20 years ago for us anyway, we were able to hire employees in different States, which is great for us because I got a lot of customers in Ohio I got a lot of customers in Wisconsin, customers out in the Pacific Northwest, Dakota.

So you can hire people that live there and they're right in the backyard of your customers, but they are a part of our phone system, they're part of our computer systems.

So a customer doesn't even know that they're working right from their, in their jammies, right in their home office.

(chuckles) So that's great.

- How did this start?

- So yeah my father, when he was, I grew up in Iowa when he was an accountant for a hog refinery, a guy came to our town and said, "Hey, I'm from this company called IBM.

"And I want to know if you'll come take a test "to see if you could be a computer programmer."

And my dad tells my mom, who's the mother of his 10 kids.

"What is a computer?

and who is IBM?

"and they don't know anything."

And so my dad ends up testing very highly and they sent them off to three weeks of computer programming in Chicago, three weeks of computer program in Minneapolis and walaa he's a computer programmer.

(chuckles) So that's what he did and he got hired by the cooperative in my hometown, in Albert City, Iowa, he got hired by the co-op to write computer software the ag business.

And it wasn't, there was nothing like it out there.

So he started just writing accounting and then it kind of grew from there.

So, yeah.

- So we have accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll inventory, what kind of segments?

- Yeah, all of those, kind of fall into our accounting and then related to agriculture, we write patronage, which is what a cooperative needs to be able to let the farmer get patronage at the after all those sales that they have within the cooperative.

But very specifically we have a grain accounting software package.

It's really robust been kind of the backbone of the rest of our agriculture software.

And then recently we've really gotten into some neat stuff with our agronomy software has been our most growing our agronomy and our seed software have been the two most growing pieces of software that we have and really just some neat technologies that come with that.

We partnered with Google.

So when we write software, we can see on a map where the agronomists are in the field.

And just when we write fuel, we write some software for fuel, propane and diesel fuel.

And inside the truck here goes, at a co-op you might have, 50 trucks that are delivering fields of farmers every day.

You gotta make sure those trucks are being efficient and where are they, and making sure people don't run on a field.

So we wrote some software there, we can track the trucks, make sure that they're on top of all the fuel that needs to be delivered and sending them live deliveries right as they're driving down the road.

So it's really some neat stuff, it's really fun times to be in the computer software.

- Well, so it's really like real-time is that truck is moving down the road with propane it's GPS logging where it is and also tagging or identifying the site that needs filling, correct?

- Yes, Correct.

Just like everything based on the amount of money you're willing to spend for technology, it's kind of that catch-22, It's like, well, that thing that I want to buy, So in that case, so if you want to spend the money to put a device inside of your truck, to be able to track it live, that costs a little money.

So you have to kind of measure that against how much efficiencies does that gain you, your return on investment of buying this device to put in a truck compared to how much efficiencies does it create within a company.

That's where the balance is and what I'm seeing, especially during COVID, what I'm seeing is more ag businesses, our customers doing the same thing that I said that we did is kind of just reassessing your processes and finding ways to make it more efficient so that you can, not only survive COVID, but come out on the other side of it as a winner, - So, in addition to LP, I'm thinking about inputs for agronomy, crop inputs, some of those need to be delivered just in time.

They need to be, in a condition that farmers can use.

We have a lot relying on it, So how about on the agronomy side or feed side?

What do you do there?

- In agronomy specifically, same kind of technologies we're using and feel we have the ability to know, where it goes all the way from, in the fall, right now, creating a plan with a farmer, so sitting down with a farmer and saying, "What do you want to do next year?"

a big part of agriculture is called prepaids.

So a farmer wants to, get a lot of their money at a certain time of the year and wants to spend it on the things they're going to need for the whole rest of the year.

So it becomes a balancing act and we allow in our software to have them be able to prepay.

So being able to make sure you're using their prepaid money when they're doing their agronomy, portions during the fall, and then when it's now it's time to get to the spring and we're ready to go after the fields, being able to know exactly what they need, and being able to adjust it as they go through the field.

So as they're applying fertilizers and chemicals, they need to have flexibility within even the person driving the applicator.

So we wrote some software that runs an applicator and makes it, flexible and also be real time.

So when they're done with the field or for example, say it starts raining halfway through no where they stopped, where was that spot exactly where they stopped, but also when they get done with the field, being able to say connect to different places like the weather, what was the weather today?

Was it super windy?

So I got to know if I, if some of it, got into other places that shouldn't, or was it very dry or what were the conditions raining?

And you can attach to different sites and pull in that information automatically submit that back to the back office where there's a whole another group of people whose jobs are the billing side, the inventory side, making sure everything stays in balance for the cooperative.

So having that all be alive, process is really important today compared to even, 10 years ago, everybody wants everything now, like get, get it to me now, so, - And they really need it now, as I hear you speak, I'm thinking about it.

Pollution Control Agency, EPA in speed velocity, they're going to need that because somebody might say that farmer did such and such to me, or that co-op did such and such to me.

We can prove what the weather conditions were on that application date, right?

- Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yes.

- Awesome.

And also it sounds like your accounting system and your real-time work and your GPS work is really given integrity to that business activity and also accountability.

Is that, is that a safe assumption?

- Yeah, and so then on the, on the other side of that, exactly what you're asking about Dan, I think is, the farmer now wants to have access to that information.

So the software that we, we run, I've been talking about the co-op, but now here's the farmer, and the farmer wants to be able to immediately know because a traditional farm in Minnesota, unlike what we were back when I was a kid, the farmer and his kids were the ones that delivered the grain to the elevator.

Today It's so much bigger than that.

and it's farm hands and people that are going from farm to farm, to farm, to do their deliveries.

So you may not even necessarily know who that person is, that's delivering your grain to be able to track that.

and then the farmer being able to immediately get, have access to a grain scale ticket.

The minute that grain is dropped off at the facility at the co-op, the farmer wants to know that, did he, did he deliver the grain the way he was supposed to?

So the farmer now, through our mobile app and different ways of accessing information, including just having the system automatically send information out to the farmer if they want it immediately.

So there's the both sides of it, it's the people working at the co-op that are doing the job of getting the work done on the field.

And then it's the farmer have an access to that information so that they can know, what's going on on their own farm.

- That data is so important, very important.

- Yeah, and keeping up with that, the needs of that, I think that's where a company like ours, we rely really, really, really strongly on our customers because we don't, again, like I kind of said at a different time, we're small.

So we don't have, like a R&D like a research and development part of our company.

So what ends up being our research and development is our customers.

They'll say to us, "Hey Michelle, or hey your team, "we want this piece of technology to do maybe," maybe even some of the things you and I have been talking about a couple of years ago.

And for us to say, yes, we would love to have you help us with that.

You bring to the table what it needs to do.

Will bring to the table, the people that can code it and make sure it does what it needs to do.

And together we release it, We'll let you test it.

We kind of have this bond with our customers, very strong bond with our customers that there are our research and development and in the end I don't have a Sales Department either.

There are sales as well as my own employees when they're talking to people on the phone and somebody says, "I need something," being able to say, "Well, we can get that for you."

And I think that's what small business does because you can react really quickly without having to go through a lot of like political stuff.

You can just like Yep that sounds like a great idea, Let's do it.

And off we go, and two days later we have it.

So it's neat, It's a kind of a side of agriculture that I love that I can, help get what people need right.

In their hands pretty quickly.

(laughs) - Wonderful, and that's, that's a skill.

Michelle, do you have a website that the audience can refer to?

- Yes, of course.

We have a website at AgVantage.com, so real simple, yeah.

- Michelle, thanks for joining us on "Farm Connections" today.

- My pleasure, Dan, thank you.

- It was awesome to hear about your company AgVantage and audience please stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat music) - [Male Announcer] "Farm Connections" Best practices brought to you by, (upbeat music) - My name is Daniel Kaiser.

I am with the University of Minnesota Extension and in today's best practices segment, I will be focusing on selecting the best source of sulfur when focusing on best practices for selecting the right source of sulfur, it is important to start by asking, "Is the crop, I am growing sensitive to sulfur deficiency."

And when during that crops life cycle is sulfur important.

For example, research has shown a benefit for sulfur applied to corn and sulfur uptake for corn ramps up in the crop is about a foot tall peaking through late vegetative stages and slows down once pollination has completed.

For Minnesota, our research has consistently shown a greater need for sulfur early in the growing season as cool and wet soils do not release much sulfur to the crops.

Lack of sulfur early in the growing season can hinder up, taken a reduce yields of soils can not mineralize sulfur early enough.

When deciding on what source of sulfur, keep in mind that plants take sulfur up in the sulfate form sources such as ammonium or calcium sulfate, commonly referred to as Gypsum contain immediately available sulfur for your crop.

There are several products for sale containing elemental sulfur.

One thing about elemental sulfurs is that must undergo a process called oxidation, where sulfur is changed to the sulfate form.

Oxidation of elemental sulfur is a microbial process, therefore adequate, but not excessive soil moisture and warmer soil temperatures are key factors in determining the rate of oxidation.

Simply peak oxidation will generally not occur here in Minnesota until we get into later stages of the growing season.

Another factor, which impacts oxidation is the fineness of the elemental sulfur particles drawing on some comparisons to Lyme larger elemental sulfur particles will take longer to react within the soil.

Elemental sulfur is also hydrophobic and will not dissolve in water like other fertilizer sources.

So incorporation of products, such as Tiger 90, which is composed of 90% elemental sulfur, and 10% bentonite clay can be an issue in higher clay soils as the pastille, which is what some commonly may refer to as a sulfur granny or the granule of the product when buried cannot distribute the elemental sulfur properly within the soil for it to oxidize.

What you can end up with when you bury a elemental sulfur particle, is that the smaller particles can react or stick together and react as a larger particle, which can take longer time to oxidize.

And I can show this, process clearly with some of the research we have currently going on across the state of Minnesota.

Newer products are available, which are coal granulated, where the elemental sulfur is blended within the sulfur or the fertilizer product itself at the time of manufacture.

Mosaics Micro Essential products fall within this category, but contain both ammonium sulfate, which is immediately available and elemental sulfur.

There's some other products out there on nutrient.

For example, maybe marketing a product, which is a hundred percent elemental sulfur, which is more finely ground, which can affect the oxidation rate.

A few other options, ammonium or potassium sulfate can work if you're in a liquid system, but consider that fire sulfate is only 50% immediately available.

We have seen though, that this product does perform just as well as other dry fertilizer sources.

The main drawback of Thyrosol fate products is though they do not work as a pop-up starter fertilizer source and broadcast placement are banding away from the seat is really your best option for this product, with all the research we have going on, I really can't go through everything here within the segment, but you, if you are interested, our nutrient management team has been releasing weekly blog posts on current field research data.

So it's a good time to go online and sign up for Minnesota croppy news to get updates on what's going on with research on sulfur, as well as many other topics.

So in closing, the main thing I really want you to know is that you have options when applying sulfur and as long as the source you are applying can supply available software at the time the crop needs it.

There really is no wrong option.

I would suggest then keeping up on as much as you can on current research and take a four hour approach as much as you can when applying sulfur to your crops.

So that was today's best practices segment.

Again, my name is Daniel Kaiser, and I want to thank you for joining us today.

- Action.

We're so thrilled to have the Executive Director from the History Center of Olmsted County, Wayne Gannaway.

Wayne, Welcome.

- Thank you, Thank you Dan.

- Well, certainly this has been an interesting year with all the challenges you've had, but the history center seems to roll on and help us tell us about your journey and your mission.

- Yeah, we kind of view ourselves as a and I more and more viewing it this way as a bridge between not only the past, the present and the future, but also between the Broader County of Olmsted and the city of Rochester and all the neighborhoods.

We like to, and we want to become more of a meeting ground for those different perspectives in those different communities.

I think that really sums up our way forward as a public history organization.

- Wayne, I've been out there many times, oftentimes with my dad and his twin brother watching the thrashing show and the round table of the farmers and farmers, friends working.

It seems like when people come together around food and agriculture, there's a common bond.

Can you, can you elaborate on that?

- Yeah, food really is the basic meeting place for people, in really all cultures, it seems like.

And, certainly here and people are also fascinated by, they might forget where food comes from, but when they see maybe some oats being harvested, or maybe they learn how a can of beans is actually cooked in a factory, it's like instantly connects with them and they want to learn more and they have a little bit better idea of where their food comes from.

It's important that they not forget that it comes from growers, from farms large and small.

So food is really the common denominator.

And I think whether it's, farmers showing how vintage machinery works, or people learning about our various gardens here at the history center, it's an opportunity for people to connect, their lives with the lives of other people in the community.

- How does the history center help us look at perspective as it's been and how it's going to be in the future and help us grow as people?

- Well, I think that really gets to the nub of how citizens can do their best and be the best citizens possible and historians help by making connections between the challenges we face today, the triumphs that we experience, the suffering that we experience, and we can connect it to past challenges.

So we can look back to the 1918 pandemic and say, "See the newspaper articles about, "yeah, they weren't telling people to wear face masks "over a hundred years ago, who would've thought it."

And, they were also closing churches, they were, some churches had to close because they didn't call it that at the time, but social distancing.

But we can also see that they survived through it, and there's a resilience, so we can take measure of ourselves because of that resilience.

And we can remind ourselves we're gonna make it through this, but we can also look at the fact that, we build on top of the legacy of our ancestors.

So voting rights today is built on the struggles of those who fought for voting rights yesterday.

So the women of the 19th and early 20th century, they helped build stepping stones for more people to assert their right to vote.

That's how the American experiment works by building off our ancestors to expand freedom.

And that's how history really can be put to use as a citizen.

- Thank you, Wayne.

When we think about Olmsted County, we think of medicine, technology and agriculture coming together.

And just to kind of wrap up, how does that impact the story that you tell at the History Center?

- Well, it makes it sometimes challenging, but usually pretty interesting, because we, it is really exciting to look at the, the technology and the advancements, particularly in public health that the Mayo Clinic has been so central to so those are really exciting stories to tell.

Also the Mayo Clinic has also attracted a very diverse workforce, and it's exciting to tell that story too.

But we also want to remind everyone, newcomers, people who have been here a long time, that we come, that this land comes from, the people who were here in the past, which also includes Native Americans.

And that's something we can't forget either the Dakota people, this was their land before the stopovers got here.

So it's really important to connect the dots for people, and we just are excited to help be the storytellers for the County.

- Wayne, from the history center alongside County.

Thanks for your time.

- Thank you, Dan.

- You're welcome.

The more things change, the more they stay the same as we enter the closing months of this year with another long cold winter ahead of us, it's important to keep some perspective we've been here before and we've come out the other side stronger for what we've experienced.

If history teaches us anything, it's that we are resilient.

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thanks for watching "Farm Connections".

(upbeat music)