CALF_News_June_July_2018

37 CALF News • June | July 2018 • www.calfnews.net No One-Trick Pony T o many in agriculture, Servi-Tech is synonymous with crop consulting – trained agronomists making regular visits to monitor crop health, recommend inputs, and help growers be more profitable. But since those humble beginnings in 1975, the company has grown into much more than just an agronomic consulting business. Making the Planet More Productive support for their internal “customers” is obvious, the program- ming staff also work with customers to improve and accelerate the delivery of lab results and other critical data. The new product development and evaluation team (referred to as STEPS or Servi-Tech Expanded Premium Services) is offering new products this spring to monitor soil moisture and rainfall amounts remotely, using cloud-based and LoRa wireless technologies. The applications of these cutting-edge technolo- gies are limitless, given that data is transmitted to a centrally located gateway to increase efficiency and reduce costs. The user experience (UX) for these products is also impres- sive, and one of the big draws among current customers. Data can be viewed at your desktop, tablet or other hand-held device, making it an easily accessible decision-making tool. The service is offered on a subscription basis, making it a lower-cost alternative to other options in the market today. Another technology offer is CropView, an aerial imag- ery product that includes weekly flights of manned aircraft throughout the growing season. Servi-Tech’s analysis has found manned aircraft to be more reliable (fly below clouds); more granular (higher image quality to determine problems earlier); Rain Station: • • • •  www.servitech.com “A game changing tool for feedlots; making record keeping simple, easy and reliable.” -Ryan Meister, Director of Servi-Tech Expanded Premium Services By Greg Ruehle President & CEO Continued on page 39  We employ nearly 200 trained professionals, including 90 agronomists from the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma, east- ern Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa. This network of “boots-on-the-ground” specialists is unique – no other company can match the breadth and scope of knowledge gleaned by Servi-Tech crop specialists. The company’s inde- pendence from brand bias or product limitations also sets us apart from the herd! Servi-Tech Laboratories has also grown from its early days of soil and plant tissue testing to compliment the consulting business. Today, three lab locations (Dodge City, Kan.; Hast- ings, Neb.; and Amarillo, Texas) are strategically located in close proximity to feedlots, dairies and several feed manufacturing companies. Feedstuff analysis runs the gamut: from grains, forages and other inputs, to complete rations or manufactured feed products; and from distiller’s grains and other ethanol co- products, to environmental sampling of manure and wastewater for land application and environmental compliance. Within the last decade, Servi-Tech added a technology divi- sion to support the crop consulting and laboratory programs. The technology division includes two primary components – an IT support and computer programming group, as well as a new product development and evaluation team. The division is led by a new chief technology officer, who came to Servi-Tech after a long and successful career at IBM. As Servi-Tech and its customers become more reliant on technology, the role our IT team provides increases expo- nentially. There are presently 12 IT staff members located throughout our three lab locations, with backgrounds in hard- ware and software support, programming, distributed ledger technology (block-chain) and artificial intelligence. While Servi-Tech Laboratories