Don Lamker joined Federated Co-ops this month as the agronomy sales rep serving the Ogilvie and Rush City locations. An Iowa transplant, Lamker has lived and worked in his home state as well as Minnesota and Wisconsin. He first worked as an ag teacher and with the Iowa State Extension Service, then as an agronomist/precision ag specialist at Cargill, Inc., and most recently in management at Countryside Co-op in Ellsworth, WI.

Lamker brings a strong skillset to the role of agronomy sales rep. “I think of myself as a teacher and educator,” he said, noting that sales and teaching are similar in many ways. As a sales agronomist, he said, he will be “working with customers—farmers—to help them understand new concepts, ideas, and products,” he said, adding “It’s about trying to solve problems.”

“I have a very strong agronomic background, said Lamker. “I understand the science of growing good crops,” he said, and that “science” relates in particular to precision ag. “I’m kind of a techie,” he said, noting that he likes to work with satellite information.

“We can collect information and manage fields differently than we have in the past, measuring and identifying the differences . . . where the problems lie, where we can improve, understand poor areas, and understand what we can do [about the poor areas].” He hopes to bring his precision ag into play with Federated growers because even when problems arise that can’t be avoided, “we can manage [them].”

Lamker brings his wide range of experience to Federated with a desire to work with individual farmers and “work in partnership” to solve problems—his “idea of fun”—and use ag technology in the process. He looks forward to “sitting down and working with growers at the ground level.” Literally.

Growers in Federated’s Ogilvie and Rush City service areas are encouraged to get to know Don Lamker soon. Contact him through either location.