While Federated Agronomists parody “groceries” and how to “feed” every crop the right nutrient “meal,” Ryan Peterson (pictured) is determining how to actually serve up the meal, as it were.

Now, and through the rush of spring fertilizer application, Peterson, Federated’s custom applicator manager at the Osceola location, will be making sure all the crop “groceries” are delivered to the right places, and applied to the right fields.

Said Peterson, “I’m the one who takes all the orders for custom application [at Osceola]. I dispatch all the sprayers or spreaders to the fields.”

Peterson joined Federated in March 2000, at the start of the busy spring season, which meant he was on the job for long hours in his first role as a sprayer/spreader operator. After several years out in the fields every day, Peterson moved into the office and began dispatching applicators. Today he’s doing dispatch, and also works with the agronomists and growers on field mapping.

Carrying the grocery/meal analogy one step further, field maps are to spraying and application what recipes are to cooking. Without a good map (a.k.a. recipe) it’s easy to add the wrong ingredients – and consequently ruin a good crop (a.k.a. meal).

Federated does field mapping with the Surety® mapping program. Working with Peterson or one of the Federated Agronomists, growers can go through all their fields with the mapping app and select, highlight, label, and make notes (sensitive areas, waterways, tiling, etc.) for all their fields.

The Surety program makes it easy to mark fields and keep things straight. For example, Peterson said, “We can split a field in half and put the north side on soybeans and the south side on corn and label it two different ways,” he said. Then, when it comes time to dispatch the applicator, the directions to “Spray the Johnson south half” are very clear. Errors are minimized. Crops get sprayed correctly.

Peterson and the application managers at every Federated location highly recommend field mapping to “put your mind at ease” for accurate applications . “It makes the whole world go a lot smoother with a proper map,” said Peterson. And the crop “groceries” get delivered properly! Contact your Federated Agronomist to get maps compiled before the spring rush begins.