Ep #21: AgTech, Autonomy, and the Heart of Farming with Quentin Connealy
How do you honor a farming legacy while embracing the future? In this episode of The Land Ledger, fifth-generation farmer Quentin 'Q' Connealy shares how he's blending tradition with innovation. From wrapping combines in American flag decals to implementing cover crops after a historic flood, Q illustrates how thoughtful innovation can strengthen both farm resilience and family life.
Listen in as he shares how early exposure to tools like autonomous pivots, drones, moisture probes, and the John Deere Operations Center helped him become an early adopter of AgTech. Q also opens up about the real-world challenges of balancing data-driven decision-making with raising kids, maintaining community ties, and leading as a next-generation farmer. You’ll learn about the importance of data transparency, how strong local relationships remain the backbone of rural success, and more.
What You’ll Hear About in This Episode:
Why early adoption of AgTech tools matters.
Maximizing ROI using data and precision farming.
How cover crops affected Q’s tillage strategy.
The challenges and benefits of using drones and robotics on the farm.
How Q balances full-time farming with his personal life.
The importance of local involvement.
How AgTech startups can better connect with real farmers.
Q’s advice for young ag professionals entering the industry today.
Ideas Worth Sharing:
“It's hard to walk a field, so you might as well have a drone fly it and then you actually really know your accurate numbers. Whether it hurts you or helps you, at least you know the bad parts of the field.” - Quentin Connealy
“Ask the hard questions and try to get it figured out.” - Quentin Connealy
“Find your niche and find your community and build it. Don’t be scared.” - Quentin Connealy
Resources:
Q's 75th anniversary combine
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Read the Transcript:
Quentin Connealy: Peak there a little bit. Now we're chasing ROI. So that's my big thing is finding the efficiencies. I mean, start there with irrigation management. Any efficiencies on the farm, whether it's equipment, it takes them limbo years. I haven't been there long enough. I think it'll be next year or two, we'll be able to start breaking it down and put ROI on some of these Ag tech stuff.
Welcome to The Land Ledger podcast, where investing in farmland meets the future of finance. I’m your host, Brian Kearney, here to guide you through the untapped potential of farmland as an asset.
Whether you’re already investing in farmland, want to invest in farmland, or you’re just curious about safe alternatives to stocks and bonds, this is your space to learn, explore, and be inspired.
Your journey to farmland investing starts now.
Brian Kearney: All right. Welcome to the Land Ledger. Today, we've got a very fun interview. I'm excited for it. We've got Q Khanili on the podcast, and what we are going to do is dive into everything AgTech, everything row crop farming. He's a cool guy. You guys are gonna like him. So Q, welcome to the show.
Quentin Connealy: All right. I'll try to hold up to that. Good to be here.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, it'll be cool. Where I wanna start is your combine. It's got a very unique paint job on it, so can you go over that a little bit, and we'll probably throw a picture in the show notes.
Quentin Connealy: Okay. Yeah. Sweet. Yeah, that was kind of a cool idea. It was a 75th anniversary combine and kind of the first one since I've been back that we got to, I got to run new.
So we got it from the factory, 75th anniversary, and then my dad and uncle were kinda getting to the age where it might be the last one. So I was like, why not go crazy? And I started working, I work close with our dealership just testing out products anyways. And I was like, that'd be pretty sweet to, they get a little advertising and we get a sweet American flag.
'Cause I love running the American flag on equipment, but you never know, like you could hit a tree or anything else can hit it and the wind beats 'em to death. So I was like, let's just put a nice little wrap on the side, and it kind of started out as a little idea and then it kind of went to the full side, both sides, and man, yeah, it turned out awesome.
So I love it. It was really good in the sunrise and sunsets and then running through the day. So just got a little American pride and that's what we try to do with the, what we're doing out here on the farm.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. That's awesome. Like I said, we'll put a link to the show notes to either your LinkedIn or Twitter, whatever you prefer, so someone can see that. It's pretty cool. It stands out.
Quentin Connealy: Yes it does. Unique.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, I wanna talk about the AgTech early adopter stuff, but I want to go back to kind of the origins. How did you first decide you really wanted to get into farming full-time? Like how did that look?
Quentin Connealy: Oh, that's a great place to start. So, yeah, I was like, I'm fortunate. I graduated like high school in 2004. I went through high school learning the inner web, worldwide web, and then just from there, just really loved computers. So I actually went to college for interactive media and web design. So I actually have that background. My dad's like, “I can teach you everything you need to know about farming.”
He'd done it for 40, 50 years. So he is like, “Just go off, learn something.” So got my interactive media degree and, actually secondary or, backup. I got a bachelor's in Spanish. Just in case, so, you get a lot of Spanish people coming to work fields and stuff, and he is like, it wouldn't be background.
I was like, “Hh, I'll go and learn that too.” haven't seen many around lately, but. Because we got so many robots running around and our spraying, I mean our chemicals are still working, but not as good. But you still gotta call 'em in for backup. But yeah, he just, I went to college to play baseball.
I was a big baseball guy and loved the computers and so my coach just kind of took a chance on me. He is like, he knows how to take care of a cornfield. I'm sure he can come here and take care of our baseball field. We had to take care of our own field rake, do all the fun stuff, keep it looking nice.
So you just, and then you get that whole team bond, and from there I just kind of build character as we go. And graduated college in four years. Met the love of my life, Jill, my wife. She's more on the smarter side. So she's a physician assistant, so she carries a single job in town just like most farmers end up with.
So very fortunate there. And now we have two little kids, a 10-year-old Corbin and 5-year-old Willa. And I dunno, it's just kind of blown up through there. And I've just always been intrigued with technology 'cause I grew up with it and just to see, I mean, it was just GPS lines when I went to college and even my teachers were fascinated, like your tractors are driving themselves and now look where we're at.
I mean it's, I've been outta school for a while, but what, 15 years? 15, 16, 17 years and we're here. We got autonomy knocking on our door. We got robots running around, drones. I mean, it's just blown up since then. And I'm just fortunate that I had that background in the computers to back up all these knowledge in our tractors at GPS and John Deere Operation Center.
We're fully integrated with John Deere Operations Center, so have a good relationship with John Deere and our dealership and just getting products out here on the farm. And from there it's just kinda blown into the early adopter and I think other people saw it. And I like to bring products to my farm to try.
Because we're just kinda in that medium spot where a lot of these companies know don't know how to work on the farm. And then we're ready to implement some of this stuff and just getting the technology up to how it actually works on the farm. They're just kind of void there and somebody's gotta fill it.
So you might as well jump in there and go ahead first and get some products out here to play with.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense. And for people not in the industry, sometimes the tech that the industry has does blow their mind. Even just the GPS lines, people don't even quite think of that, let alone some of the other crazy things happening.
We had Craig from Sabanto, the founder of Sabanto on the podcast, and he was talking through that side and we've had a lot of comments from investors that are like, we didn't. So we're barely doing something like that now in cars. Farmers have been doing it for 20 years. It's kind of crazy. So what was the first early adopter sting you did, would you say?
Quentin Connealy: I've kinda been working with Blue River Farms, Blue River, that technology behind John Deere. So they came and tested out some of our fields and kind of working on boundaries and how the autonomy would work in a field because we have so many pivot structures. I mean this will, that's probably started three or four years ago, and then they're still coming back this year just to fine tune stuff.
And now we're finally getting autonomy out in the fields. You see 'em actually working at certain dealerships and around the country. So from there, with our irrigation country, it probably jumps in there. First autonomous pivot. I run some autonomy on our pivots just 'cause. We're very fortunate with all our water here, but regulations are coming no matter what, somewhere down the pipeline.
So just kind of getting on the front end of getting prepared for some of this regulations and stuff coming down the pipe. So irrigation's kinda my big one. It was probably one in the irrigation sector. And then, soil moisture probes, they've came a long way. So integrate some of those with autonomous pivot where it travels around the field on top of the irrigation. So you get a little eye going across there and it can find water studies, the soil, water in the ground, so you get an actual moisture probe kind of traveling the ground so you get a little better coverage other than a stationary point. So yeah, just little things like that and just try to add one or two things a year and just keep going from there.
Kind of dabbed in the, I mean, there's a lot of apps now. Just with weather, I mean, just anywhere from doing certain points of how much rain this field got. That's came a long ways. Got a lot more satellite imagery behind it, and you find a lot more, they're getting it a little closer. I mean, we're within a hundred third, 10th here and there, so that's pretty good over, I mean, a wide field, it can vary just from a stationary, you're engaged.
So just little things like that and just kind of always keeping your ear open 'cause usually there's somebody looking to get out on the farm and test out products or demo. 'Cause yeah, just kinda helping these companies through the early stages of adoption works out a lot. I think it, I mean, we're still in a lot of 'em, but I think here in the next couple years it'll be a lot better adoption rates.
I'm still disappointed a little bit in the adoption rates, but there's always room to improve somewhere.
Brian Kearney: What do you think the reason is for that?
Quentin Connealy: I don't know. I think talking with other people, it's almost like they think it's a big brother deal or something. I don't know if they have, don't want too much info out there, which I think, yeah, there's always a company or the government, I mean, they got satellites everywhere too.
I mean, they're gonna find it if there's, you're farming a piece of ground you're not supposed to, or you get outside your boundary or something, I mean, you get pulled in one little audit and you're caught anyways. So I don't know if they just not want to give out too much info yet. 'cause I mean, we're at that point where we got all this data, what do you do with it?
And farmers’ been compiling it over the year. And then maybe they wanna be paid more for it too. I think, it's hard to put a number on that. So it's gotta be somewhere in there in those little subjects. What do you think?
Brian Kearney: Yeah, I think you're right. I think it is along those lines. It's, let back up. I think it's one of two things. I think you're spot on there that privacy concerns are what people say at the very least. And it's funny, I was talking to a higher up at a large ag company and they, he was telling me about a seminar they had for cybersecurity and they were all like, “Oh, we have to protect our farmers' data.”
And it was the outside cyber security consultant was like, “They don't care about the farmer's data. Like they don't care at all. It's not valuable to them.” What's valuable is banking information. Like that's what they're trying to go for. So I think sometimes we over blow that a little bit.
The hedge funds have it if that's who we're concerned about. They're trading against farmers anyways. But what I wonder is if it's like farmers not actually believing it's gonna bring an ROI having to see that proved right next to them. Like, oh, well maybe it works over by UQ, but here in central Illinois, like that's just not gonna be valuable.
Quentin Connealy: Yep, yep. So much variability through each farm and either an operation and the next operation and then the next region, so yeah.
Brian Kearney: Right, right. So how do you look at that on your farm? Look at the tools that, I mean eventually I would assume that it goes from them testing it on your farm to you wanting to do that every single year if it works.
So how are you navigating that? How are you trying to see if there is an ROI for your operation?
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, that's the hardest part 'cause it takes a while. I mean, we gotta get through these limbo years to figure out where it's actually, where the data's if to get correct data. So finding the correct data to bring it back to the ROI and then I have a team of agronomists I work with.
And then we work, I work with a marketing guy too. And then, he has a side that handles my finances. So we're kind of trying to cover a whole picture, and then we're breaking down the data silos, so everybody's kind of talking to each other. And then like you said, we're trying to, you're not trying to bust yield numbers anymore, I don't think.
I think we kinda peaked there a little bit. Now we're chasing ROI. So that's my big thing is finding the efficiencies. I mean, start there with irrigation management. Any efficiencies on the farm, whether it's equipment, some of this equipment we might not be using enough, but as long as we're utilizing it right, we might be overpaying a little bit.
But you almost have to have a certain amount of equipment on a farm. So it takes them limbo years and I don't think, I haven't been there long enough. I think it'll be, next year or two, we'll be able to start breaking it down and put ROI on some of these Ag Tech stuff, other than them throwing a number out to you, which might sound good.
'Cause yeah, I mean, some of these numbers, I mean, you can get into some of these Ag Tech stuff to save thousands of dollars and it costs you 50 cents an acre or something. Just even switching from Precision Plant on crop assurance away from the old way. So we're heavily irrigated in dry land. So my precision ag data can go into my system and save me three to $5,000 on crop insurance, and I'm maybe paying 50 cents an acre to get that data all collected and in the right spot.
But you also have to have the right equipment mapping it, so RTK, RTK planting, and then have that combine data to back it up going through the field with the Libra system on there. So there's a lot of systems I have to talk and work good together and we're making a hurdle every year.
We're getting better. So now it took, even adopting just Libra, which is awesome in the grain cart, we'll spit out some product names just 'cause we've been using 'em on the farm. But it took three years to get that data good in there. And you have to get an operator. Now it has GPS points, so you know where it came out of a field, then you can back it up with combine data and calibrate.
So just to making sure your numbers are good, that hard data is good going through can save a lot of headache, just like anything if you don't have the right data. Yep.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. I think you said something, correct me if I'm wrong, but you said you're trying to go away a little bit from chasing more yield to chasing that ROI, as I would–dive into that a little bit.
Quentin Connealy: That's what I think. I mean, we're, you could put so much fertilizer on there and guarantee so many, or the thinking guarantee so many bushels. But I mean, we're trying, we're kind of finding that fine line where we can grid sample every acre and we can see imagery and then we're doing variable rate seeding, variable rate fertility.
So we're kind of bringing that, those bottom end acres up. Then the top is kind of there. I don't know if we can really bust over that anymore. Just either hybrids or the weather each year just kinda holds you back, it seems like. Too much rain, too little, so it's hard to chase that top in the whole time.
So as long as you're bringing every acre up to a little more consistency, that's kinda what we're looking at. And then more organic matter. I did dabble in cover crops. Now I can officially say I'm a cover cropper. So it, but then, yeah, it takes a few years to see all that come through the system.
Brian Kearney: Right. What made you decide to do that?
Quentin Connealy: We got hit with the flood last year and it's like my, it's supposed to be a 50 year flood, but I've seen five of them in the 15, 16 years I've been back. But yeah, just a freak rain event in Iowa has to come right down on Missouri River and then it floods that old Missouri River Channel.
So with that, I just saw an opportunity, it was mid-July, early August. I was like, we could go in there and replant beans and I don't know, nobody likes harvesting beans that much. So I was like, “Let's just try this new cover crop thing and put it on a few hundred acres.” Probably close to ooh, five, 600 acres by the time we did most of it.
Brian Kearney: So it's a heck of a first test.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah. So it was like, as the opportunity is a good chance to get it in there early. And we did rye rads turnips because we faced a lot of compaction down here. I'm so, I'm all Missouri River bottoms. So we face a lot of compaction, so I wanted to try some radish and turnips in there.
So it helped loosen that soil i nstead of doing our tillage like we've been doing for, this farm's been doing it 50, a hundred years, 150 years. So we might as well try something new and get away from this tillage, 'cause tillage equipment's getting more expensive and just like that, putting just all that tillage equipment, tillage tractors. Got my little demo here. Putting all that equipment on a balance sheet, just a cost production. I mean, it's a big hurdle. So if you can get rid, be rid of some of that on a few hundred thousand acres. I mean, you're looking, you're already improving that ROI just by bringing your cost of production down, so just little things like that.
Get your wheels turning and you talk to enough people. We're not a heavy cover crop area, so it was a little different down in here. So went and talked to NRCS office and a lot of professionals, professional cover croppers, and get some ideas and paired out, got it in the ground, and actually planted into it.
Didn't tear much up, just actually planted. We had it terminated. I think Nebraska, you have to have it terminated by when you plant, so we terminated it about two weeks before. So kinda learn as you go. It was a good test and I think most of it, we just, we're out adjusting crops today from a hailstorm and heavy rains last week, and they look pretty good.
The corn came through good and the beans are starting, but we got knocked with a little bit of hail, but not enough to set us back. I think I only got it replanted one field, so.
Brian Kearney: Oh, okay. That's not bad. Interesting. I could definitely see how that would be valuable for people getting into farming too, if you don't have to buy that equipment. That's interesting.
Quentin Connealy: Because yeah, our tillages, I mean, the tillage equipment is super expensive right now. It's got all the true sets so you can set true depths, which is nice, so you know which depth you're going. And I mean with all these programs coming out with cover crops and sustainability, you have to stay above a certain depth helps some of your scores.
So just kinda watching that stuff. There's all kinds of programs you can watch and get into too. So there's some cost shares on cover crops and so yeah, there's all kinds of little games you wanna play. Just depends how serious you wanna get into it.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, that's for sure. Interesting. So for, I guess for the audience, we didn't dive into the type of operation you're running, so they kind of get a good feel on that for the ones who are saying that wouldn't work here. Dive a little bit into where you're at. Anything you're comfortable sharing there?
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, we've been jumping around a lot, which is kinda how my mind works. I'm all over the place.
Brian Kearney: Me too.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, we used to be kind of the boring old corn and soybean farmers, about 60% irrigated mainly by center pivot. We still have a little bit of the gate pipe irrigation, call them character sticks now. So get out there and do a little manual labor moving the water around, but you lose a lot of efficiencies there.
So one thing I'm trying to get away from, so we talk a lot about companies, about irrigation efficiency, and advance, and a lot of that. But yeah, we're, so I'm all, I'm North Omaha, 45 miles, just so you get your directions. I'm kind of in between Sioux City right on the Sioux City and Omaha, and then right on the Missouri River.
So there's Highway 75, which is about five miles between Highway 75 and the Missouri River is where we lie about flat lands for about 15 miles up and down the river. So all very flat, fairly square fields, get a little bit of turning jogging here and there, but super flat. It's all drained, drained to the ditches and roads.
And then out through a creek to the Missouri River is where all water has to go. So large rain events can't hurt us, takes a little while to drain, so we're almost too low for tile. There's not a lot of tile in the area. As you get a little bit higher towards highway 75 and you get some bench ground, you get a little bit of elevation and you can help that tile.
But down here, we're so low, we face a lot of wet feet and you get some replant it, replant times, but yeah, that's where, yeah, that's where the irrigation comes into. So we're not directly over the Ogallala Aquifer, but we're kind of Missouri River water table fed.
Brian Kearney: Okay. Okay, perfect. Yeah, that helps.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah. I guess they used to say we were kind of the boring corn and soybean farmers, but now we're cover croppers. Everything's exciting, right?
Brian Kearney: That's exciting now. Yeah. Regenerative, right? The buzzword. Oh man. So let's talk a little bit more about some of the ag tech early adopter stuff. What do you see as the places companies can help and the places that startups might be trying to help. And they're probably just throwing money into a bonfire because both happen.
Quentin Connealy: Right, right, right. Oh, man, that's a big question. I don't know. Don't really know where to start. I should have studied up, but I know imagery's a big thing.
And then drones I think is a good, there's a lot of potential there. And then just figuring out what to do with all our data, I think is a good starter. Like the main three. Just 'cause we have, I mean, I got 10 years worth of planting and harvest data that, what do you do with it? How do you utilize it? How do you make your farm better with it?
And then anywhere from, I mean, weather's huge. I mean, I don't know what you can predict with the weather, but there's a lot trying to dab in there. Just weather predicting. Irrigation, water management's really big on my radar, just 'cause we're so fortunate right here. But, oh man, that's a loaded question. We might have to circle back to it. Maybe I'll come with some more ideas and we keep chatting here. I dunno if I brushed on a little bit of what you're looking there.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, no, that's helpful. I think water makes sense and that's something we forget about in this area 'cause we're lucky that we get the right rain at the right times. It seems most of the time.
Quentin Connealy: Get the I-state rain.I can see those. I'm in Nebraska, we catch enough of them. So our irrigation's almost like a supplement. It's like a call 'em rain machines. They pretty much just limp us around to the next rain.
But I can see Iowa from right here, so I'm not that far from an I-state.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, the rain’s the same. That's funny. Yeah. So on the water management side, what do you see that's working and are there things that you've tried that you have enough data to know they haven't really worked for you?
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, I think, moisture probes came a long way, but I think we just, I think they're just so expensive to get enough of them in a field that it's not really ROI productive yet.
We are trying more, and there's some NRCS programs like with your conservation. Local conservation offices you can get into to help cost share that. But they're trying to, they're trying to realize it too. And then I'm with a company now, Van Water that we'll be trying some of their products on the farm.
I did purchase them to try 'em, but we'll be monitoring and making sure our pivots are actually putting out what we think is they're putting out. So they's some stuff, we can fine tune there and I haven't played around with it yet. And then I should have more, some cash share next year to try some more of that to implement some more.
Brian Kearney: Okay. And for the moisture probes, when you say they're too expensive to really see an ROI on the farm. What are you talking for, let's just say like a square 40, what would it cost to put moisture probes in?
Quentin Connealy: Yeah. I think, NRCS I think they, they probably recommend three to five per 40 or 80, but then like, usually I only put one.
So then you're only getting a spectrum of only one little spot in the field, which you usually try to put it in the driest part of the field, or the most average part of the field so you can get a better look at it. But I mean, then you're looking probably at 12, $15,00 a probe if you were to implement more.
I mean, it adds up really fast and then it's harder to get your return on it too. And even just when to stop. Irrigating is big on here. Like when's the crop matured enough to stop irrigating and just like when the, what water needs and we're start, I'll be testing a little bit more on transportation this year. So that kind of what we're losing through the atmosphere and through the plants.
Brian Kearney: How are you studying that?
Quentin Connealy: We got some monitors coming out with crop X, so we got one here. Hopefully going on the farm here as soon as it dries out and we get our posts on. So hasn't been much post spraying here yet. We're a little saturated, but hopefully next week we should be a bunch done. There's weeds are starting to creep up and we're starting to get a little itchy, but it should be drying here next year to get out there and get some weeds killed.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, that's funny.
Quentin Connealy: And then, yeah, the weeds keep getting harder to kill. So just realizing like spots in the field and then I know there's a lot of robots coming out, trying to chase weeds. So 'cause spray gets expensive, but I haven't played with the robot, been talking about it, but we'll see.
Brian Kearney: Okay. What ones are you most excited about? The technology of the robots?
Quentin Connealy: Yeah. Greenfield's the only one I've really talked to, so they look really nice. Splint Bauer. So yeah, she looks really good. They got a, so they've been in the game for a while and trying to expand too, so, they must be doing something right, so.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. Yeah, that's true. That is, it is a really interesting potential niche there. And what about drones? Have you been playing around with them at all?
Quentin Connealy: I got in with our extension office, so we're testing some populations, flying drones and testing populations and stuff. Trying to make sure our stand counts 'cause we do run an exact emerge planter for corn, but you still kinda wonder.
And then we fight, like I said, we fight a lot crusting and soggy bottoms down in here. So you wanna make sure that emergence is true, is what it is supposed to be planted. And I think we're pretty fortunate the year, this year, we haven't only had one, like one, one or two fields crest a little bit with.
Lack some stands, but I think overall our crop's looking fairly well right now. And then just to be able to back it up by drone. And they're still testing out a lot of products like height and how far to apply it away from the plants, just so they can get an accurate count. So I think there's a lot of stuff coming down the pipeline here they're figuring out, because then–I was just out with crop insurance agents, they're gonna be using a lot of drones here soon to do like wind damage, hail damage, and then populations and stuff.
Brian Kearney: That makes sense.
Quentin Connealy: That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. 'cause you never know, it's hard. It's hard to walk a field, so you might as well have a drone fly it and then you actually really know your accurate numbers, whether it hurts you or helps you, at least you know the bad parts of the field.
Brian Kearney: True, that's true.
Quentin Connealy: Sometimes that transparency hurts you, but I don't know. Yeah, I just kinda You might as well get a true number so you know what's out there other than try to skew it. I don't know.
Brian Kearney: Right, right. It helps you make decisions. Yep. Yeah, exactly.
Quentin Connealy: You can always play a crop insurance game, but I think they're gonna start really cracking down and actually taking more data and to back up these decisions of all the adjusters. 'cause the adjusters, I mean, there's a couple of them. I mean, they're trying to travel a thousand acres. It's hard to get 'em all through. So.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. And I think that's probably the best way to ensure those programs don't get touched too much by government cutting is if you can really prove the data.
I think maybe it's a little easier to pass the sniff test, so to speak, but yeah. That's interesting. What's your take then, on some of the stuff coming down the pipeline or what seems to be coming down the pipeline for, let me think how I wanna put this exactly. I don't wanna get too political, but all of the tariffs and all of that conversation, we hear a lot people saying, “Oh, what are your farmers talking about with that?”
So what are your thoughts for it? And I'll say, I guess I'll preface with minor. Pros and cons, honestly. But what are you seeing on the farm and how it's affecting you?
Quentin Connealy: Right now, I mean, just fertilizer prices a little bit. I don't think it's hit yet. It's probably a little further down the road, but fertilizer prices, we're watching that grain price, I just can't get it to bump up anymore.
So I think something's holding back there with exports. So yeah, mainly grain marketing, watching that really. And then trying to get these fertilizer prices down. And then, I haven't looked at the chemical bill yet, but it's probably gonna be sneaking up there too, or potentially down the road here. As we get into summer, you'll start seeing some bigger numbers.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, it'll be interesting.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah. I haven't seen much on the equipment side, but we've been kind of comfy with the equipment. We haven't been equipment searching right now. So I don't see much on that side, but I'm sure there'll be some parts and little pieces of equipment that are gonna jack everything up a little bit more.
Brian Kearney: Right. Yeah. Yeah. that makes sense. Parts are ridiculous all the time.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, everything's expensive, so, and now there's so many computers on it. You almost have to technician come out and at least they can get it knocked out and you're ready to go, other than you fiddle with it for half a day and lose time and everything.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, that's true. This was the first year my father-in-law didn't plant with his old 40-20.
Quentin Connealy: Oh, there you go.
Brian Kearney: And he is just like, it's fun. Feels more like I'm farming when I don't have air conditioning. But, he is like, yeah, 60, 60 something. It started to field pretty nice. Not have a little bit of rain on me, a little bit of wind, but those things are awesome. I mean, you can literally just fix them with a hammer and a screwdriver, like it's crazy.
Quentin Connealy: Oh yeah. Yeah. We still use 'em all over the farm. Oh yeah. They always start. Yeah. It's a nice feeling.
You're just out there in the environment though. But other than that, cool skincare. Yeah. Well you gotta get your skin sun tan lotion on, so.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, exactly. The funny part is, it's the, what he switched to for planting is a seventies Massey Ferguson. So it's still not new. He is still using his old stuff for it, but it feels more like farming I guess.
But, anyway, yeah. So for people that are listening from the ag tech world, how would you say the best way to approach a farmer like you or even find a farmer like you is if they're trying to find those early adopters, what should they be looking for?
Quentin Connealy: I think I just got, I've only been on LinkedIn like a year, but I really find that you got a little more business professionals on there and then you can DM and that's where a lot of 'em reach out to me.
And then just going to some of these events. Yeah, LinkedIn's really big. And then just going to some of these events like we met at Farm Con. Just right there. I mean, and then they kind of targeted the ag tech sector to get some new companies there. So there's lots of little conferences out there you can find, and you just gotta find your network even, I don't know, we started a WhatsApp group, so I mean, there's little things like that.
I don't know if you're in on that one, but yeah, we chat about the stuff and just try to connect these companies to more farmers. And if they, it doesn't fit their program, maybe they know somebody. It does. So just getting in that network, getting on there, jumping in head first and finding your network, and then just goes from there.
Twitter's goes back and forth, but I still really love Twitter. That's kinda where I started and seven, eight years ago, and it's just kind of blown up since then. But you can see a lot on there. It's a little harder to reach out 'cause messaging isn't quite as easy. But I mean, if you, I mean the farm, the ag sector's so small, if you want somebody's name, you can find it. So, or you find somebody, they're connected to you and yeah.
Brian Kearney: Right. Yeah. LinkedIn's been. Surprising for me. So we didn't think there'd be a whole lot that we can do on LinkedIn, but it's been probably our best channel social wise for the company.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, it's been cool. Yeah, it's totally different. I kind of misunderstood it for a long time, but once I jumped in I was like, that's pretty sweet. So even just being a silly farmer like me, I can jump on there and talk to a few professionals or kind of tell 'em what we're doing on the farm and maybe they connect to it and want to come up, play out here too.
So. Yeah, I think just more of these companies just need to come out and play in the dirt and see how it actually works. And don't be scared. Don't be scared to ask the questions 'cause usually, I mean, most farmers, I mean, our day kind of seems hectic, but just like today, I found time to sit down with you and have a conversation.
And sometimes they're 5, 10, 15 minutes if it doesn't work out. Otherwise you could chat again and make it an hour or something, find another time that works. So there's always a rainy day or something, or always some way to fit it in, even though sometimes it doesn't sound like it, but.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. Yeah. It depends on the time of year, I guess.
Yeah. I was just never, I never got to be a good salesman, so I was like, I'll kind of fill that void and help these companies market and do what they need to do, find more people, find a network. So it's kind of what, you just gotta make your network and flow with it and stay true to who you are. So that's my biggest thing.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. Yeah, that's the big part. People, Talk about how farmers are the hardest people to sell to. And I'm like, it hasn't actually been my experience as long as you're not full of crap.
Quentin Connealy: Right, right, right.
Brian Kearney: They sniff through that real quick. So as long as you're being honest, I mean, yeah, you'll get people that, 'cause we're doing a lot of cold calls for the company actually, which has been fun. It's been a little brutal, but it's been fun. And yeah, you'll get the person who's like, “Oh, I don't have time.” Click. It's like, okay, fine. Like, I get it. but you don't really get people reaming yet too much. It's a small industry and people I think know that. Reputation matters, so it's interesting.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah. You guys gotta have thick skin though, so. Yeah. Appreciate you guys. You guys are doing a cool thing.
Brian Kearney: It’s not too bad. Yeah, it’s been fun.
Quentin Connealy: Yep. Good. So yeah, we like, we're kinda on the verge of the farm transition and stuff, so we're you guys', content always interacts with me and trying to figure out ways we can make sure this transition goes smooth.
So my mom and uncle that I farm with are in the seventies, so just time to start getting the ball rolling and not be behind, right? So stay ahead. Stay ahead, the curve.
Brian Kearney: Have you talked to nationwide by chance?
Quentin Connealy: The one by your side?
Brian Kearney:Yeah. They are on the farmer's side for real.
Quentin Connealy: Oh, okay. Nationwide by your side. Okay.
Brian Kearney: No, I'll shoot over an–I'll put a link in the show notes as well. They have a really cool program called Land is Your Legacy, and they'll put together a full succession plan for farmers, completely free. So zero cost. They have attorneys, accountants, CPAs, like working through everything for you and they just present a plan and you can take it or leave it. It's super cool. Yeah, I'll shoot that over. I think you'll like chatting with them. I like shooting people to 'em.
Quentin Connealy: Something every farm should do. 'cause I mean we're probably already buying the eight ball. I lost my dad a couple years ago, so you kind of lose a little bit of hurdle.
But I mean, my mom's still there and we're still going strong, so you just gotta, it's better if everything's in writing and figured out beforehand, before you lose somebody, 'cause you just, you never know when your time is, no matter what. So accidents happen. I mean, everybody gets older, so might as well have it all figured out ahead of time.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, exactly. It's a cool program that they have.
Quentin Connealy: Good. I hadn't heard of that one yet.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. Yeah. I'll shoot that over after that. It's, and I'll put something in the show notes for the audience, but tell me a little bit about what the day-to-day looks like, trying to manage the farm, having two kids, that can get pretty hectic, but I'm sure there's a lot of really cool aspects to having the kids starting to get involved as well, would be my guess. Let's dive into that a little bit.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, it's just like today, I mean, you're running over all crazy so that we gotta kinda, the busy seasons get a little tough, but me and my wife, we kind of gotta figured out, I mean, I'll kind of take him to daycare in the morning or school and then I'll just work as late as I can that night.
So then we're always kind of carrying over to like morning or night, and it's a lot of trial and error. I mean, not every day is perfect, but I think, and then that even helps with this technology. I mean, I can see so much from my phone to make sure my other operators are doing what they're supposed to.
Then I can operate from a special or from a piece of machinery a long ways away or 15, 5, 10, 15 miles away. So just there's a lot of opportunities there. You can see your operation go and you can see what each tractor did all day and how your progress was. And then just with the kids, I mean, yeah, I mean, we run around crazy.
We're just far enough away from town. We run back and home, back and forth from town a lot. But yeah, kid's been at baseball today and then he is at basketball right now and then have to go get him at the library. He is walking to the library, so you just figure it out. It's a lot of trial and error, but as long as they make it fun and keep them active. 'Cause I mean, I'm fifth generation farmer, he'll be six, I don't know if he's gonna farm yet or not, but they go through spurts. Like my 10-year-old, he is into some, he's into sports now and then my little 5-year-old girl, she's a little doll and loves being out in the tractor with me and playing outside.
So they just kinda go from little transition is let them grow as their own people. And then, I mean, we're just trying to build character in them all. And then I coach, head coach little 10-year-old baseball team right now. So we got, we didn't get home till like nine o'clock last night. We had an away game, but.
So, yeah, I don't know. Just trying to build this next community 'cause these kids are gonna be the next one running your small town. So just instill that small town community in 'em, build some character and then be active. That's what my first things that my dad taught me when I came back was get in the chamber, start help with the businesses in town, support them and they'll support you.
And so just build a really good bond. I got on our chamber board and now I'm up on the State Corn Growers Association as a local rep. So just kind of tiptoeing your town and you go to the state and then, I mean, a lot of people go to the national level to help corn growers, soybeans, all the good groups.
Any other group you're into, I mean, just kind of find your niche and find your community and build it. Don’t be scared.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. The local community is a huge aspect to dive into. What are you, or how are you trying to instill that in your kids as well? I mean, this is a purely selfish question. I have two kids as well, so I'm curious. Always looking for advice.
Quentin Connealy: No, I just, it starts to, I think, I mean, when they're in school, I mean just sports, getting 'em in, sports, getting 'em active, being a part of the team. Make sure they got their group around them and that they're around good kids. And I mean, they are. I mean, nobody's getting in trouble here.
It's just a little 1,800 people town, so you can see the water tower from the farm here. So it's kind of cool right on the bluff. But yeah, you just keep instilling in them that, and then you support your town. So we try to do everything in business. And then our, I mean a lot of our companies are so far out that Omaha's close enough that we do have to go to Omaha to get a lot of products and our John Deere dealerships just outside of Omaha, so.
Just think community first and kind of go bunch out from there. And then you can find anything you need on the interweb now. So we still use Amazon out here a little bit, so just a nice little—you still gotta have your certain stuff, but, and then, yeah, the wife still loves Target. Yours probably does too, but.
Brian Kearney: Oh yeah.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah. But no, and then, yeah, just getting on the chamber, just supporting those small businesses and making sure they feel welcomed. And then he got more businesses open up and he is, when I came back, I mean, we're kind of in a little helm. We had an older chamber board, but now they're all fresh and we got a really young chamber board in there and you got a lot of energy.
You got big festivals going on in town. We run a sweet corn festival in August. So I kind of head that up. So that way, that's kind of our former way to give back to the community. So we just pick all our sweet corn at the August, which is generally the end of our sweet corn season. And then we just cook it all for the people in town just to get 'em together.
And it's kinda ag based, but now it's blown up into small concert and all the businesses are there and vendors and they can kinda showcase our products. So just little stuff like that you can kinda, yeah, I think my dad and some of the guys started it back in the eighties or nineties. It kind of died for like 10 or 20 years.
And then one of the chamber presidents asked me, he is like, “Would you wanna grow sweet corn and cook it for everybody?” I was like, heck yeah. This is like right after I got back from college. I was like, yeah, I'm pretty good at growing sweet corn, I guess. So we only do like an acre or three just for town.
The community can come out and pick it and then we give it to everybody too. We don't really sell it commercially or anything, but yeah, there's little things like that you can find and just make everybody feel welcome 'cause especially if you're in an ag community, you might as well give back a little bit.
Brian Kearney: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. How do you cook it? Do you have a unique–
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, we got big old pots, like big old. Like, I don't even know how many gallons they hold. Probably 15, 20 gallons of water. And then we just dump in, like you can cook like three dozen at a time, three or four dozen at a time.
So you can get through it pretty fast. And we get, my great uncle, he built big burners, propane burners that heat it up, heat the water up so you can cook a lot of sweet corn. It's like three hours long. But I mean, we, last year I think we broke the record. We did like a thousand ears of sweet corn.
They all got eaten, so just keeps kind of getting bigger and yeah, now there's a concert and all the vendors around and it's kind of put it right in the middle of town so everybody can see it running down the highway in Main Street. So, yeah.
Brian Kearney: That's a great idea. Are there any other festivals you guys put on or the town puts on or what?
Quentin Connealy: It's in July. We really blow up here, so that's why I love the American Flag. So yeah, we deck out and there's a big old parade. I don't know how many thousands of people come to town for the parade, but we do that every 4th of July. And then, I'm trying to think of what other ones we got. Kind of do some off the holidays and stuff like Christmas time and get Christmas lights in town and make everybody, get the light up the town and make it feel welcoming.
So those little cool things like that, so makes your town look lively. And then just finding old buildings and making sure somebody gets in 'em or keeping buildings up. And so at least town looks good when, 'cause everybody's traveling down the highway. You might as well keep town looking good so they know it's more welcoming when they come through.
They know they can stop through and got some nice brew houses now in town or brewery coming soon. So those little things. Yeah. Just kind of re-energizing little town America. So, but yeah, we're really fortunate too, just outside of Napa, Omaha, we get a lot of Omaha people move up here. And then we redid our school helping, we, they took some tax money and redid our school, so we got almost a brand new school for the kids. So. Better athletic stuff, so,
Brian Kearney: Right. Yeah, right.
Quentin Connealy: Just one little thing that keeps building.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. That's great. That's really cool. Interesting. I'm trying to think exactly which path I want to take. I think I want to dive a little bit more into what do you see the kind of farmer's role in the community being, because I think for the row crop farmers, they kind of know that in towns, our town's about the same size. We're 2,100. Farmers are kind of the bedrock of the community and it's important that stays the way it does. That's why we built the company we built is for the farmers that are that like small to mid-size farmer to be able to stay that bedrock.
How do you see that or do you see that as like a responsibility that you think about often? Or is it something that's just, you kind of grew up with so you don't think about it all the time?
Quentin Connealy: Yeah, I think personally I grew up through it, so I kind of got a little more love for it and kind of feel down at home just being a staple of the community.
But I think we are gonna have to venture out as some of these smaller towns lose some of these hardcore businesses we want, just like dealerships and parts, or we got decent amount of parts here, but we still have to go to the next town over Omaha. Omaha's has a ton of them, but even with shipping, I mean it's so much easier to get parts for shipping now.
It's not, they not to pay to go pick something up. They might be able to ship it here and have it in your next day. So there's all little things. I mean, and then you're starting to lose that older farmer crowd in town. There's not 15, 20 farmers sitting at the co-op, or there's still a little bit at the convenience store.
So you get kind of the, you get a little convenience store still, but you kinda lose more of those as you go to, they get older or move out of town and so they'll go to the Metro just to be more comfortable and not have to deal with our winners and stuff out here in the sticks. So it is gonna be a hurdle.
I see it being a problem. I mean, I think your core is gonna be there and then as long as you got some restaurants and something to keep everybody in town and keep people gathering where they can still see each other, 'cause even like we saw through COVID, we're still tying over there. It's harder to get people together still.
We just don't get together like we used to. We're kind of busting out of it, but that's not what it was to you before pre-2020. So that is a big hurdle. And keep that in mind. I mean, you're just, you're able to shipping and just getting parts is so much easier that you might lose those staples in town.
So you prep for it and have some ideas on how, what you're, what you do if you do lose something in town. That's probably the best answer I got for you.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, that makes sense. What have you seen work well for getting new farmers into the industry? Because there's kind of that gap. There's people who want to farm and then there's people who are farming, and the gap can, it seems like it's widening the more expensive things get, but there are still those people who wanna farm. It's just how do we get them there? You know what I mean?
Quentin Connealy: Right. Yeah. I think, getting 'em in with the right banker and then working with FSA to get those beginner farm loans. Keep your interest rate low when you can, and get some of those first acreages bought maybe, or get some, get it.
The far hardest part, just like when I started, my dad wouldn't co-sign for me. He is like, “You're gonna do this on your own.” So I went and got a guaranteed loan through FSA. So they put the guarantee on mine that I'll pay it back. So that was a good way to jump. Gonna jump into that. And I had a good banker that worked with him for a while and still with him today.
So just, yeah, support your small town banks too. And then, I mean, it's all that stuff. I mean, and then, I don't know, sometimes it's just, I don't know if you can put an ad in the paper or even just like social media now. I mean if you wanna farm somewhere, you put something on social media, there's some guys on there that'll connect you with a farmer that's maybe ready to push it over.
Well, whether you have to go work for 'em for a year or two or maybe five, but at least they started there and they're trying to help you. 'Cause if you have that mentor with you for a while, just to get your bearings, 'cause I hate to throw somebody fresh outta college, straight on the farm that's never been there.
So you might have the education behind it and you're way smarter than any farmer out there, but until you get out there and get in the dirt and realize how your dirt works with all this education, I mean, you might be behind for a little bit. So keep those mentors close and find somebody knowledgeable to jump in with.
And then, yeah, just like, like we touched on earlier, don't be afraid to ask, 'cause like the networks are small. I mean, somebody's always looking for a new farmer or new help, and now you have to start helping hand on the farm. And now you might transition to the owner. So there's all kinds of ideas and you never know what can happen out there. So ask the hard questions and try to get it figured out.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, that's very good advice. That's very good advice. Well, perfect. I don't wanna take up a whole lot more time. It's been really fun. I'm sure we'll do another one down the road. I think we'll bring Landon in as well. I think that would be fun.
Quentin Connealy: Got to meet him too.
Brian Kearney: Yeah. Yeah, that farm Con was cool.
Quentin Connealy: I was jealous. He got to plant seed corn the other day. We lost our seed corn acres. They kind of came over from Iowa for a while after the flood, but they didn't need our acres over here anymore 'cause it was too far for 'em. But I got to plant just enough of it. I was like, this is kind of cool. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but it's still kind of cool.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, it's what you have to do is kind of ridiculous. But the premium helps. So yeah, DeKalb County, easy place to get some seed corn acres. But, we'll definitely need to do that. But I think the last question I'd like to leave is your advice for people that are just graduating college, that are looking at the industry as a whole, not necessarily just farming, but they know they want to be in the ag industry.
What would you recommend they do to make that decision or look for the right company or the right farm or the right part of the industry? 'Cause it's pretty diverse. Yep.
Quentin Connealy: Yep. Just, find a real company. Somebody you can talk to, gets real data out there and make sure, like we talked about earlier, not full of crap, and then learn how to sell.
I mean, that's one thing I wish I would've done. I'm just probably a little too thin skinned and too quiet. I'm actually pretty introverted. This is probably one of the first ones I opened up and I'm getting better at. It took a few years, but I'm actually a pretty big introvert, not a very good salesman, so that's why I stuck to the marketing.
But yeah, learn those sales roles, talk to the right people. Start your network early. You're gonna find the right, you're gonna find the right niche, the right spot you wanna be in. Just keep asking the questions, keep searching, and then get connected to the right people. And then I think there's a lot of potential out here still.
There's still a lot of companies firing up and then there's still a lot of good companies here that you can jump in with. I mean, they're all kind of getting a little more corporate, good or bad. I mean, you'll find your spot. You can get up in the big corporate and be a number and be active and find your worth.
Maybe you're just learning, but it might be a good spot to get your feet wet. And then you go somewhere else where you're a little more close to home, more homely feel, and you got, almost feels like your friends working with you. So, and then you just keep building that team, network team. So I'm a big team guy, so you just find the right people and it just keeps, but from there, keeps going.
So you start connecting to more and more. And then right now, I mean I got a pretty good ring around me and keep a good hold on me and whole makes the whole operation go round. 'cause I can't, I tried doing it when I came back, like five years after I got outta college, I was like, “I can handle this all.”
And then I start losing my butt and some of the marketing and stuff and I was like, “This hurts.” So I've seen rock bottom and I've built a pretty decent operation. Now I'm back to feeling comfortable. I mean, we're still playing with four, $4.50 corn here. Not super comfortable right now. You gotta watch your operating notes and make sure everything's, money's flowing. So, but yeah, you get it figured out.
Brian Kearney: Better than sub-four corns. Like we saw a couple times that was–
Quentin Connealy: Oh gosh. Yeah.
Brian Kearney: Yeah, exactly.
Quentin Connealy: So yeah, I think the first bushel of corn I sold was like 2.86 when I got back outta college. So that was my first year I rented a farm and I was like, my dad's like, “Did you sell any grain yet?”
And I was like, “No, you can't store it all.” So yeah, you just, there are all kinds of things you don't think about when you come back to the farm that you gotta have every, all this in place. And sometimes, your mentor might not tell you 'cause they've been doing it for 40 or 50 years, like, oh surprise, you get to sell this little bit of bushels for hopefully whatever bottom you guys. But I think I officially sold 2.80 something corn and I officially sold $8 corn. So pretty big.
Brian Kearney: Oh, you got both ends. Both ends really.
Quentin Connealy: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. The old drought and floods. Yeah. Drought, floods years. But yeah, one every 10 years you hit a home run, so.
Brian Kearney: Right. Oh, that's awesome. Well, perfect. Hey, Q. Thanks for the time today. It has been really cool. Appreciate it. And we'll put some information in the show note to link so they can see that combine and they can connect with you on LinkedIn or Twitter, wherever they prefer.
Quentin Connealy: Yep. Sounds good. Appreciate it. Good talking to you.
And that’s a wrap on this episode of The Land Ledger.
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