Board Director Adrian Moens is far too modest when it comes to talking about his contributions to Farming Smarter. His long-standing association with Executive Director Ken Coles means Adrian watched Farming Smarter grow from its infancy. He remembers Corny VanDasselaar telling him about an organization that provided local agronomic research and that piqued his interest.
Adrian started AJM Seeds in 2010. He specializes in corn and canola seed sales with some grass and alfalfa. He likes having relevant information he can impart to his clients. He also likes to point them to an organization that can answer even more questions.
"I like that Farming Smarter's research is at a practical level," he says. Adding that he thinks farmers and agronomists want easy to interpret, current data from a local source and Farming Smarter delivers.
Adrian's involvement grew over the years. It started with small seed donations for research projects and kept increasing and diversifying. Adrian began experimenting with drones for scouting and photography. He uses the images to pinpoint field areas for scouting. He progressed to field mapping and uses drones to monitor plots. When he began donating drone footage/photos that help Farming Smarter communicate its work to the world, he became a platinum sponsor.
In 2019, he then took the pledge and joined the Board of Directors. After two years at the table, he sees what he wants for the organization's future.
"I'd like Farming Smarter to move forward without having to expend so many resources toward finding land and money to do its work. I'd like the staff to spend their time on the actual research."