Business
Farmers Edge Precision Consulting: A leader in the field - Wade Barnes and Curtis MacKinnon win BDC's Young Entrepreneur Award for Manitoba
Farmers Edge Precision Consulting: A leader in the field - Wade Barnes and Curtis MacKinnon win B...
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[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nOct. 20, 2009 (Canada NewsWire Group) -- PILOT MOUND, MB, Oct. 20 /CNW Telbec/ -- Farmers were so impressed with an innovative crop fertilization service developed by Curtis MacKinnon and Wade Barnes that they urged them to take it to market, giving them the push they needed to strike out on their own. Since that initial start four years ago, Farmers Edge Precision Consulting has become a fast-growing business that is helping farmers across the Prairies and as far away as Russia improve their practices and profits. For this success, Wade, 34, and Curtis, 33, have won BDC's Young Entrepreneur Award for Manitoba and will be honoured tonight at a ceremony in Ottawa.Farmers Edge helps take the guesswork out of farming. It combines remote sensing equipment and technology to redefine how farmers apply fertilizer to their fields to increase crop yields. The business is helping grain and oilseed farmers increase their profits by $15 to $100 per acre, while contributing to a 15 to 25% decrease in fertilizer application. Now covering 750,000 acres across the Prairies, Farmers Edge has grown to 10 management partners, 34 full-time and 11 seasonal employees, along with 17 consulting partners who are re-sellers of the services. Farmers Edge has just opened its own soil-testing laboratory, has taken its concept to large corporate farms in Russia and is constantly exploring new ideas.Spreading the word\"Before we got started, I was working in the fertilizer business, where research had been done on variable rate technology, but no one had found a way to make it viable,\" explains Wade. \"Then I started working with Curtis, who is gifted in technology, and together we decided to re=-invent the wheel.\" Wade hit on the idea of using remote sensing to map out the varying fertilizer needs throughout a field, and Curtis found a way to make fertilizer machines vary their output according to that map. When farmers saw what Farmers Edge could do, the service sold itself.The two agronomy experts attribute the fast growth of Farmers Edge to the talented team and the unique ownership model they have put in place. That includes a design whereby territory managers take equity in the company. \"We have been fortunate to find key people who share our drive,\" says Curtis. \"That has allowed us to keep growing and expanding.\"Curtis and Wade see expan...