the mid 1990s. They said that at the time, NAICC
national board. (He is also a member of the Global
questioned whether Servi-Tech employees were
Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants.)
independent and questioned whether they should join
He said years ago, other NAICC members in
Mississippi and Arkansas started talking about Palmer the organization.
Bontrager was on the board for six years and was
Amaranth.
president.
“I knew what was happening south and east of us,
“I think if you’re going to be a professional crop
and I knew what
consultant, you need
was and wasn’t
to be in professional
working,” Poppert
“I think we have a responsibility to not
organizations. I think
said. “I had my
only improve our knowledge, but to have
we have a responsibility
growers ready for
relationships with other crop consultants.”
to not only improve
that.”
our knowledge, but to
He added:
- Bryan Boroughs
have relationships with
“When we have
Technical Support Agronomist
other crop consultants,”
those problems,
Bontrager said.
I don’t have to
Green added: “Throughout my whole career, I’ve
reinvent the wheel.”
always found it valuable to get out of my footprint and
The NAICC was founded in 1978. It has more than
700 members in 40 states and several foreign countries. out of my comfort zone and listen to the challenges
that other people have.”
Boroughs said he got involved with NAICC after
The NAICC has a world-wide reach, Bontrager said,
Clark Poppert and Orvin Bontrager encouraged him to
and includes crop consultants in the U.K. and other
join the organization.
countries.
“I really appreciate the professionalism of the
“I probably would have left crop consulting and gone
members of the NAICC,” Boroughs said.
to something else, thinking this is a young person’s
Along with encouraging education and networking,
the NAICC represents growers and crop consultants in vocation,” Bontrager said. “Meeting other older
consultants that have been doing this has given me a
politics and lobbies in Washington D.C.
different perspective. If they are continuing with this
Boroughs said he thinks it’s important that crop
profession, then I could, too.
consultants have a voice through the NAICC.
“You can do this for the rest of your life.”
Orvin Bontrager and Dave Green joined NAICC
— Blockchain from page 19
multiple parties. Each party has an identical copy of
the spreadsheet. When a new transaction is submitted,
each participant on the network receives an update.
When you post a transaction to that spreadsheet,
each of the participants on the network must agree that
the transaction is true or authentic. The participants
agree to verify the authenticity and validity of a
transaction, and once that transaction is committed to
the ledger, it is signed and cannot be changed.
“What makes blockchain revolutionary is its ability
to allow trade partners to do business with each other,
set terms that they agree on, and enforce those terms
without having to have a third party (bank/broker, etc.)
assuring compliance for each transaction,” said Craig
Cunningham, Servi-Tech’s Chief Technology Officer.
“Servi-Tech is applying blockchain with processing
workflows in our labs which will allow us to provide
better tracking and status information for our custom-
ers and ensure that processes are done correctly and
timely. We also are working on a project to extend this
technology all the way to the field in a way that will
help producers more easily participate in global trade
markets as they evolve.”
The Cover Crop Summer 2018
21