Through their 20 years, the work of agronomists has only become tougher. When they first started their business in April of 1999, Roundup Ready technology came onto the market as a cure all for weed problems.

“The quote was: ‘We won’t need agronomists because Roundup will cure everything,'” Galen said. “Now as you look at the Roundup resistance we have coming through the nation with Palmer Amaranth, we actually have to do a better job than before because once these weeds come in, other than hiring manual labor to pull them out, there is no control of these weeds.”

The Schereskys weren’t always set on being agronomists. Bonnie obtained an animal science degree from NDSU with hopes of becoming a veterinarian before Galen came along and swept her off her feet. Galen has an agricultural economics degree also from NDSU. Owning and operating an agronomy center was something that was born out of necessity.

“I was a banker at the time and we were trying to get our field sprayed because we were farming and the only business that had custom sprayers were really slow,” Galen explained. “Long story short, I wanted to get out of banking and farm full time.”

Without the money to make that work, the Schereskys invested in a sprayer and started doing custom applications for three local elevators.

After a few years, they discovered that wasn’t the path for them, so the Schereskys built their store and started selling chemicals and spraying entirely for themselves.

“If it wouldn’t have been for the poor service at the other place, we probably wouldn’t have started this,” Galen said. “We could just see the need for it.”

In the beginning, people would place their orders and the Schereskys would deliver when they could. Now, Scheresky Ag works on a preorder system where they will start taking orders for the following year in September and October.

“The companies we sell for, a lot of their inventory is just-in-time inventory, so they are only producing what we are ordering,” Bonnie explained. “We have to be so much more efficient with taking orders early, getting that product in and having it on the farm when the grower needs it.”

With growers starting to farm more and more acres, they need to be more efficient with their time.

“The pace has definitely quickened,” Bonnie said.

The way in which people buy from Scheresky has changed as well. It continues to change more as they begin to deal with younger growers who are more driven by technology.

“They want to be communicated with differently,” Bonnie explained. “We used to deal with all of our customers either in person or over the phone. Then maybe it turned to email and now it’s all done via texting. Orders from customers are coming in via text and that was a faux pas not even five years ago.”

One of the Schereskys’ strengths is being able to adapt to their customers’ needs. Being farmers themselves, they want their growers to be successful and understand the challenges they face.

In addition to being farmers, the Schereskys are both certified crop advisors, a distinction of the American Society of Agronomy, and have been for 15 years. Being a CCA requires a lot of continued education throughout the years.

“We go to anything we feel that will give us a new idea or a new perspective from somebody,” Bonnie said.

The agronomy business is now entering a time where growers have a plethora of buying options whether it be the internet or the fact that people are more willing to travel 40 miles down the road.

“That’s another thing we really have to respond to and always be aware of what value we are bringing to that grower that someone else can’t do,” Bonnie said. “That has to be our focus. What are we providing them that the next guy can’t?”

For the Schereskys, the service and knowledge provided by Scheresky Ag Service is something that can’t be matched by the internet or someone who is a cash and carry.

“Our belief is if our customers are profitable, we will be profitable, so how do we get them to be as efficient and as profitable as they can be,” Bonnie said.

Over the years, the Schereskys have had a couple companies that have stood behind them, one of them being West Central Chemical in Minot. In the way these companies have stood behind them, they do the same for their growers.

“Farmers have a lot of hats — they get to market their grain, they get to fix their equipment, they get to seed it, they get to deal with all those items and deal with hired help,” Galen said. “We work on a small part of their farm and keeping their chemicals, seed and fertilizer right…We feel if we can take some pressure off of them by crop scouting and them knowing what’s in the field, that allows them time for the marketing and for everything else.”

To keep up with the younger generations of growers, Scheresky Ag Service has maintained a strong social media presence with video updates from fields to blogposts.

“It’s amazing to watch the responses when you do those little things,” Galen said. “It doesn’t take much for a blogpost to make it work and yet if the farmer can get one relevant thing out of that little post, good deal. The videos and stuff, it just makes them smile.”

It presents the information in a way the customers want to see it, an idea that was brought up by some of the younger employees to Galen and Bonnie.

They also keep their topics relevant to the time of year. They “sure as heck” aren’t talking or writing about fertilizer in July. For the month they are in, they are updating and reminding farmers on what is or should be going in in their fields.

“At the end of the day, you can buy chemical, seed and fertilizer anywhere and it all boils down to the people,” Bonnie said. “We hope we continue to be the people that our customers turn to for knowledge and advice.”