Lindsey excited about the future of agronomy

The Ohio Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) Program is honored to announce Dr. Alex J. Lindsey as the 2023 CCA of the Year. Lindsey is assistant professor of agronomy in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science at The Ohio State University. 

“Alex Lindsey’s commitment to the CCA program, not only as a member and researcher, but as a mentor makes him deserving of this prestigious award,” said Greg McGlinch, farmer and educator, who nominated Lindsey for the award. “Alex’s method of teaching agronomic research and practices allows students and farmers to apply the methods on a field scale.” 

Lindsey was recognized at the 2023 Conservation Tillage & Technology Conference in Ada, Ohio on March 14. He was presented a plaque and a $1,500 cash award, courtesy of the Ohio Association of Independent Crop Consultants, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and Nutrien. 

“Dr. Alex J. Lindsey has made a tremendous impact by nurturing countless young agronomists in becoming Certified Crop Advisers through applied and scenario-based agronomic teaching methods for years,” said Kevin Otte, chairman of the Ohio CCA board. “His dedication to the industry through teaching and research, and also through his service on multiple boards and committees supporting Ohio agriculture, agronomic endeavors, college students and high school/agriculture teachers certainly attest to his passion and dedication in serving the agricultural industry and Ohio’s farmers. We are pleased to add his name to the list of CCAs of the Year.” 

Dusty Sonnenberg sat down for an interview with Lindsey just after he was presented with the CCA of the Year Award. Here is a transcript of the interview. 

Dusty: Alex Lindsey is with me. He is an associate professor at Ohio State in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. First off, congratulations on a great award and your name added to a list of very distinguished individuals in the state of Ohio that have received this. Please tell us a little bit about some of the things you do at Ohio State?

Alex: Yes I was very surprised to receive the award and I’m honored to be the recipient for this year. At Ohio State I do a lot of research on crop response to the environment, particularly adverse weather conditions — so how crops respond to too much water, too cold of temperatures and how we can better understand what the crop is doing to adjust our management practices in response. As part of my job, I also instruct a lot of our courses related to seed science crop physiology but the one that relates most to this award is the one that I teach for our agronomy students and is their final course in their program, called the Capstone Course. In that course we’ve almost built it in alignment with some of the CCA learning objectives, so the students have the opportunity to synthesize the information they’ve learned throughout their college career and through their internship experiences, their work experiences. All of that helps to prepare them to take the CCA exam when they graduate.

Dusty: You said your research looks at adverse weather impacts on the crops and, my goodness, as we look back over the last several growing seasons across Ohio, that seems to be the norm. We’ve found excessive dry conditions and wet conditions and sometimes in the same year, right?

Alex: It’s always a challenge for those growers and having an understanding of the system is really important. Training the next generation of agronomists and helping to serve on the CCA Board provides me that opportunity to make those connections, help students think broader, bigger picture and more creatively address some of these challenges in a given season.

Dusty: What are some things that excite you about the industry and opportunities for a CCA?

Alex: I’m excited about the open mindedness of a lot of producers to try new things. It seems like some of the old ways of doing things are on their way out and we need to re-invent ourselves in some way, shape or form. That could be either through inclusion of new technologies, new ways of looking at data or the approach we take to crop management, what we plant first, or how we manage fertility in different crops given the different situations. It’s definitely an exciting time where we’re getting a chance to re-learn some aspects of agronomy.     

Sponsored by the Ohio CCA Program, the state award recognizes an individual who is highly motivated, delivers exceptional customer service for farmer clients in nutrient management, soil and water management, integrated pest management, and crop production, and has contributed substantially to the exchange of ideas and the transfer of agronomic knowledge within the agricultural industry in Ohio. 

Recent honorees include: Tina Lust, Lust Seed Sales & Service; Thomas Puch, Heritage Cooperative; Wesley Haun, Tiger-Sul Products, LLC; Don Boehm, Legacy Farmers Cooperative; John Fritz, The Andersons, Inc.; and Timothy Berning, Precision Agri Services, Inc. To view the full list of past award recipients, visit oaba.net/cca. 

For more information about the Ohio CCA Program, visit oaba.net/cca.