Walters Ag, Inc.

Walters Ag, Inc.

Misty Hillard
Chapman Jr. High School, Farmington

Larry Walters, the second child of ten children, was raised on a small farm south of Canton, and he attended Canton schools. His father farmed and drove semi trucks for Star Delivery of Canton, until he was killed in an accident near Chicago.

At sixteen, Larry took over farming and helping his mother raise rabbits, which they sold. He also helped his uncle on his farm until he got married in 1964 to Marilyn Martin. Then Larry went to work for Glenn Werry, the same man his father had worked for at Star Delivery. Larry planted crops, spread fertilizer, sprayed the chemicals on the fields, and harvested the crops. When he was not doing field work he took care of the Polled Hereford cattle. He also put hay in the barns during the summer and repaired equipment. In 1974 Larry changed jobs and went to work at the local fertilizer plant, Standard Oil.

During the 1960s Pete Stutsman started as manager at Amoco's Farmington plant located on West Fort Street. During this time, railroads transported most of the products used at the plant, and it was possible to receive fertilizers.

In the late 1960s Standard Oil leased farmland from Marion Holdridge. This property was for the plant to be built. It was located one mile west of Farmington on Route 116. Larry Walters became assistant manager in 1974, and additional help was needed. Conditions were changing in the farming world; liquid fertilizers and anhydrous ammonia were the products that the plant handled. In the

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farm equipment
Larry Walters uses modern equipment like that shown here to economize on the time that it takes to tend crops.

spring, Pete and Larry applied liquid fertilizer and chemicals called "weed and feed" on the fields.

Every spring, Pete and Larry worked from dawn to dusk, spraying fields and delivering anhydrous ammonia to farmers. Occasionally after dark their equipment needed repair. They worked on equipment until everything was ready for the next morning.

Chemicals came in five-gallon cans that were very heavy and hard to handle. Everything had to be mixed and put in the tanks from the heavy cans. As time went on, the cans were changed to two-and-one-half-gallon containers. Electronic monitors were added to spray trucks to improve the application rates. Prior to this time, all monitoring was done by the speed the driver drove and the pressure at which the chemicals were applied.

In 1983 a major change occurred at the plant. Amoco decided that it no longer wanted to be in the fertilizer business. Pete had enough time with Standard Oil and retired at age 60. Amoco sold all of the fertilizer plants to Scoular Grain, a company based in Nebraska. Larry was given the option to purchase the equipment and the buildings at the Farmington plant or look for another job. Larry and others purchased the plant. The name of the plant was changed to Cropmate Co. During the next few years, Larry added dry fertilizer, lime, and post spraying applications. His daughter, Julie, decided to go to college and major in agri-business. While going to college, she worked part-time at her father's plant and after graduation she started working full-time.

In 1990 more changes occurred to the plant. The federal government started requiring all fertilizer plants to conform to containment laws that the Department of Agriculture established. Larry purchased the farm on the south side of Route 116 across from the plant. It took three years to get the plant totally moved and in compliance with all the laws. At this time, Larry also decided to go on his own. Once again the company had a name change. This time it was renamed Walters Ag Service, Inc.

The laws require that a state inspector annually check the containment areas and log the books. Another state inspector is required to sample the fertilizer, check the analysis, and check the anhydrous equipment.

Julie's husband works in the busy season with the spraying. Through the years Larry's brothers, brothers-in-law, and nephews have worked for him.

Larry purchased equipment to try to keep up with the farmers' needs. Today, Walters Ag has up to nineteen-knife toolbars to put anhydrous on the fields. A large book is required to look up what chemicals can be used to help with each problem. The chemical application rates have gone from one gallon per acre down to .3 ounces per acre. More chemicals come in dry form, and some come in water soluble bags, virtually eliminating the use of containers. All fertilizer and chemicals are loaded on concrete so it can be swept up or washed to the sump pumps where the wash water is recycled and put back in the trucks to be put on the fields. The spreader trucks have monitors in the cabs, and the driver can change the rate of fertilizer by simply turning a knob. The spray truck's monitors tells the driver how many gallons per acre is being applied, how many acres he has sprayed, and at what speed he is traveling.

Farming and fertilizer has changed a lot through the years. Farmers once farmed 100 to 200 acres. Now it is more common to have 500 to 1,000 acres. Anhydrous ammonia was once applied with a five-knife toolbar and a 470-gallon tank. Farmers now use a nineteen-knife toolbar and pull either a 1,000 or 1,450 gallon tank behind them. The tractors have gone from International F-20s that Larry grew up with to Caterpillar Challenger tractors and other big tractors with 225-horsepower engines. The planters have gone from two rows to sixteen rows. In the past thirty years, corn yields have increased from 100 bushels to 200 bushels and soybean yields from 35 bushels to 70 bushels. In the past, farmers were grain and livestock producers. Today, more farmers raise only grain. Farming is constantly changing and will continue to change just like any other business does.—[From student historian's interview with Julie Edwards, Oct. 11, 1999; student historian's interview with Larry Walters, Oct. 18, 1999.]

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