Matt Selenske, manager of Pest Pro’s: A Division of Allied Cooperative in Plainfield, Wisconsin, is the 2023 Wisconsin Certified Crop Adviser of the Year. The Wisconsin CCA of the Year award recognizes a member who delivers exceptional customer service, is highly innovative, has shown that they are a leader in their field, and has contributed substantially to the exchange of ideas and the transfer of agronomic knowledge within the agriculture industry.
For 25 years, Selenske has been a crop advisor in central Wisconsin. He holds an immense diversity of knowledge in his toolbelt. He scouts and advises on a large range of high dollar crops. These include but are not limited to: potatoes, field corn, silage corn, sweet corn, seed corn, soybeans, snap beans, asparagus, alfalfa, blueberries, strawberries and the list goes on. He works with over 30 farms that range from only a few hundred acres to over 7,000 acres. In total he advises on over 25,000 acres each summer.
When referring to a letter of recommendation from one of his growers it states that, “Matt is always researching new methods and technology and shares his knowledge widely with growers and other crop
consultants. In turn, this helps contribute to the ever-growing sustainability practices that are needed in today’s world. I always look forward to the grower meetings that he organizes. These meetings not only help everyone improve their successes but enlarge grower communication. He leads by example and is instrumental in helping the younger generation propel.”
Each year Selenske spends a large amount of time training and mentoring a team of agronomists. He also works with a team of 10+ summer scouts. Along the way he always finds time to advocate for the CCA program and encourages all his staff to work towards a CCA certification.
Year-Round Crop Advising Approach
In prep for the next growing season, Selenske works with hundreds of growers and coworkers. He helps them determine soil sampling needs and any lime or fertilizers recommendations. During the growing season, he is always looking for any problems and trying his best to find a solution. He can change his approach and recommendations to fit the widely different programs of each one of his growers. It is not a “one size fits all” approach. Selenske considers the different products and rates his growers use and he helps build a custom plan that works best for them. As the growing season nears the end, he helps with yield assessments. For potatoes he helps determine when a field could be harvested, or vine killed.
Once the growing season is over, he is still observing harvest yields looking at tuber size, quality, and yield. If asked to, he is also happy to advise on potato storage or any storage diseases that show up over the winter. Each spring he will have meetings with all his growers to go over how the past growing season went and how they can improve for this upcoming season. He takes the time to listen to any struggles they had and brainstorms how they can be changed for the next year.
