Why it matters
Advice is never free. Someone pays for the time it takes to walk your blocks, read your labs and write the rec. The only questions are how, and whether the way your advisor is paid lines up with what’s best for your ground.
The common models
- Paid through product. Many advisers work for a company that sells inputs. There’s no separate bill for the advice; it’s paid for in the price of what you buy. Plenty of good agronomists work this way. The useful question is how their pay, quotas or bonuses connect to what gets sold.
- Paid by fee. Most independent consultants charge for the advice and sell no product. The incentive is clean, and since they don’t carry inputs, pricing out the recommendation lands on you.
- Paid on service. A per-acre service fee pays for the advice, and the advisor’s pay is tied to that service, not to product. Inputs are available at fair prices, and optional. That’s our model.
Five questions to ask
- How are you paid, and is any part of it tied to what I buy?
- Do you have sales quotas, or supplier rebates to hit?
- What does the advice cost me per acre, in writing?
- When you recommend a product, where does the price come from?
- Can I buy my inputs anywhere without the recommendation changing?
What a good answer sounds like
Plain, quick and willing to go in writing. If an advisor has to think hard about how they’re paid, that’s an answer too.
Our answer: $52.50 per acre per year for full-service PCA and CCA agronomy. Our agronomists are paid on service, never on product. No product commissions, no quotas. Buy your inputs anywhere; the recommendation doesn’t change.