The Journey of a Field Scout

October 19, 2018

Raised by University of Maryland Agronomist Mark Sultenfuss, Luke Sultenfuss grew up on the family farm in Centreville, MD, and inherited his father’s passion for agronomy. In addition to working on the family farm, the younger Sultenfuss works for Masons Heritage, an organic grain producer, farms his own piece of land, and raises his own herd of beef cattle at his home farm.

An Agricultural Business Management major at the Institute of Applied Agriculture, Sultenfuss, put his experience and education to work as an intern with Precizion Ag LLC, an agronomy consulting company that helps farmers in the Delmarva region improve their crop yields. He performed crop scouting, installed probes for irrigation and wrote variable rate irrigation plans. While scouting Sultenfuss learned a lot about marestail and Palmer amaranth, invasive weeds that present major issues for farmers.   Sultenfuss also furthered his knowledge of irrigation management and crop growth.

Sultenfuss enjoyed his summer internship and said he learned a lot about crop scouting.  “I’m glad I embarked on this opportunity to further my knowledge in agriculture,” he said.  The experience strengthened his interest in becoming an agronomy consultant.  Sultenfuss’ boss Chris Johnson says he was fortunate to have Sultenfuss come work for him. “He was a hard working young man with a big future in this business,” said Johnson.

After graduation, Sultenfuss plans to pursue agronomy consulting, increase his cattle operation, and expand his farm.