Dr. John Shanahan

Dr. John Shanahan

Director of Agronomy
Fortigen – (Tetrad Corp.)

John holds degrees in Agronomy from University of Nebraska (BS) and Colorado State University (MS & PhD). He joined Fortigen as an Agronomist in December of 2016 and previously held Agronomy roles with DuPont Pioneer (2010-2016), USDA-ARS (1998-2010), and Colorado State University (1982-1998). Besides providing crop nutrient management expertise at Fortigen, he also works with the Agronomy team at Farmers Cooperative, a Fortigen retail partner, who assists growers in adopting various Precision Ag tools for improving profitability and sustainability.

Fortigen is a regionally-based fertilizer manufacturing company that has built a Greenfield ammonia manufacturing and storage facilities in east-central Nebraska near Geneva. Fortigen’ s goal is to be a local supplier of ammonia and other fertilizer products to retail markets, which are otherwise challenged by transportation, logistics, or other factors. This local strategy for ammonia production will optimize the cost and supply of nitrogen fertilizer to growers in the region.

Wesley Hedges

Wesley Hedges

Precision Ag Manager
Farmers Cooperative

Wesley Hedges is the Precision Ag Manager for Farmers Cooperative. He utilizes his expertise in digital ag technology and agronomy to help growers make, economic, yield increasing decisions. At the same time, he focuses on being a good steward of the land for the benefit of future generations, by making agronomic recommendations that optimize placement and rate of the products applied.

Prior to starting his, precision ag focused, career 5 years ago, he attended Oklahoma State University and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant and Soil Sciences. He then went on to complete a Master of Science degree in Plant and Soil Sciences at OSU, with an emphasis on cropping systems. His thesis project was to evaluate various starter fertilizer placements and nitrogen rates in corn and soybeans to determine the most effective method of maximizing early plant vigor, grain yield, and economic return in the Southern Plains.

Farmers Cooperative is a full-service cooperative with products and services offered in Energy, Grain, Feed, Agronomy, and TBA departments. We are an aggressive company always looking towards the future and trying to bring more opportunities, markets, and abilities to our local producers.

The corporate office is in Dorchester, NE, with facilities in 60 other communities in Nebraska and Kansas. The agronomy department operates several warehouses and a distribution system located in DeWitt. We also offer GPS precision ag application and aerial application through our subsidiary company, Sky-Tech.