With decades of training and experience, our team of Grower Advisors bring you the insight and know-how to boost your returns.
We’ll work with you throughout the year to develop and execute complete solutions for your operation.
Take a moment to read a message from our team.
We are a team of seasoned agriculture professionals with an average 30 years of experience in professional agriculture. Our backgrounds include Technical Agronomists, Cooperative Sales Agronomists, Agronomy team managers, Sales Managers, Sales reps, Business Unit managers and corporate executives.
We all left the corporate world of marketing programs, rebates, pricing scenarios, inflated performance claims and lack of customer input. We left this world behind to focus on what really makes agriculture work; a focus on the farmer, making sense of data, sorting through cool gadgets to find great tools. It’s also our focus to help you raise the best yields possible; efficiently.
In today’s competitive environment, it is critical to know the cost of production down to the acre. What are the most efficient rates of nutrients by field and by acre? Are my input costs in line with other farmers? Are all my acres healthy? If not, why not? What are my limitations? Do I have acres that are incapable of being profitable? Do I let go of overpriced rented acres? These are all questions we help you work through; all while selling you nothing but our experience and knowledge.
The best part is, if you are not satisfied with our product, we don’t expect compensation.
— Our Team
Brian Frischmeyer, Grower Advisor
Grew up on a diversified family farm in Carroll County, IA. He attended Northwest Missouri State University where he earned a degree in Agronomy. After graduation from NMSU, he spent 10 years in the Cooperative Ag Retail system as a sales agronomist. He then joined Monsanto as a Technical Agronomist working with farmers and seed dealers to trouble shoot and help customers efficiently maximize production. Brian has been with Growers Axis almost two years. The role as a Grower Advisor enables him to provide the best advice possible to his client base without the bias of selling branded products.
Will Mullenix, Grower Advisor
Grew up near Red Oak, IA on a diversified family farm. After graduating from Iowa State University with B.S. in Agronomy in the late 80s, his first role was in S.W. Nebraska as an independent crop consultant in SW Nebraska. In 1996 he moved back to Ames, IA. to obtain an M.S. in Soil Science/Fertility while managing a soil fertility testing lab. Will went to work for Monsanto and relocated his family to Central IL in 2004. He spent 15 years working for Monsanto as a Technical Agronomist, Agronomy Manager and Farm Management Sales Representative. He has spent the last one and a half years helping to develop Growers Axis and consulting farmer in NE, IA and IL.
Mike Beeler, Growers Axis Lead
Grew up on a diversified family farm in Madison County, IA. Graduated from Iowa State University in 1982 and started his career with Pioneer Hi-Bred Int. Beeler spent 16 years with Pioneer Hi-Bred in Missouri and Iowa as a District Sales Manager. In 1998, he left Pioneer to work for AgrEvo USA; a small business unit formed to introduce the first transgenic herbicide program for corn. In 2006, Beeler reunited with a past Pioneer colleague, Dave Stamp, to help build Midwest Seed Genetics; one of the Monsanto seed brands. In December 2019, he left the corporate ag industry to join a 100-year-old privately held company, Wilbur-Ellis, to lead the Growers Axis business unit.
Dave Stamp, Director Business Development
Grew up on a diversified crop and livestock family farm in Harrison County, Iowa. Graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Ag Business in late 70’s. Over 42 years of diversified work experience which include: livestock nutrition & animal health, agronomy, seed, and precision ag software. Worked for Farm Service Coop for 5 years, Pioneer Hi-Bred for 15 years, Channel- Monsanto for 10 years, Co-owner of E4 Crop Intelligence 5 year and joined Wilbur Ellis in 2015 and has been involved in launching and growing new businesses: Ag Consulting Group, Growers Axis and Ave’Organics.
Troy Johnson, Vice President of Innovation, Wilbur Ellis Company
Grew up on a diversified family farm in southern MN. After graduation from South Dakota State University, Johnson has spent the last 32 employed in professional agriculture roles. He started his career working for Monsanto in field sales and advancing to a wide variety of executive leadership within the corporation. Johnson left Monsanto in 2003 to become the National Seed Technology Director at Wilbur-Ellis. Currently, he is Vice President of Wilbur-Ellis and leads the Innovation Group.
Ashley Langen, Administrative Project Coordinator
Grew up on a diversified family farm in south central IL. Ashley graduated from Illinois State University with a B.S. in Agronomy, B.S. in Geography, Environmental Science minor, and certified in Spatial Analysis. She then started her career with Dow AgroSciences in Kauai, HI as a parent and hybrid seed coordinator. After 3 years, Langen and her husband moved to the Amarillo, TX area where she worked as a Field Technology Specialist for Wilbur-Ellis. She is now back in Litchfield, IL on her family farm and working as a Project Coordinator for Wilbur-Ellis’ Business Development team.
Dave Handsaker, Business Acquisition Manager
Having grown up on a farm, Dave studied agronomy and animal science in college, earning a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State. He continues to operate his own family farm, deepening his understanding of both production and the business side of farming. He has a proven track record and extensive knowledge that includes strategic planning and analysis, organizational design, financial management, and leadership.
Over the past 25 years, he has led multiple operations, consistently achieving year-over-year profit increases. He has also successfully launched four businesses and led them through to strong transitions. In his current role of Acquisitions Manager, he has the opportunity to evaluate many businesses, identifying their strengths and challenges.
Dave has a unique ability to understand how all the pieces of a farm business fit together. He knows how to identify opportunities and bring in top professionals to make the most of them. As founder of Growers Axis® he attracted experts and partners to deliver business recommendations in the right areas for each grower. Dave is driven to support family farmers in developing their business skills, giving them
that extra advantage in these challenging times and beyond.