Real Growers Farming Different

Farmer Derek Klingenberg: Famously Different

If there is one word that sums up farmer Derek Klingenberg, it would be “different.” When his grandpa migrated from Prussia in 1923 and settled down on a farm north of Wichita, Kansas, chances are good he had no idea the changes the farm would see or how his grandson would use his talents and out-of-the-box ideas to bring a well-rooted love of farming to a different stage.

From an early age, Derek was ingrained in not only the day-to-day of helping farm crops and background cattle, but he was also heavily involved in music, including singing in groups, marching band, and playing several musical instruments. After graduating from Kansas State University with degrees in Ag Economics and Agronomy tucked under his belt, he married and found himself back on the family farm raising a family of his own in addition to raising cows, wheat, corn and soybeans. But, his love for music and entertaining was never far from his mind and he eventually found ways to combine his love for both.

After teaching himself to play the banjo in three short weeks to contend in a local talent show with his two brothers and two friends, “The Possum Boys” band was born. While the group disbanded after three years and the other members went off to join a seminary, Derek stayed on the farm and decided he’d go solo, uploading videos of musical parodies and original songs to YouTube for fun. What was just a “fun thing to do” eventually landed him on the world stage, being interviewed on national news programs, spotlighted in People magazine and traveling from London to Germany to Nicaragua, all for calling his cows to feed while playing his trombone. Nobody was more surprised at the public’s reception of his videos than Derek was, and in the last eight years he’s racked up millions of views on his YouTube channel, which is the epitome of “different.”

In addition to a love for music, Derek has always had a fascination with all things space related. A couple of years ago he heard about the cutting edge satellite imagery that Farmers Edge offered and his interest piqued. He now religiously relies on their FarmCommand app in addition to their soil sampling services and zone mapping to help him determine biomass, cut nitrogen costs and make overall better input decisions for his farm. Having attended several farming shows recently, he says, “I’ve seen the flashy things other companies are offering. What Farmers Edge offers is the real deal and I know that, through not only my agronomy background but through having used their products.”

Out of all the Farmers Edge tools Derek has at his disposal, he says his favorite is their daily satellite imagery which is processed into multiple map layers to monitor crop health and variability. In addition to the information it provides on where to most adequately apply fertilizer (which is done remotely and sent as a prescription to his local co-op), he’s also learned how to judge the time when the satellite is flying over his farm and used that to his advantage to video his cows eating in the formation of images and words like “Hi,” a heart, smiley face and a cow pi. A self-professed “farm nerd,” Derek has found amazing ways to merge his own version of different with the differences Farmers Edge offers, to make a really big difference.