93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Anthony Montag--Montag Manufacturing
Montag Manufacturing is a family-owned and operated business that is a leader in sustainable agriculture and a testament to the importance of farmer ingenuity. In this episode Anthony Montag discusses the founding of Montag Manufacturing and the important role he and his family play in helping farmers in the United States and beyond be successful and protecting one of their most critical assets--their soil.
Nebraska. It's not just a place, but a way of life. It's 93 counties that are home to innovative individuals, caring community, and a spirit that runs deeper than its purple story. It's a story that should be told. Welcome to 93, the podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to 93, the podcast, where we talk about Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the people who make it happen. I'm Mark Folsen, your host for today's episode, brought to you by the Rimple Lefke Law Firm. Today we're joined by a very special guest, Anthony Montag, Vice President of Montag Manufacturing. Montag Manufacturing is an innovative agribusiness and a leader in sustainable agriculture. It has facilities in Emmitsburg, Iowa, and one in Seward, Nebraska as well. Anthony, our podcast is named 93, which comes from Nebraska's 93 counties. Seward obviously is in Seward County. For our listeners who appreciate Nebraska trivia, what's the prefix for a Seward County license plate? 16. There you go. All right. Anthony, thanks for coming in today. Appreciate it. Can you give our listeners a little bit of background on yourself?
SPEAKER_02:Sure. I'm the I'm the oldest of eight children. So uh grew up, uh, was born in uh Emmettburg, Iowa, and then grew up in central Kentucky. Um was homeschooled um for my entire uh K through 12th age uh education and uh grew up with dad uh working in the blacksmith shop. So um so a traditional blacksmith shop? Not a traditional blacksmith shop, but a fab shop. Um so uh farmers would bring pieces of equipment in there. Um dad would uh often build one-off pieces of equipment that were uh specific to some growers' needs. So I remember him building he built a six-row corn picker for a pioneer. He built some 750 bushel grain wagons back in the 80s, and I can remember um moving grain bins. Uh so yeah, it was uh grandpa farmed about 560 acres, and my dad and uncle both worked uh on the farm, and then they all three worked at moving buildings and in the fab shop. So, how old were you when you first attempted to weld? Ooh, first attempted to weld. Uh probably eight.
SPEAKER_01:I think today OSHA would uh not approve of that, but certainly I was about the same age as well. And to even to this day, I'm not a good welder, so I appreciate those who can weld. It's an art. It it is an art.
SPEAKER_02:Um, but yeah, um and uh emphasis on uh attempted. Um probably started in my early teens to weld a fair amount, but we were um, you know, it was it was just part of it the the shop wasn't unlike uh a farm. Um we farmed and we did for uh shop work on this, uh and that was just what we did. So that's what we grew up with.
SPEAKER_01:Emmetsburg, Iowa. I have not looked at a map. What part of the state is that in? North Central. And how did you get from there to Kentucky? You mentioned Kentucky in there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so my my parents had decided that they wanted to homeschool, uh homeschool as kids, and at the time it was illegal in the state of Iowa. So that used to be the case in Nebraska as well. Interesting. Yeah, so they moved to central Kentucky. Um dad had some business um agreements that made that a good area for him to move to. Um, and we lived there for 11 years and then moved back um as my grandparents were aging and uh continued uh uh actually moved back to the original farm uh home place and that's where we started Montag as well.
SPEAKER_01:Did you get any further education and engineering or any of the things that you now need in your business?
SPEAKER_02:I'm no, I'm just a product of uh a lot of uh a lot of uh willing people to uh give advice and help and then uh and listen to that. So um yeah, uh I I like to joke I have a I have a degree in Montag. Um it's it's it's great for my current role. It's not very transferable.
SPEAKER_01:So I have a good friend who used to um be in the uh the national intelligence space, and you talked about how they can uh give some kids uh$1,000 and they can buy things from Best Buy and on Amazon, they can build some uh devices, surveillance devices, things of that nature that are a fraction of the cost of what we pay contractors for. I've always thought we should do that with farmers, that we should gather six farmers, give them a thousand bucks, then go to tractor supply or wherever they want to go, because farmers are the most innovative people I've ever been around with. You give them a project or a task and you give them some materials and they'll solve the problem. It's just it's it's wonderful. Yeah, it's the tractor time, all that time to think. Right. So um how old are you, if I can ask? Uh 43. So the history you've given us a little history on Montag manufacturing. Can you when when did it first start?
SPEAKER_02:It was incorporated in January of 2005. So we'll be 20 years old here uh in January.
SPEAKER_01:And it started in Emmitsburg, Iowa. How did you come to have a facility and operate in Seward, Nebraska? Sure.
SPEAKER_02:I actually started in the country just on that farm shop. So started in a 60 by 40 farm shop um near West Bend, Iowa, and then in 2008 we moved into the current facility and just rented that for a number of years in Emmitsburg, and then had the opportunity in 2011 to buy the building and purchased it. And um so we've been in that existing building since July of 2008. And when did you end up in Nebraska? We moved here in 2013 and um uh officially uh opened an office in uh second half of 14 and then um rented a facility in Milford um for a number of years. Um moved into there in 2016 and then in 20 uh 22 we purchased a building uh on the south side of uh Seward.
SPEAKER_01:So in Milford there is a campus for Southeast Community College. Uh did you do anything jointly with uh Southeast Community College when you ran Milford?
SPEAKER_02:Mostly just uh uh administrative uh parts department tech uh people. Um we've done some field days or done some opportunities where they've brought students over from the local community uh high schools and from the community college. Um but uh it's a fabulous school, so um it's it's great to be by, but we haven't actually done anything um in cooperation with them at this point, more than that. So Iowa, then Nebraska, why Nebraska? So um Nebraska's always been a uh a large market for Montag. Um a lot of uh strip tillage and a lot of of uh just people that um are focused on managing their uh nutrients. Um so that's been uh always been a great market for us. So there was a reason to move here, um, get some parts department stuff here closer, um be able to support local customers, and then ultimately uh um the family uh members, the shareholders off uh all wanted to be more into the Nebraska area as well. So um so there was a strong pull for us to to move here.
SPEAKER_01:So how many employees do you currently have, just approximately? Forty. And how many family members are working in Bontag? Ooh, I think seven right now. It's a pretty good ratio right there. Yeah, yeah. They they have us outnumbered now. So I'm gonna ask you this who has better corn, Iowa or Nebraska? Don't answer that. I'm just kidding. That's a common question we get asked. We're picking on our Iowa friends. We certainly love them, except for when it comes to football and sports. So, can you describe for our listeners the types of products that Montag manufactures and sells?
SPEAKER_02:Our core products are fertilizer applicators. Um, that's what we started building. Um, and that's always been a key part of what we've done. And then cover crop cedars would be the uh uh second market of the wheeled in 16.
SPEAKER_01:So cover crops have become a hot issue. I I even on my small farm, we we've done cover crops. Obviously, from a sustainability standpoint, uh it's a fantastic addition. What is unique about your products as it relates to uh planting cover crops that you believe that gives you an edge on others in the market?
SPEAKER_02:Aaron Powell Just the the ability to interact with technology, so um rate control, um, being able to interface with the tractor better, um, applied maps, um just uh being able to calibrate and uh you know you know if we're just throwing out a bunch of uh rye on the field, then um it's not quite as critical. But if you're doing anything that's um, you know, a higher-end cover crop that you're applying, uh precision gets to be a lot more of a uh of a of a requirement.
SPEAKER_01:So I've done cover crops uh in beans, attempted it in corn. I will tell you that from my experience it's much more difficult in corn, and I assume technology eventually is going to solve that problem. What is the latest as far as getting cover crops into corn so that actually it comes out pretty quickly after harvest or right so that there's at least uh a decent uh cover, perhaps forage for cattle, whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_02:Um obviously if there's gonna be a forage for cattle, then you're gonna the management's gonna be easier. Um where it's hardest is when you're applying a cover crop and it's just going to be um you're building organic matter and then you have to deal with that in the corn-on-corn rotation. That's the that's the that's the hardest thing. And it's just knowing knowing that that you have to manage that differently. Um so you know, bumping up and putting a little bit more uh nitrogen on with the planter, um, making sure timely termination of the cover crop. Those are those become real critical things to to manage too.
SPEAKER_01:So what is your top-selling product? If the if the market says that's Montag, they're the leader, they have this machine or this implement, what is that? It would be our dry fertilizer, um, our Gen 1 dry fertilizer applicator. And what makes it unique or perhaps better than others?
SPEAKER_02:Um the way we meter the air is different. Most people just use a pressure potter inventory. We use a centrifugal acceleration chamber, and that allows us to be a lot more efficient um with the air, so we use a lot less horsepower. Um hydraulic power continues to be a a real tight supply on the tractor, has been for the entire history of Montag. But um the demands for um if it's on a planner, um uh down pressure and uh rose metering uh end up taking a lot of hydraulic requirements off, so um the tighter we can manage that, and then it's just a matter of horsepower. Um no one has an extra 75 horse, they just look to feed fuel to and throw away.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah. So I assume you don't have or at least officially have an R research and development RD uh sort of program within Montag, but how does development, how does uh innovation happen as you are perhaps working on one of your existing products and say, hey, here's a possible innovation or something, uh, adaptation we can do to that. How does that work?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, actually we do have an RD. Okay. Uh yeah, we have uh we have five people that work in our engineering department and they do um, you know, if we're if we're working with different OEMs, um obviously there's a level of of validation of what we're doing that we have to prove. Um then we do work with researchers as well from an agronomic standpoint to make sure we're capturing what's important. Um and then um we work with a lot of farmers um validating uh software and um product upgrades. So do you work with the University of Nebraska at all? Uh University of Nebraska owns a fortifier um that they run, and they do uh they do a lot of uh grower uh work with that, trying to get people to uh look at using cover crops and um validate that that works well. Um but uh yeah, that'd be our that that'd be the machine we have there.
SPEAKER_01:Describe the average customer of Montag's equipment. I mean what what's your customer base look like?
SPEAKER_02:It looks like agriculture. I mean it's it's a it's a it's a sampling of everything. So um typically it's gonna be someone who's focused on uh managing uh managing cost um um first. Uh so someone wants to, you know, make sure that they're getting every dollar they put in from uh from a fertilizer standpoint and getting a return on that. Um then it's usually uh usually secondary importances quickly follow. Um they don't want uh they're trying to avoid getting um the environmental side, you know, the wasted new uh uh over over application of nutrients ends up in water um or lost. So uh that usually ends up being important, which then comes in quickly with the cover crop as a as a as another backup to just uh to precision placement. Um so have you sold any equipment internationally?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. What countries?
SPEAKER_02:Uh Brazil, China, uh Australia, New Zealand, uh Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, um Bulgaria. Um so have you personally delivered the equipment, got a trip out of it? Um no I have gotten to South Africa and I've been to uh Germany and of course Canada. Canada Canada and Mexico being uh consistent trade partners for us too.
SPEAKER_01:So So looking at your website, it has the tagline healthy soil, healthy profit. Uh what do you mean by that?
SPEAKER_02:Simply just managing um managing the inputs that we put into the ground um on the fertilizer side to maximize their their benefit um both in building healthy soil. So um really focus on uh um being able to achieve an accurate application to a to uh uh soil sample. Um so that's really important. And then um coming back in that and building a healthy soil with uh cover crops so that you're building organic matter, something that's sustainable, um, that's going to help um be a more resilient soil to uh to weather the uh weather the next year's uh environment.
SPEAKER_01:So family uh knowing you first hand, family is very important to you. You have a number, as you mentioned, family members employed at Montag. How's that work? Some some families that wouldn't work, but I get the sense it not only works, but it's actually a huge benefit for your organization.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:No, it works very well.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I th I think I think people often look at it and uh say, well, it's just um it's either it's either the insurmountable thing that I couldn't do, I couldn't work with my family members, or it's the um on the flip side of it, it's gonna be so rosy, it's gonna be a walk in the park. And it's neither. Um family businesses have their dynamic. Um and I think it's just important to understand um understand that dynamic and try try to apply the golden rule. I I think I think the golden rule is the best business tool there is. Um how would I want treated out of this deal? Um is a is a is an awesome perspective in family or in when with dealing with employees. So is your dad still involved? He is semi-involved, so uh he's still involved in the business, some um comes in occasionally, um uh definitely pays attention to the engineering side. Um so when we're developing products, we still beat stuff up. Uh, and he helps. Uh he helps in that process a lot. Um and he's just got a great mind for being able to think of things outside of the box and bring a perspective that's easily lost.
SPEAKER_01:So and how did he learn that? I mean, I'm I'm always amazed at farmers, and they just they're so innovative. But where does it come from? It's just I I think it's trial and error, but I don't know. I mean, they they there there's not the fear of making a mistake that the you gotta fix the problem, so let's try a variety of things.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean some of it is I mean, he was just he was naturally good at it. Um so his his uh senior, no junior, his junior project in high school uh was he built a little skid loader, a little eight-horse skid loader that he could use to scoop manure.
SPEAKER_01:But about what year would that have been?
SPEAKER_02:Ooh, that would have been 1969. So skid loaders were not commercially available then? No. No, so this was a little uh and this was just a little one, oh um, about the size of a kitchen table, um, but it would go underneath the chicken house and he uh and scoop the manure out. And um, so you know, necessity is the mother of invention, and um uh so he built that and then uh then his senior project was he started working on that uh machine for moving grain bins. So I mean, who thinks of that kind of stuff? Right when you were senior in high school, right?
SPEAKER_01:So paint a picture for our listeners of what Montag manufacturing looks like in the year say 2030. Where are you headed?
SPEAKER_02:I think that that's that's an interesting picture um because um much in agriculture is changed or changing, and I think I think um there's been this drive to build bigger and bigger and bigger machines, and I think that's still a relevant there's still a push for that. Um, but I think we'll probably see um more of a coming back to uh smaller, more robust technology machines that um um you know probably 12 and 16 realm stuff is a is a sweet spot for us.
SPEAKER_01:So looking at your website, I do know that you do make some larger machines. There was one I how the largest boom that you have, what how how long is that? 120 feet.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my goodness. Yeah, 120 feet. And um, yeah, that machine will run, head farmers run it up to 15 miles an hour. So that's yeah, you gotta really keep on it to get stuff out there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's amazing to watch. I'd highly recommend everyone to go check out the website and look at some of the videos on their products. So what is the biggest challenge that Montag faces today?
SPEAKER_02:I hate to always say it, but it's the ag economy is just uh um it's in a state of flux with the price of grain interest and um and just uh trade. So um those are all all things that um impact the general ag economy and whatever effects that's gonna affect Montag. So that's our biggest hurdle. Um outside of that, it's it's just customer knowledge. Um being a small short line, um, getting that bandwidth out to be an asset to growers so that they're aware of um what they could do or how they could achieve um reduced cost in their operation.
SPEAKER_01:So well, we're certainly grateful that you and your family would operate a business in Nebraska, employ Nebraskans and be part of our community. Something that we ask all of our guests, what's one word that describes and explains this great place in which we live and work, Nebraska? Welcoming.
SPEAKER_02:As someone who came from another state, it's been a very welcoming place to move to um and truly uh truly for it to uh become home. So um it's been a wonderful, a wonderful place.
SPEAKER_01:Anthony, thank you so much for coming in today. Hopefully, our listeners enjoyed that. I know I certainly did as well. We wish you the very best, and we will continue to welcome you and all of your family members and employees to the state of Nebraska because we're again we're very grateful that you're here. Thanks for joining. Please keep listening to 93 the podcast as we release additional episodes on Nebraska. It's great communication. Communities, Nebraska's number one industry, agriculture, and the folks who make it happen.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks. This has been Nighty Three, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Ludke.
