U.S.: Farming Roots Run Deep and Wide for Ag Tech Expert Lindsey Ross
Lindsey Ross at her family farm in Potter, NE. Ross was the 2024 winner of the CropLife Ag Tech Awards of Excellence in the Precision Crop Adviser / Entrepreneur category. Photos: Rachel Collins Photography
Editor’s Note: The annual CropLife Ag Tech Awards of Excellence are presented each year during the Tech Hub LIVE Conference and Expo. Over the past few months, CropLife® has profiled each of the 2024 winners to see what they are working on currently and how being recognized as a CropLife Ag Tech Awards of Excellence winner has benefitted them personally and professionally. Below is excerpt from Editor Lara Sowinski’s profile on Lindsey Ross, winner of Precision Crop Adviser/Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024.
Now and again, fate seems to play a part in our life journey. For Lindsey Ross, that materialized in the shape of a job change at the beginning of 2025, working for a company that she has known for years.
Wyoming-based Burns Insurance Agency provides western states with a full portfolio of insurance coverage, including farm/ranch, crop, and rangeland coverage. Moving from precision ag into insurance has been a change — and a challenge — but Ross’ deep agriculture experience, particularly in precision ag, has not only made for a quick transition to her role, but a valuable one from the perspective of her employer and her customers.
Ross has been immersed in precision ag and agronomy for 13 years. Working in a new field, particularly insurance, which requires proficiency with an entirely new set of rules and regulations, took a fair amount of effort and commitment on her part.
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“It was like going back to school again,” says Ross, “and it definitely pushed me to learn and grow. I’ve also been able to teach other people about precision ag and how it integrates with insurance, so that’s been good.”
Part of Ross’ job is to work with programs administered by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and combining them with private insurance to tailor a solution based on each farmer’s or rancher’s needs.
Lindsey Ross recently changed career paths from precision ag and to insurance.
This is where her expertise in precision ag and ag technology is advantageous to customers because she understands how they can maximize the program benefits offered under FSA and NRCS.
“I really try and find that sweet spot for my customers, working with them to understand what subsidies are available through the various programs and policies, and helping them determine the best coverage level,” she says.
According to Ross, she is still executing a lot of the same things she was when she worked for ag retailers.
For example, “I am still calibrating equipment so that the displays read the correct amount when harvesting, plus tracking the correct acres in the correct fields,” she explains.
At the same time, Ross continues to play a significant part in “providing agronomic solutions for farmers who are looking for an unbiased opinion when it comes to working with retailers.”
She has built a sizeable client base over the last decade of her career, “providing trustworthy solutions for farmers to reference when it comes to their agronomic needs and site-specific management and how to accomplish that with the technology they currently have,” she says, which has included “helping them adapt and build their own rigs so that they can apply things themselves without having to get a retailer involved.”
Read more at CropLife.
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