Indiana Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) of the Year Award

Consider nominating a qualified CCA you employ or know for the “Indiana Certified Crop Adviser of the Year Award”. This award will recognize an individual who has performed superior service for their farmer clients in nutrient management, soil and water management, pest and crop production.
 
The purpose of our Indiana award program is to increase the awareness to other CCAs and their farmer customers that their service providers strive to do their best not only in making economically sound cropping decisions but also ones that are environmentally sound. With increasing farm size, complexity of management options, and increasingly complex regulations, we foresee farmers relying more and more on the advice of specialists who are CCAs.
 
The award will be presented to the winner at the Indiana Certified Crop Adviser Conference on December 15-16, 2026. The nominator, if not the nominee’s employer, that submits the winning application will receive $250 and the CCA winner will receive $1,500. In addition, the winner will be nominated to the International CCA Board for consideration for the International CCA of the Year Award with an honorarium of $2,000.
 
To be considered for the Indiana Certified Crop Adviser Award, a CCA must be certified in Indiana and nominated by a client, a colleague, or the employer of the CCA who knows their qualifications.
 
A nomination form, letter of recommendation form, and tips for completing the nomination are included. Please feel free to copy and distribute to those who might be using services of a CCA.
 
The nomination should include
  • Nomination form
  • Three letters of recommendation
    • one from the CCA's employer and two from customers
    • Three letters of recommendation may come from customers if the CCA is self-employed.
 
Nominations must be received by November 16, 2026. If you have any questions, please contact Mershon Tobin at info@indianacca.org.

Bobby Busick is the 2025 Indiana CCA of the Year! 

 
Trust guides agronomist’s work with farmers
The 2025 Indiana Certified Crop Adviser of the Year puts trust at the center of his success across a four-decade career. And he says it’s priority No. 1 for the next generation.
 
Bobby Busick
You’ll likely find Bobby Busick behind the wheel of his Premier Ag pickup truck.

A co-op account manager and 2025 Indiana Certified Crop Adviser of the Year, this agronomist has built his career from that seat, traversing his territory in southern Indiana for over four decades. He’s weathered more than a few tight farming years and navigated several company mergers, but his focus has remained constant for 42 years: Serve the farmers.

“It’s just something I love,” Busick said. “It’s just a passion I’ve always had.”
 
 
Setting his roots
That passion stems from Busick’s childhood growing up on his family’s farm in Orleans, Ind. He recalled his decision to skip college and dive straight into the ag industry.

“My teachers all tried to get me to go to college, and I said with farming, you don’t need a college degree,” he chuckled. “Boy, was I ever wrong. In today’s world, you need a college degree to farm.”

Instead, Busick completed the Purdue University short course for farming and then started as a backup fuel driver and liquid applicator for the Orange County Cooperative. He moved to sales shortly thereafter, where he remains today.

Obtaining the certified crop adviser title when it was first offered was important to Busick. It would add to his credibility and guide his agronomic recommendations when he was just getting his feet wet. But learning to connect with the farmers he served was arguably Busick’s top goal as a new agronomist, and he said it’s the greatest challenge for the next wave of agronomists filling his shoes.
 
Building trust
A volatile industry like farming calls for a heavy dose of trust in the agronomists, salespeople and advisers in a growers’ circle. Busick falls in that circle, meaning that trust was something he sowed from the beginning. He didn’t employ fancy gimmicks to gain farmers’ trust. So what did it take?

“The No. 1 thing is just being honest and truthful with them,” Busick said. “A farmer doesn’t care if you don’t know something. Instead of telling them to do something and being wrong, just be honest and tell them what you don’t know. But they’ll never forget if something’s wrong.”

Being down-to-earth with farmers is something that has always come naturally to Busick. Although he’s a salesman, he doesn’t only show up to the farm to make a sale. Rather, he’s there as a sounding board, an agronomic expert and a friend.

“Sometimes, you just need to stop and chit-chat,” he added. “You just need to be a guy’s friend.”
 
Just show up
Here’s Busick’s call to action for new agronomists: Take time to talk, get to know the growers you serve, pull into the farm or pick up the phone, and build trust with farmers.

“In today’s fast-paced world, the younger generation doesn’t like to take the time to sit down and just chit-chat because they’re always too busy,” he explained. “But yet, you still have to do some of it to keep going.”

Sitting next to Busick during the interview, Allison Jones’ ears perked up. A fellow Orleans native, Jones is a senior at Purdue studying agronomy and spent her summer riding along with Busick, learning the tricks of the trade. She’s seen firsthand how those diligent communication efforts pay off in building lasting relationships.

“We just have to keep showing up, even if it’s not easy or we don’t think we have the time,” Jones said. “But we just have to keep doing that to build trust.”
Showing up is what Busick continues to do — from that seat of the pickup truck with the same values he had on Day 1.

CCA of the Year Past Award Winners

Year Winner Affiliation Location County
2025 Bobby Busick Premier Ag Orleans Orange
2024 Erich Eller ForeFront Ag Solutions Huntington Huntington
2023 Daniel Kaminsky Adams County SWCD Monroe Adams
2022 Troy Jenkins Ceres Solutions Cooperative Rochester Fulton
2021
 Rodney Miller Crop Fertility Specialists Rossville Clinton
2020 Steve Smith Red Gold Elwood Madison
2019 Randall Warden A&L Great Lakes Laboratories, Inc. Fort Wayne Allen
2018 Bryan Overstreet Purdue Extension Rensselaer Jasper
2017 Bill Bradford Helena Chemical Co. Markle Wells
2016 Jon Peacock Pioneer Winchester Randolph
2015 Kevin Adams CPS Shelbyville (Selma) Delaware
2014 Barry Fisher NRCS Greencastle Putnam
2013 Andy Like Daylight Farm Supply Monroe City Knox
2012 Larry Huffmeyer Syngenta Osgood Ripley
2011 Brian Herr Daylight Farm Supply Chandler Warrick
2010 Mike Mace Ceres Solutions Brazil Clay
2009 Steve Gauck     Decatur
2008 Ray Kerhof     Hancock
2007 Darrell Shemwell     Posey
2006 Eugene Flaningham     Knox
2005        
2004 Tony Bailey NRCS Indianapolis  
2003 Greg Bossaer Purdue Extension Reynolds White
2002 Betsy Bower