On Danny Hicks; stalwart simplicity
The truth of the matter is that if there were no Danny Hicks, there would likely be no FieldLab.
My partner Anders and I both came up in the contract ag research industry with the distinct advantage of learning from Danny as our primary mentor and most reliable friend. When we parted ways with our previous employer and decided to start FieldLab, it was an obvious choice to pursue Danny as the third active member of our business. He swore he’d never retire and we tried to call his bluff. Now, well into our 4th season as a company, and 11th season as a team, we can hardly explain what it means that we have access to over 55 years of experience and proven reliability in the man that we call The Dan Hicks.
After Spending a year at International Mineral Company, Dan moved to a position at Shell AgChem where he worked in the entomology department for 19 years. He later served as the primary field investigator at Hulst Research Farm Services for 31 years, where he ended up meeting the likes of Anders and I. We spent 7 of those years working together, and when the day arrived signaling the closure of Hulst Research, we convened our first critically important impromptu meeting with Danny. We were convinced that we should start our own ag research company, and we knew that we’d be hard pressed to find a candidate even remotely comparable to Danny who could collaborate with us, providing guidance and support in our new venture. Danny never hesitated, and it was his affirmative decision that forged the beginnings of FieldLab.
Dan represents a kind of work ethic that is increasingly rare. It is the kind of ethic that doesn’t take sick days, and doesn’t care what the temperature is outside when work beckons. It’s this ethic that puts Danny in the office on a Sunday afternoon counting mites, when he could be doing just about anything else. His loyalty to our team warrants more than a short biography, and any attempt to explain the importance of his role seems futile and nearly impossible. Danny is like an almanac wrapped in an encyclopedia when it comes to knowledge of our wide ranging ag ecosystem. His stalwart lifestyle has him squarely situated as the first to arrive and the last to leave. When we agree to start work at 06:00 Danny is in the office at 04:50 reading the paper, drinking coffee; cream, no sugar. He understands the importance of burning daylight doing the things that matter. He speaks with a simplicity and subtle confidence that is uniquely refreshing and always reassuring. When the busy season starts, he reminds us to maintain focus and avoid complacency. Our ability to execute field experiments from the first application to the last evaluation is built from a decade of working alongside a guy who has dedicated his career to maintaining relentless standards for quality and consistency. Danny has a deep and continuous curiosity about the crops and pests that we study, which makes him an irreplaceable member of FieldLab. On many occasions, I have driven through the property and discovered Dan deep in concentration in the middle of an orchard, squatted down and peering through a jeweler’s loop at a tiny egg mass on the backside of a leaf. He frequently comes into the office with a specimen in hand, eager to look at it under the microscope. He carries a nuanced kind of knowledge that can only be learned in the field, and he passes it generously to guys like us who respect and appreciate every technical insight, scientific anecdote, and historically accurate hunting story that comes to his mind. There’s an old saying about guys like him, and I find more and more truth to it as the seasons pass; they definitely broke the mold after Danny Hicks.
