The Water Table
The Water Table
#109 | The Positive Ripple Effect of Drainage on Rural Communities
We’re on the road at a contractor round-table for this episode of The Water Table podcast. Jamie sits down with Ross Wetherell, a drainage contractor from Northwest Iowa, who came to the family business in a round-about way. From horse training in North Carolina and Ohio and doing horse shows in Las Vegas and Arizona, learn why Ross Wetherell thinks Northwest Iowa is the place to be; and how he’s using technology to help farmers increase yields, causing a ripple effect in the overall economy in rural America.
Chapters & Episode Topics:
00:00 Intro
00:12 Welcome Ross Wetherell
00:56 The history of business
01:44 Horse training
03:35 The hotbed of horses
04:54 The passion of family business
05:31 Drainage is cool
06:59 The ripple effect
07:43 The business plan
08:35 Rural Iowa is awesome
10:29 What’s exciting?
10:48 All the technology
12:05 I need pipe right away!
12:30 Education in the industry
14:00 Iowa is leading the pack
Guest Info:
Ross Wetherell is a 3rd generation drainage contractor in Peterson, Iowa. He owns Wetherell Sand and Gravel, a family business specializing in GPS farm drainage.
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Jamie Duininck (00:13):
Welcome back to the Water Table Podcast. Today I have Ross Wetherell with me from Wetherell Sand & Gravel, Peterson, Iowa. Ross is somewhere between third and fourth generation. A little bit of timing there that we're not totally sure about in his family business.
Ross Wetherell (00:13):
Yeah.
Jamie Duininck (00:30):
But their family has a good name in the drainage industry. And father Doug, did your dad Doug start the drainage portion of your business, or was that your grandfather?
Ross Wetherell (00:42):
My grandfather, Rob Wetherell.
Jamie Duininck (00:46):
Okay.
Ross Wetherell (00:47):
So yeah, it started with him, but yeah.
Jamie Duininck (00:48):
Yeah. Well, thanks for being with me today, Ross.
Ross Wetherell (00:51):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Jamie Duininck (00:52):
Tell me a little bit about your business and the history of it in Peterson, Iowa.
Ross Wetherell (00:57):
So we're based out of Peterson Iowa, Northwest Iowa, and we have a Wolfe 450 and a trencher, a Koehring 700. And we just love to help farmers increase their yields.
Jamie Duininck (01:15):
So your family's been passionate about helping farmers increase their yields and just make their land better. And you personally, I think it's interesting, started your career. You left home right after high school and did something kind of interesting. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that, and then I'll ask you a few more questions on how you came back, so.
Ross Wetherell (01:42):
Yeah. So growing up, my father and his side, they did farm drainage and sand and gravel and ready mix and stuff like that. And my mom's side, they did horses. So I grew up showing horses, and moved to Texas and worked for a horse trainer down there. And then I eventually moved to North Carolina and Ohio, and I started my own training business in Ohio. Ran that for a while, for five years, and then just eventually moved back to Northwest Iowa and moved back home to run to work with my dad and do the drainage and-
Jamie Duininck (02:25):
Sure.
Ross Wetherell (02:25):
So.
Jamie Duininck (02:26):
Sure. So tell me, I mean, just interesting to know, you don't meet too many people that worked in the horse business, in the training business. I suppose when you were growing up, your grandparents and your mother's side of the business, in order to do that and do that well, they probably traveled a lot. Is that right?
Ross Wetherell (02:45):
Oh, yeah.
Jamie Duininck (02:46):
Is that traveling to different shows around the country and maybe internationally, or just around the country?
Ross Wetherell (02:52):
Yep, yep. Just here in the U.S. But yeah, we did show horses. We did western pleasure.
Jamie Duininck (02:59):
Sure.
Ross Wetherell (02:59):
And so you'd travel all the way to ... I mean, when we were in North Carolina, we'd go from North Carolina to Las Vegas or from North Carolina to Arizona, for example.
(03:12):
But yeah, it was a very fun and it is very fun to do, and we still do it, just not to the scale that we did back then.
Jamie Duininck (03:23):
Sure, sure.
Ross Wetherell (03:23):
But yeah, you definitely learn a lot and meet a lot of really cool people.
Jamie Duininck (03:28):
Sure. Are those the hotbeds of horse shows and training is Texas and Carolina, or?
Ross Wetherell (03:35):
Yeah, I'd say Texas, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina is a pretty big one too. Just had a really good mentor there that I learned a lot from in North Carolina, so that's why I stayed around there for so long.
Jamie Duininck (03:51):
Sure, sure. Is that's something that just being in the horse training business and something obviously you learned, or you understood, maybe didn't learn, but understood from a young age, being your family was in it and got a little bit passionate about it. Is it something you miss today or is it more of just something you tried and decided you want to go a different direction?
Ross Wetherell (04:16):
No, I still do it. And I still have about four horses. My daughter has a horse, my wife has a horse, and then I have a couple outside training horses, so I still get to fill that need to ride horses-
Jamie Duininck (04:16):
Sure.
Ross Wetherell (04:33):
... and do that. In the spring and the fall, I don't get them rode as much as I need to, but it's still fun to do, so.
Jamie Duininck (04:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's not different than anything else in life. When you grow up with something, you get passionate about it.
Ross Wetherell (04:43):
Yeah.
Jamie Duininck (04:49):
And that leads me back to the family business and the idea that you're pretty diversified, small business, but pretty diversified, starting, like you said, with your great-grandfather, I think you told me before in 1937 in the sand and gravel business, and then got into ready mix and continued to grow as your family saw opportunities to better your family and to help others, got into the drainage thing.
(05:22):
And what makes you interested? What do you like the most, I guess, about the drainage business and working in that now?
Ross Wetherell (05:30):
Yeah, the drainage is just so cool, because you get to go to a field that nobody can even work in some cases or it's poor yield, and you get to go out there. And with all the technology and the tools that we're able to use now, you can confidently go out there and place a main in or place a pattern in or whatever size they need to fix the problem, and you can just make it a whole bunch better within 24 hours. Or they can go from not being able to get a crop in to, it's the best yields I've ever had. I just love hearing the success stories.
Jamie Duininck (06:15):
Yeah.
Ross Wetherell (06:16):
And nobody ever talks bad about it, ever. So.
Jamie Duininck (06:21):
Yeah, it's like they say with what you're talking about is it'll be a field they can't get into, can't plant, might be prevent plant or it's always the nuisance field. You end up tiling it, pattern tiling it, and the next year it's the first field. Even in a very wet year, it's the first field that they're in that spring, because it improves it that much and to see the yields.
(06:44):
And so I always like just talking about what we do, what you do, and what we do in our industry, how it makes things so much better for all of rural America, where we're improving land, which improves the yields, which puts more money in the farmer's pocket. And when a farmer has money, he's spending it on new equipment, he's spending it in the local rural grocery stores and car dealerships, and that money just continues to turn, which ends up building tax base and ends up just creating an economy that we didn't have in rural America. So that's really exciting for people like me, because I like living in rural America, and I want to continue to build that opportunity for others coming behind us, so.
(07:37):
So what's the plan for your business going forward? Do you have kids that ... Are they old enough to know if they'd ever be interested, or what are you thinking of, not yet?
Ross Wetherell (07:50):
No, not yet. Amber and I have Alexis, and she's five and a half, and then Brody, he's one and a half.
Jamie Duininck (07:58):
Oh, okay. So, yeah.
Ross Wetherell (07:59):
Not, not [inaudible 00:08:00].
Jamie Duininck (08:00):
It'd be pretty neat if you could continue that into another generation.
(08:06):
And another question I have, just curious, with you having moved around the country, in Texas and Carolina and Ohio, and now you're back in Iowa. Other than the opportunity and the family business, what brought you back to wanting to come back to rural Iowa? Was it family, was it the business? Were there other draws?
Ross Wetherell (08:31):
Yeah, that's a pretty cool question, because when you live in Northwest Iowa, you think everything's boring and whatnot. And then you get out there and you go live a little bit away, you're like, "Well, shoot, actually, Northwest Iowa is a pretty good place to live." So just the neighbors and the family and just, it's a pretty good place. Rural Iowa's pretty awesome, so that's another reason there.
Jamie Duininck (09:03):
Yeah, yeah. And was your wife from Iowa also, or not?
Ross Wetherell (09:09):
No, she wasn't. So I met her through showing horses.
Jamie Duininck (09:12):
Sure.
Ross Wetherell (09:13):
She's originally from Colorado, and we met, actually we met a long time ago, but we've known each other for a long time. So her and I, we lived in Ohio and then we came back here, got married, and then recently her mom retired from work in Colorado and now she purchased the home that my dad grew up in, which was my grandparents' home.
Jamie Duininck (09:13):
Oh, wow.
Ross Wetherell (09:41):
So she lives right there, right next to the shop, and then we live three houses down from her. So it's a pretty fun-
Jamie Duininck (09:49):
It's a nice lifestyle.
Ross Wetherell (09:50):
Yeah. And then my parents are out in the farm and they live like five minutes away, so yeah.
Jamie Duininck (09:57):
Yeah. That's great. Yeah.
(09:59):
Does your wife understand yet that people from Iowa think that everything that in Iowa's the best, or?
Ross Wetherell (10:06):
Yeah, I know, right? Yeah, that is pretty much. It took her a little while, but she's got it now. Yeah.
Jamie Duininck (10:13):
Good, good. Well, thanks for joining me today.
(10:18):
Just thinking of farm drainage and yields and what you can do to improve a field and to improve lives for farmers, what makes you the most excited about having the opportunity to work in this industry and be a younger drainage contractor in the industry and representing the industry in the state of Iowa?
Ross Wetherell (10:44):
Right. Yeah, no, that's awesome. So the biggest thing I see is everything's technology-related, and we're being able to overlay maps and find their wet spots, and not, say it's a higher area, it doesn't need it. Stay out of there. Go to this area. And overlaying, putting the yield data on that and seeing that.
(11:11):
And just, you can tell, like the other day we were driving by a farm, and I know this 80 is pattern tiled, and then it comes up to another 160 acre that is not pattern tiled. The corn is green, it is six inches taller than the other corn. I mean, it is going to be a much better crop.
(11:32):
It's just very cool to be a part of something that is that big of a change, and everybody sees it. And I don't see farm drainage slowing down at all. It is just picking up in Northwest Iowa and everybody's wanting to do it, so it's pretty cool.
Jamie Duininck (11:49):
Sure, sure.
Ross Wetherell (11:50):
It's great to have prints go to work with and have awesome pipe and be able to ... I can call Ken Skinner and I can get a load of pipe. Just like the other day, I try to stay, I try to not use my card that I need pipe right away, but when I do, it's there, and he will make sure it's there. So it's awesome.
Jamie Duininck (12:15):
Thanks for that compliment, but what do you think about education in our industry? I don't know if you've really faced a lot of that or not around not being able to convince people, or people not understanding and having to tell them about what you do. You're pretty passionate about it and you're pretty articulate on understanding.
(12:40):
But do you get that a lot where there are tools that if you had them, it would be beneficial for you to have more tools and more ways to tell the story, so to speak? Does that happen often where you're thinking that? If I had this or I had that, or I don't even know what I need, but it sure would be nice to have more?
Ross Wetherell (13:00):
Yep. Okay, so when I moved back in 2016 from Ohio to Iowa, I mean, I knew what drainage was and I knew we did it and stuff, but I didn't know to this level. So I would always go on the internet and look and look and look, and there's really nothing out there.
(13:18):
I mean, I think the Water Table Podcast, what you're doing, is an awesome thing. I'm watching every episode that comes out and checking on that. But yeah, just the more that we can get the information out there to the public and get them notified that it is a good thing. We are not doing anything bad out there. I mean, it's just growing and it's going to take off.
(13:46):
But yeah, you're right. There does need to be more education out there, especially online. But-
Jamie Duininck (13:52):
Yeah, and I think in your state, and Iowa too is really leading the nation right now in some sustainability practices, with batch and build and drainage water management and being able to affect the water and clean water.
(14:12):
As I was leading with a lot of effort from Iowa State, I was leading the pack, and it's going to be exciting to see how that changes our rural landscape and the whole drainage network within what I call the drainage U, which is really from Michigan down to Missouri and back up to Montana and everything in between.
Ross Wetherell (14:36):
Yep.
Jamie Duininck (14:36):
We're going to see a lot more of that in all of those states rather than just Iowa. So there's always has to be a first in some state to do it and people to do it, but then the education has to come along with it. So I'm glad that the Water Table can be part of that and you as a contractor can be part of that.
(14:57):
So thanks for joining me today, Ross, on the Water Table Podcast, and all the best to you in the future.
Ross Wetherell (15:03):
Yeah, thanks for having me, Jamie.
