December 2011 - Citizen Potawatomi Nation

24 HowNiKan December (Bbon Gises) 2011, vol. 32 issue 6
J.B. Pearl Sales & Service celebrates 50 years
St. Marys family continues serving farmers
by Frank J. Buchman - Special to the
Topeka, Kansas Capital-Journal
Knowledge plus service equals success.
It is a formula insisted on from day one by
J.B. Pearl, a Citizen Potawatomi Nation
member. It has been a half-century since the
St. Marys, Kansas farmer and his wife,
Eileen, worked side-by-side advising and
helping their neighbors increase Kaw Valley
crop profitability.
J.B. Pearl Sales and Service Inc. still is
family-owned and -operated as a full-service
agribusiness serving farmers in a 100-
mile radius of St. Marys. J.B. Pearl Sales
and Service Inc. celebrate its 50th anniversary
and showed appreciation to its customers
at a supper and program on
Saturday, November 19, 2011at the old armory
in St. Marys.
“Dad and Mom needed something to
supplement their farm. Dad saw a need to
custom-apply anhydrous ammonia, which
was still fairly new to the area as nitrogen
fertilizer,” said Doyle Pearl, who grew up
in the business with his two brothers and
two sisters. Today, Doyle and his brother,
Don, their wives, Laura and Patty, and their
sons continue the family business that
vaguely resembles the humble start in 1961.
“Shortly after dad started, he added liquid
fertilizer, and we’ve continued to adjust
and change as new products and technology
have become available,” Doyle said. “Our
children and their cousins grew up in the
company, too, and played ‘J.B. Pearl Fertilizer,’
while other kids were playing school.”
“It was really sad for all of us when J.B.
passed away three years ago,” Laura said.
“We still think about him and what he’d do
in different situations that come up in the
business,” Doyle said.
Eileen is in good health, lives nearby,
and has an interest in the livelihood of the
corporation, in which she played an important
part in its origin, development, and
continuation.
What never has changed is J.B. Pearl’s
business model, said Doyle, who is president
of the Ag Retailers Association. “We
focus on educating ourselves with knowledge
that we pass on to our customers,” he
said. “Plus, we continue to work hard to
provide the best service we can, just like
Dad and Mom trained us.”
It been a half century since J.B. Pearl started helping his neighbors apply fertilizer, and there
been lots of changes in agriculture since then. But, from that meager beginning, J.B. Pearl Sales
and Services Inc. has survived and thrived as a family-owned, full-service agribusiness. From
left, O.J., Patty, Don, Doyle, Laura and Troy Pearl are the second and third generations of the
business started in 1961. (FRANK J. BUCHMAN/SPECIAL TO THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL)
J.B. Pearl Sales and Service has been a
diverse enterprise. At one point, construction
of farm storage structures was a key
part of the business. Doyle was in charge of
that phase. “Although building grain bins
seemed to complement our company, it became
a conflict when structures were being
put up at the same time we needed to be applying
fertilizer and chemicals,” Doyle
said. “So, we dropped that division, and I
started scouting crop fields to evaluate what
was needed and how effective applications
worked.”
Don always has been the one in charge
of shop work, maintaining equipment so it
operated at peak efficiency in the field
when the time came. “Weather conditions
often determine when we work, so our success
depends on Don having machinery
ready to go,” Doyle said.
Of course, weather patterns are uncontrollable,
but other vast variations in nutrient
and crop additive requirements can be
controlled, at least to a point, with modern
technology.
Global positioning systems, known as
GPS, are a satellite-based operation used in
testing soils. Geographic information systems,
or GIS, analyze and compile the data
for each farm field variation. Ag Leader and
Greenseeker programs are used for maximum
efficiency with auto-steer and lightbars
installed on sprayers for hands-free
steering and accurate nutrient and crop care
additive placement.
The intent is to help farmers manage
their business by lowering costs to operate
efficiently and grow higher-yielding crops
with more money in their pockets when finished.
To better serve the area, Pearl’s now also
has a location at Perry, Kansas. “We offer
the same services out of there as we do
here,” Doyle said.
The present location on K-24 highway at
the west edge of St. Marys has served the
corporation since shortly after it was
formed. However, there have been many
renovations in that time. “Our office was a
trailer house for many years,” Laura said.
A three-year expansion plan is under
way, including bulk seed storage, a larger
maintenance shop and facilities to house
more dry fertilizer. The bulk seed storage
has been completed with four large seed
bins. The new facility also includes fully
automated seed treatment.
Citizen Potawatomi Nation
Housing Authority
The staff of the Citizen Potawatomi
Nation Housing Authority invites you
to visit their office at 44007 Hardesty
Road, three miles east of the CPN Administration
Building.
Get in-depth information on all of
the Housing Authority’s programs to
help place Citizen Potawatomi members
in better-quality housing.
Call 405-273-2833 or 800-880-9880
or contact the Housing Authority via e-
mail at recarried@ Potawatomi.org.