Meet Your Partners in Growth Series: Allie Cushnyr

Allie Cushnyr, Senior Agronomist

It is rare that people find their passion and end up exactly where they should be. Allie Cushnyr is one of those rare people whose career became a passion, or whose passion became a career. It’s a real “chicken-or-the-egg” situation. As the Senior Agronomist at Holloway Ag, Allie’s enthusiasm for helping growers shines through and her passion for advancing the next iteration of what agronomy can be is inspiring.

“Depending on where agronomy goes, the sky’s the limit!” Allie says enthusiastically. “I consider how soil sampling has historically been done and innovate with my team and partners to ask, can we do it better or different?”

But at the heart of everything Allie does is the grower and the partnerships she creates to get them better yields, higher revenue, and healthier soil.

“I always want to do right by them. The grower is number one.” Allie says. “The values of these farmers match my own. Going down this career path just felt right, like in the back of my head, I just knew this was right.”

Allie’s path to agronomy was not foretold. Allie says when she found agronomy, it was this whole other world that she had never been exposed to. Although she was born and raised in Bakersfield, she had never worked on a farm, or even knew agronomy was a career option. She started her college career at Sacramento State where she majored in civil engineering and was recruited to be on their Division 1 Women’s Rowing team.

“They wanted me for the rowing team, even though I had never rowed before. They said, ‘You’re tall and athletic, we’ll teach you how to row!’” Allie laughs. “I swam competitively for 10 years and was on the first high school water polo team in Kern County, so this was just water too!”

After spending her first year at CSU, Sacramento, Allie came back to attend Bakersfield College, where she took a plant science class that interested her so much, she changed her major to biology – unsure at the time where that might lead. In a twist of fate, while Allie was managing the pool at her alma mater, Garces Memorial High School, one of the early morning lap swimmers was in HR for Paramount Farming (now Wonderful Orchards) and he asked for her resume. From that interaction, Allie landed an internship in entomology focusing on navel orange worm pheromones, and she was hooked!

“This internship was the first time I drove a truck; first time I drove a quad; first time I drove a quad into the bed of a truck!” Allie remembers. “It was also the first time I got a pair of cowboy boots because I was tired of having dirty socks and shoes from walking the fields.”

Allie went on to have a total of four internships – three of which were with Paramount working in their various farming divisions, including some time spent at a citrus farm in Texas. The fourth internship was with Bolthouse Farms in agronomy.

Allie decided she wanted to go into agriculture while getting her Associates in Biology at Bakersfield College. From there, she moved over to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo where she majored in Plant Science. While at Cal Poly, SLO, she stayed busy in class and worked on the school farm harvesting crops and selling them at the Madonna Farmers Market.

“This career gives me a great balance of indoor and outdoor work. I could not imagine being behind a desk all day.” Allie says. “And I just really love the culture of ag. These are my people!”

Allie looks at farming as a mix of science and art. The data helps tell the story, but it’s not the whole picture. Things like rain fall, wind storms, and floods all have to be factored in. Not to mention the style and methodology of the grower.

“Farming is such an art. You can talk to 10 different farmers and they will all do it differently, but all can get great results.” Allie says. “It’s so fun and interesting.”

Since college, Allie spent time as an in house agronomist, rep at a crop protection manufacturer, and most recently, worked at Wonderful Laboratories as a Field Representative. Here she wore many hats, including new business development, agronomy, and marketing – including trade shows. Wonderful was growing their business with outside customers, and Allie built and grew that effort over the last two years. She had her hands in anything and everything that growers needed support with. At the time, the lab at Wonderful had two external facing divisions: Ag Chemistry and Plant Pathology. It was a one-stop-shop for the industry to get support for what’s going on with their field and get annual testing.

“It is the only agricultural focused lab in Kern County.” Allie says. “And the quality is great. I look forward to working with them as a customer in my role at Holloway.”

In fact, Holloway was a customer of Allie’s, so when it came time for her to make a switch, it felt very familiar.

“I really got to know the people at Holloway through our interactions as my customers, and seeing them at trade shows. We would see each other all the time.” Allie smiles.

Some of the driving factors in Allie joining the Holloway team is the company’s integrity towards growers and the balance it would give her between work and family life. She wanted less time on the road and more time at home with her two young daughters and husband.

“Holloway matches my values on not recommending any amendments that the grower does not need. Their honesty and values as a company are so strong.” Allie says.

Allie’s passion for the industry goes well beyond her “9-to-5” at Holloway. She is involved in a commendable number of industry boards and groups including being on the Executive Committee of the Kern County Farm Bureau Board, and is the former Chair of Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R). Her dedication to industry continues as the Vice President of the Kern CAPCA Chapter, where one of her duties includes planning their 2 large meetings a year. She brings in all the speakers, applies for DPR and CCA hours, and runs the event to support local Pest Control Advisors (PCA) and Certified Crop Advisors (CCA).

“I get the opportunity to see and learn about these ag industry trends early and can talk to my peers about their thoughts and experiences on these new things. It gives me a great opportunity to work with others in our industry.” Allie says.

And as if that’s not enough, she is also highly involved in ag education and is on the Plant Science Advisory Board at Bakersfield College and the FFA Advisory Committee for Highland High School.

“I always tell the students they can go after their dreams and go do anything they want even if they weren’t raised in it. There are so many things to do in ag.” Allie says.

Speaking of working with others, Allie is excited about the partnerships she is not only bringing to her role at Holloway, but also the ones she will develop to help usher in this next iteration of agronomy services for growers.

“There are lots of new products in this division and with regenerative agriculture being a big focus we get this opportunity to research and test new products. What will agronomy look like and who can we partner with to improve soil health?” Allie asks excitedly.

But for her, it always goes back to doing what is right for the growers and providing them something that is valuable, whether that is more money for their crops or better yield. She is not interested in selling something new if there is not a direct ROI for her farmers.

“We are still learning about soil microbes and how they work to support plants. There is so much to still learn about ‘beneficials’ and one of my jobs is to see if this is something that can be valuable to a grower.” Allie says.

When Allie goes home to her family at night, she still likes to play in the dirt and you can often find her in the garden, whether that is tending to ornamental plants or growing food in her raised beds. It is also important for her to show her girls different experiences and she and her husband, Matt, regularly take them on outings from the local farmers market and time on the beach, to the zoo and even Disneyland.

“I also enjoy golfing and am trying to persuade my oldest to get out there and play with me!” Allie laughs.

Well, she’s only five, so there is time… And with a Mom as driven and passionate about all the things she does, we have no doubt that enthusiasm will rub off.