About Cropsmith

Cropsmith is a crop research and nitrogen management company based on the need to take soil nitrogen supply into account when making nitrogen recommendations.

About us

Why did we start a company to manage nitrogen?

We saw a need!

  • ~95 million corn acres in U.S.
  • Average ~150 lbs of N per acre @ $ .55/lb
  • 14.2 Billion lbs of N
  • 7.8 Billion Cost of Nitrogen Each Year

We're Growing!

Team Cropsmith

Cropsmith expands research capacity with TSM Services merger

15 January 2025

FARMER CITY. [15] January 2025 – Cropsmith, an independent crop research organization, adds diversity to its ecosystem by joining forces with Catlin-based TSM Services.  Soils in the surrounding Catlin area provide greater variety in conditions for product research. The main research building also provides an insulated conference location ideal for collaboration, education and grower outreach.

Tim Smith, President of Cropsmith, comments, “We are really looking forward to merging the two great companies.  We know that there will be great synergy between these two companies because we have worked together already for many years.  TSM was founded with a great mission in mind and we have been happy to see how they have grown and adapted over the years.  They have a great group of employees and we look forward to how we can continue to grow and serve our clients together.”

TSM Services owner, Larry Schonert, adds “The merger between Cropsmith and TSM will provide benefits to customers because now we can bring skill sets and expertise from several different sources [and] provide more timely planting, harvesting, and data assessment.”

Cropsmith Team

Tim Smith

Smith is the managing agronomist for Cropsmith. Previously he was a visiting research specialist in soil fertility at the University of Illinois. He was working with Dr. Richard Mulvaney and Dr. Saeed Khan on research related to improving nitrogen use efficiency in crop production. The primary emphasis is on development of the ISNT to improve nitrogen recommendations for corn, especially as related to site-specific application. He has extensive knowledge of the ISNT laboratory procedure. Smith has worked with Dr. Tim Ellsworth and Dr. Charlie Boast on the spatial and temporal aspect of the ISNT and sampling to improve map quality. He has developed Cropsmith's independent lab for the analysis of soil samples using the ISNT procedure. Smith has experience as a marketing information manager for a farmer owned cooperative with over eight million dollars in sales. He has developed precision application programs that benefited farmers by reducing fertilizer usage and increasing yields. Smith is a Certified Crop Adviser and Certified Professional Agronomist and has 20 years of experience working directly with producers on fertility related issues. He has wide-ranging knowledge of variable rate application equipment and software.

Jonathan Norvell

Norvell provides farm management and economic analysis expertise to the Cropsmith team. Norvell is also a farm manager and agricultural economist at the University of Illinois. He has held this position since 1989. His primary responsibility is the management of farm properties that have been endowed to the University of Illinois. Norvell’s current research interests include the utilization of GIS and varied rate fertilizer in farm management, biotech crop economics and the adoption of hybrids and varieties. His teaching experience includes co-teaching a professional farm management course in the Department of Agricultural Economics from 1989-1993. In 1994, he revised and taught the introductory farm management course. Norvell holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His area of specialization is Agribusiness Management. Norvell is an active member of the American Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA). He received the Society's Accredited Farm Manager (AFM) designation in 1993. He became a certified instructor for the ASFMRA in 1994 and co-taught the Advanced Farm Management course. He has served on many committees and from 1998-2004 he served as Secretary-Treasurer and Board member for the Illinois Chapter.

Larry Schonert
Jacob Froelich

Chief Executing Officer

Joe Lehnert

Chief Technology Officer

Connor Owens

Research Agronomist and Trial Manager

Leo Herzberger

Research Agronomist and Trial Manager

Austin Sherman

Research Agronomist and Trial Manager

Cole Hendrix

Research Agronomist and Trial Manager