Phone calls prompted former Johnson County Texas AgriLife Extension Agent Justin Hale to start his own business.
“As county agent I kept getting calls from people with five- to 20-acre properties needing someone to spray their stuff,” Hale said.
This because other area applicators dealt with larger and didn’t want to deal with smaller properties.
Such calls only increased once COVID-19 hit, Hale said.
“I kept thinking it would be cool if someone started a business that could take care of these people and their smaller properties,” Hale said. “That’s when I saw a market opportunity.”
Working from home during COVID led to cabin fever, which conjured thoughts in Hale’s head of small acreage opportunities.
“I was venting about it to my best friend from college and he said, ‘It sounds like we should start a business,’” Hale said.
Thus was born Ignition Land Services, which Hale and his business partner founded about five years ago.
“I started with my pickup, a trailer and a little side by side with a little sprayer skid,” Hale said. “And boy, I thought I was going to conquer the world.”
Hale initially declined job opportunities in Johnson County given that he was still the county’s extension agent — a position he stepped down from a year ago — to focus instead on Ellis, Hood and other area counties. The business grew to the point where he now performs jobs throughout Texas, including Johnson County, and three other states.
Hale discussed his company and life outlook in a presentation he jokingly titled “I have no idea what I’m doing” during Thursday’s Cleburne Rotary Club meeting.
“You can be educated, involved in the community but still wake up everyday not knowing what the good Lord’s going to throw at you,” Hale joked.
Such is true of marriage, parenting, life in general and definitely business, Hale said.
“I still don’t know how I’m running a business,” Hale joked. “I think everyone who runs a business wakes up everyday with either a hot iron in their side or a nice, soft chair that probably has needles in it somewhere. Everyday brings a new problem, but I just appreciate it as that the Lord is giving me another opportunity to solve one of his issues for him.”
Challenges and hard work sure, but the good outweighs the bad.
“Yeah, it’s a nightmare sometimes,” Hale said of running a business. “But at the same time, a dream’s a dream.”
Through Ignition Land Services, Hale crafts land management plans, performs consulting work for ranches through helping integrate technologies into them and other services, sprays, performs vegetation management and other services.
The company specializes in agricultural services to enhance land use productivity, sustainability and efficiency.
What he originally did on land soon took to the sky, Hale said of the introduction of drones to his business.
“Then these came about as agriculture spray drones,” Hale said. “It was like you have a top of the line horse and buggy then you see your neighbor drive by in a Model T and you go, ‘Huh,’” Hale said.
The introduction of drones changed his business, Hale said. More than that, they bring opportunity for younger people to get into agriculture and start their own business.
Drones can be used for herbicide spraying, seed spreading, surveying, mapping and other needs.
Hale said he and others employed drones last year to transport much needed food and supplies to residents in North Carolina after hurricanes and flooding left them cut off from the rest of the community.
Hale said he used drones to access otherwise remote and elevated inaccessible portions of a Midland rancher’s property to spray for weeds where his goats grazed. He spoke of using them to kill snails and to reclaim a 200-acre lake in Terrell that vegetation had claimed more than half of.
“You couldn’t get a boat in to spray and planes could only do the edges and knock back 20% to 30%,” Hale said. “We were able to knock out the nearly 120 acres of encroachment on that lake. That’s a cool part of the job is helping landowners reclaim what they have.”
Hale marveled at the speed of drone technology.
“I went to a conference eight years ago and they had one of these first drones, which had a 2-gallon tank and could only spray one acre per flight,” Hale said. “I laughed and thought the technology for this was probably 20 years away. No, it was more like four and it’s happening so quick.”
On a broader scale, Hale advocated for community involvement noting that though he’s no longer the extension agent he remains involved with the Farm Bureau as well membership on several boards and participation in civic activities.
“I wish some of these people who heckle on Facebook would come to Rotary, Lions Clubs, some of these groups and activities and be a part of the community,” Hale said. “I think they’d feel they had more of a voice in what’s going on. But I think that’s something we’ve lost is that people don’t know how to build relationships and network anymore.”
Hale also spoke of the importance of defining success on your terms rather on other’s expectations.
Which prompted Rotarian Sinclaire Newby to ask Hale his personal definition of success.
“To me, priority is my wife and kids,” Hale answered. “Making sure my kids know I’m there. My success is based off how well my family is doing.”
