UNITED STATES
INSIGHTS
National Agricultural Aviation Association
Meet NAAA’s 2021 Leadership Team The National Agricultural Aviation Association is pleased to announce its 2021 officer team, led by NAAA President Mark Kimmel. Serving alongside Kimmel are Vice President Jim Perrin, Secretary Sue Stewart and Treasurer Dwayne O’Brien. Let’s meet this year’s officers.
President Mark Kimmel (Mississippi) 2021 officer team, led by NAAA President Mark Kimmel. Serving alongside Kimmel are Vice President Jim Perrin, Secretary Sue Stewart and Treasurer Dwayne O’Brien.
B 2 | agairupdate.com
In the 1920s, the agricultural aviation industry was born. It started over a grove of Catalpa trees outside of Troy, Ohio, in 1921, but the service expanded its fortified commercial roots in the Mississippi River Delta. One hundred years later and with a plethora of progressive changes, the industry continues to thrive and evolve on this, its centenary. Appropriately, leading the industry this momentous year as NAAA’s 2021 president is a fortified, gentlemanly leader from the Mississippi Delta, Mark Kimmel. Those who know Kimmel know he is a thoughtful, intelligent, broad-minded and industrious ag aviation operator and farmer from Greenwood, Mississippi. And just as the ag aviation industry’s roots stem from this densely rich agricultural area, so do Kimmel’s roots in both ag aviation and farming. He is the perfect leader for NAAA and the ag aviation industry as the latter celebrates its centennial this year. Kimmel owns Dixie Dusters Inc. in Itta Bena,
Mississippi. Kimmel has two Air Tractor AT-502B planes and two pilots. There are seven employees, himself included. Dixie Dusters provides aerial application services to farmers in the Mississippi Delta. His pilots have less than a 15-mile ferry in either direction from his operation with approximately 40 customers. “There are more flying services in this compacted area than probably anywhere in the state, if not the country. Eight different flying services overlap within this area of the Delta,” Kimmel says. “We all have plenty of work,” he adds. “We have no competition from ground applications because it is so wet, which results in a great need for aerial application of inputs.” Kimmel also farms year-round on 3,000 acres, growing cotton, soybeans and corn. The busiest time of year for him is from September to March. That is when he is picking cotton, desiccating and cutting soybeans and corn, marketing his current crop, identifying what to plant the following season, and getting leases in order and executing the plans. Kimmel has been farming and applying using variable rate (VR) technology since 2005. He purchased the equipment 15 years ago for $80,000 and was one of the first to use it. In his first year alone, he saved $14,000 in fertilizer costs using the technology on just a 400-acre test plot. In addition, his overall yields increased markedly. He also used the technology on his flying service’s customers’ land, providing them savings. Today, about 20% of his cotton farmers utilize his VR fertilizer aerial application services. Kimmel was president of the Mississippi Agricultural Aviation Association (MAAA) in 2008 and 2009—and held all of its other officer positions before that. In 2014 he became MAAA’s representative on NAAA’s board of directors. Since that time—and as a testament to his ➤
