5 Years of Assisting Farmers in Northern Illinois
Alexa Skirmont came to PCM because she wanted to work closely with farmers in a way that felt meaningful. Five years later, she’ll tell you the work has delivered on that — but not always in the ways she expected.
“Seeing farmers make confident, data-driven decisions is very fulfilling to me,” she says.
Alexa serves grain farmers across Ogle, LaSalle, Lee, DeKalb, Boone, and Winnebago Counties in Northern Illinois, working one-on-one with enrolled farmers to analyze field data, identify cost-saving opportunities, and challenge an assumption that runs deep in agriculture: that more bushels = more profit.
Shifting Mindsets
A few years into her role, Alexa attended a PCM event with one of her longtime farmers. She finished her presentation and then he asked if he could share a few slides of his own.
He presented his own profitability data and kept coming back to the same point: more bushels didn’t always result in higher profitability.
“Before working for PCM, I had rarely heard farmers talk about profitability as a higher priority than yield,” Alexa says. “Hearing him confidently share that message with other growers showed me the real impact PCM has in helping shift the mindset from chasing maximum yield to focusing on overall profitability.”
Every operation is different. Every recommendation should be too.
One of the clearest things Alexa has learned from the farmers she works with is that no two operations are the same, and her recommendations need to reflect that.
“I try to understand the bigger picture of each operation and what’s realistic for that farmer and their goals,” she says.
That’s the real value of a PCM Specialist. They don’t use blanket recommendations, but rather work to understand what a specific farmer is trying to accomplish, what constraints they’re working within, and what the data actually says about their very own fields.
When Farmers Call
When a farmer reaches out with a tough question, Alexa takes that as a sign of success. “It means a lot to me because it reflects the trust and relationships I’ve built with my growers over the years,” she says. “It shows that they value me, PCM, and the dataset we’ve built together.”
Her approach to those conversations is deliberate. “My role isn’t to tell farmers what to do. It’s more about being a resource and partner in the decision-making process. Those conversations are often where the strongest relationships are built.”
Celebrating 5 Years
Specialist tenure is more than a milestone; it’s a direct benefit to the farmers in Alexa’s region. Five years means Alexa knows what’s realistic for a DeKalb County operation versus an Ogle County one. It means she’s sat across the table from enough Northern Illinois farmers to know what challenges they are facing and the solutions that have worked for their neighbors. It means the next farmer who calls her isn’t starting from scratch.
That depth of regional knowledge is what sets PCM Specialists apart.
If you farm in Ogle, LaSalle, Lee, DeKalb, Boone, or Winnebago County and aren’t yet enrolled in PCM, give Alexa a call.
