Karl Wyant

Chair

About…

Karl Wyant serves as the Vice Chair of the Western Region CCA Board. He currently works as the Director of Ag Science at Heliae Agriculture in Tempe, Arizona. Karl received his bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Northern Colorado and later went on to earn his master’s degree in Ecology at Colorado State University. Karl received his doctorate degree in biology and social science at Arizona State University.

Q+A

What are the benefits to becoming a CCA?

“I needed a crash course in agronomy and agriculture. CCA is a great crash course in production agriculture. You learn the terms and it helped me catch on quickly. Everyone has a different way into agriculture. My specific benefit was learning this material quickly and getting a credential behind my name. Just like the PCA, there’s an identified need for a mark of professionalism, education, and experience that sets you apart from your peers. This test will make you learn a wide variety of things, that wide training comes into play. When you eventually come across it in the field, you have it in your back pocket. You know the right resource to turn to. Not your first time hearing it. With modern agriculture and regulatory hurdles and all of the challenges we face, you need to be broadly trained and the CCA is a great first step.”

Now you’re a CCA- What’s next?

“Once you get it, taking continuing education hours seriously helps you stay up to date. You can get hours in a couple different ways, one is to go to meetings to get a couple of hours here and there. The other way is read articles from American Agronomy Society, and take a quiz. You can also sign up for webinars. By mapping out a plan, you can pick and choose topics you’re interested in. For example, I tailor my hours to learn more about a certain issue. It helps keep you up to date on who’s doing work and research and who you can turn to when you run into a problem, especially if you work with a farmer or rancher who runs into a specific problem.”