United Prairie, LLC - Tolono, Illinois - Apex

Our Tolono facility is usually referred to as “Apex”. Apex was the name given to the location back in the 50’s when it served as a grain storage location for the CCC. Apex is located about 1/2 mile West of Tolono, Illinois on Champaign County Road 700 North and is the center for many of United Prairie's operations.

United Prairie's central offices, fertilizer distribution warehouse, anhydrous ammonia warehouse facility, 28% nitrogen warehouse tanks, and a full service chemical bay are located are all located at Apex.

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Main Office Staff in Tolono

Ken Bierman - General Manager
Dennis Bates - Operations Manager
Russ Dukeman - Sales Coordinator/Sales Agronomist/Certified Crop Advisor
Bill Harrison - Controller
Matt VanOsdell - Location Manager
Butch Bennet - Sales Agronomist/Certified Crop Advisor
Dennis Butler - Sales Agronomist/Certified Crop Advisor
Drew Mulvaney – Sales Agronomist/Operations
Aaron Grote - Technical Services Representative/Certified Crop Advisor
Cindy Cain - Administrative Assistant
Beth Flach - Credit Manager
Jason Lane – Custom Applicator
Brian Walker – Custom Applicator

Along with the office building at Apex, there is a maintenance shop, in addition to insecticide and seed storage. It was constructed in the early spring of 2003. In the spring of 2006, we added another building which is leased to United Suppliers as warehouse space. United Suppliers is a retail distributor of crop protection chemicals.
At our main office is Ken Bierman, the General Manager of United Prairie, LLC. Ken oversees the entire company.

Dennis Bates who is the Operations Manager for the entire company. Dennis has over 30 years of agriculture experience with more than 25 of those years being dedicated to United Prairie and its parent companies.

Russ Dukeman is the sales coordinator along with being a Sales Agronomist for United Prairie. Russ oversees the marketing and sales of the many products and services United Prairie has to offer.

The main office is also home to Aaron Grote who is our Technical Service Representative. He is in charge of Variable Rate fertilizer equipment (VRT), GPS systems and our crop scouting services. Aaron also serves our growers by assisting them with their GPS systems, yield monitors and any other technical assistance he can provide.

Bill Harrison is our controller and has over 20 years of auditing experience in the agriculture business.

Our sales staff at Tolono consists of Butch Bennett and Dennis Butler. Each has over 20 years of agriculture experience and are Certified Crop Advisors.
Cindy Cain is our Administrative Assistant, she answers questions you may have on your accounts along with sending out monthly statements and keeping everything in orderly fashion in the main office.

Beth Flach is our credit manager and also helps out with some billing responsibilities as well.

The Tolono location also has an excellent crew of Custom Applicators. Besides operating our application equipment Jason Lane, Darrin Duncan, Brian Walker, Quinton Thompson and Drew Mulvaney help to perform the daily operations at our busy Tolono location. Scott Dick is in charge of our equipment maintenance.

Feel free to contact any of our associates if you have questions about our company and the products and services that we have to offer.