United Prairie, LLC - Tolono, Illinois - Apex

Our Tolono facility, which is called Apex, is located about 1/2 mile West of Tolono, Illinois on Champaign County Road 700 North. Apex is the center for many of United Prairie's operations.

Tolono (Apex) is where United Prairie's central offices, fertilizer distribution warehouse, anhydrous ammonia warehouse facility, 28% nitrogen warehouse tanks, and a full service chemical bay are located.

The main offices at Apex are home to several different individuals who take care of many different aspects of the company.

Main Office Staff in Tolono

Ken Bierman - General Manager
Dennis Bates - Operations Manager
Russ Dukeman - Sales Coordinator/Sales Agronomist/Certified Crop Advisor
Matt VanOsdell - Location Manager
Butch Bennet - Sales Agronomist/Certified Crop Advisor
Dennis Butler - Sales Agronomist/Certified Crop Advisor
Aaron Grote - Technical Services Representative/Certified Crop Advisor
Sandy Carley - Safety and Regulatory Coordinator
Cindy Cain - Administrative Assistant
Kathy Meyer - Accounts Payable Clerk

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 which consists of 4 locations, Tolono (Apex), Ivesdale, Pierson and White Heath. Ken then reports monthly to our board of directors on the status and profitability of the company. Along with Ken, there is Dennis Bates who is the Operations Manager for the entire company. Dennis has over 30 years of agriculture experience with 23 of those years being dedicated to United Prairie and its parent companies. Russ Dukeman is also at Tolono, he is the sales coordinator along with being a Sales Agronomist for United Prairie. Russ also oversees the marketing and sales of many products and services United Prairie has to offer. Matt VanOsdell started in 2008 as our Location Manager.

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.

Our sales staff at Tolono consists of Butch Bennett and Dennis Butler. Butch has over 20 years of agriculture experience along with being an Agronomist and Certified Crop Advisor. Dennis Butler who is also an Agronomist and Certified Crop Advisor has over 20 years of experience with seed and chemical research.

At Apex, you will also find Sandy Carley our Safety & Regulatory Coordinator. Sandy has been with the company for over 11 years. She is our primary contact to handle all aspects of the companies dealings with any regulatory agencies on the State and Federal level.

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. Kathy Meyer who is our Accounts Payable Clerk, does a great job of keeping everything paid in a timely manner.

The Tolono location also has an excellent crew of Custom Applicators. Besides operating our application equipment Jason Lane, Darrin Duncan, Scott Dick, and Drew Mulvaney help to perform the daily operations at our busy Tolono location. Darrin has been working for United Prairie for over 10 years. Along with being a Custom Applicator Scott Dick works as our Maintenance man. Drew is a new addition to the location and comes to us with a degree in Ag Business Management.

Tolono has also hired two employees as Truck Drivers. These two gentlemen are Eugene Paeth and Stan Wright. These guys keep the semi's rolling to help move warehouse product. Last but not least is Brian Walker, he is our location managers right hand man and keeps everything rolling behind the scenes.

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.

The Apex facility also servers as a fertilizer distribution facility for the other United Prairie facilities, as well as a fertilizer warehouse for Mosaic. Our versatile Tolono location has allowed us to receive many of our fertilizers by rail, and become a major warehouse facility for Mosaic due to our rail access.