Doug Applegate
President/CEO, Applegate Acres/Praxidyn
Doug Applegate started farming and taking night classes at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs at age 16. He earned an associate degree in Farm Management and has taken many additional studies including programming and electronics. He and his wife love farming, working together and serving in their church. Doug has always enjoyed building things for the farm and passed this passion onto their two sons.
Praxidyn, their manufacturing company, was started with their sons to create automation for the farm. Mechatronics is their specialty, and they do the mechanical and electronic engineering along with all the software from the embedded control, app, and cloud service software. Mixmate is their first product and is an automated blending and recordkeeping system primarily used to blend crop protection products. Farming and engineering are Doug’s two career choices, and he has the privilege of doing both with his family.
Doug has also been involved with AgGateway since 2012. AgGateway is a global, non-profit organization with the mission to develop the resources and relationships that drive digital connectivity in global agriculture and related industries. He works with many individuals and companies who contribute their time in standardizing data communications so that farm equipment and office data systems can all work together for the traceability of crop inputs and farm production.
All of these endeavors have led to greater operating efficiency for their farm and for others around the world.