Wheat harvest wrapped up on Tom Waters’ field in Orrick, Mo. nearly a week ago, but what happened after harvest is creating quite the buzz among Taylor Swift fans across the country.
What some may view as a blank space, the harvested wheat field is an opportunity that one man decided to turn into a work of art.
“This time of the year, wheat is a phenomenal canvas for us to work in,” says Rob Stouffer, owner of Precision Mazes. “This sits on 25 acres and we are molting about 6.3 acres today.”
The Mastermind Behind Precision Mazes
Stouffer is the mastermind behind it all. He started with corn mazes 23 years ago. Today, Precision Mazes is crafting masterpieces across the U.S., earning the title of the king of crop art.
“Mazes are our core business, but we’re growing in the area of crop art,” says Stouffer. “We look at crop art as a marketing tool for growers.”
Knowing Waters from past precision projects, Stouffer reached out in search of a field of harvested wheat.
“I knew Waters’ fields were flat, and I knew he took great care of them,” says Stouffer. “Tom has been exceptional to work with and his field has proven to be an outstanding canvas.”
Bouncing around a couple ideas, the team at Precision Mazes came up with several renditions. They took a poll of 50 friends and clients and landed on a tribute and welcome message to Taylor Swift.
“She’s creating quite a stir everywhere she goes,” says Stouffer. “It only seemed appropriate for us to offer her a hearty, midwestern welcome.”
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Precision Mazes (@precisionmazes)
The Precision Process Bringing Pictures to Life
How does the team go from a sketch to bringing the image to life? It’s a process that takes several weeks.
“So, we have GPS equipment in in the Bobcat, that tells us where we are,” he says. “Ahead of time, we have essentially taken the artwork and given it geospatial characteristics.”
The Bobcat is equipped with GPS guidance to help Stouffer navigate the field, but he also relies on his team of three people who set up in a makeshift command center, manning the drones near the field.
“The folks running the drones are constantly communicating back and forth with me to say when they needed to do battery swaps and giving me input as to what feature to do next,” he explains.
From where to start and stop, to every twist and turn, the fields are crafted with meticulous detail. This detail is achieved thanks to proper prep and planning, as well as a few necessary tools.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Precision Mazes (@precisionmazes)
“This cutting tool is going to take whatever plant material is here and mulch it down,” he says. “Depending on what the project is, we’ll use this mowing tool.”
In a field with less vegetation, he taps the rototiller. But from the variation of crops and scale, each field of art is unique.
“The challenge for most people is recognizing that our paintbrush is five feet wide,” says Stouffer.
More Crop Art
This tribute to Taylor Swift took the team at Precision 11 hours to create, and the result is reating quite the buzz this week, but his But his favorite field he’s done in the past is one he did here in Orrick in 2020, with each letters standing 74 NFL footballs tall.
“The Andy Reed Project we did a couple years ago was featured on Sunday Night Football, and I’m a huge football fan. Hearing Al Michaels talk about our work, that was pretty cool.”
The project that proved to be the most challenging was called Trust the Earth, which was an 80-acre mural. It took Stouffer nearly a week to create the massive mural.
“Aesthetically, it was probably the most pleasing project that we did, and it was done in Kansas wheat a couple years ago,” he says.
While the team at Precision continues to create crop art across the U.S. the Taylor Swift picture is one gaining traction ahead of her concert in Kansas City this weekend. From boots on the ground, to a birds’ eye view, Precision Mazes is proving Kansas City’s welcome to Taylor Swift may just be bigger than the sky.
“From our work here, you can see we can make a bigger than life impression; We can leave a great mark behind,” says Stouffer.
See more of Precision Mazes’ crop art.
