00:00 Is ag technology where it should be, more importantly, where's it going? That's what we're discussing 00:05 with the next extreme Ag Young guns. That's right, the offspring of the extreme Ag people. Join me for this special episode 00:12 of extreme Ag Cutting the curve. Welcome to Extreme ags Cutting the Curve podcast, where real farmers share real insights 00:19 and real results to help you improve your farming operation. This episode is brought to you by TIVA Corp, 00:25 providing farmers with the most technologically advanced products and innovative ideas to meet their quest 00:31 for higher yields, top quality and maximum profit. Visit tiva corporation.com. And now here's your host, Damien Mason. 00:41 Hey there. Welcome to another fantastic episode of extreme Ag Cutting the Curve. Got a great episode for you. 00:45 Today we're talking about technology. We're talking about ag technology, talking about the future, talking about today, 00:49 talking about if it's where it should be. And I've got, I have excellent panel. I have the next generation 00:56 or next extreme mag, as I call 'em, the Young guns. That's right. These are the offspring of the people that started Extreme mag. 01:02 They're joined by Caleb Coutts. He is the offspring of Mark Coutts, who is the second generation owner 01:08 and operator of TIVA Corporations, Caleb's third generation. So we're talking about what things look like from the eyes 01:13 of the younger generation in agriculture. This is good if you're in their generation. See if maybe you see things from the 01:19 same perspective as they do. If you're from my generation, it's always very smart to keep up with what those behind you are seeing, 01:25 perceiving, and doing, because you know what they probably are seeing and perceiving and doing things 01:30 in a different manner than you. And it can be very educational and helpful. That's why we got these guys on. 01:34 I've got Alexander, uh, Alexander Evans, or Alexander Rhodes depends. He owes. He goes by Wolf. 01:40 Anyway, he's, uh, out there farm with Temple Rhodes, his stepfather in, uh, Maryland, lane miles, uh, of Delta, Arkansas fame, where they don't have livestock. 01:49 They just raised Gators. Danielle Matthews Venable, she's, uh, uh, with child is gonna be having a kid here this spring. 01:56 Very exciting time in North Carolina. She farms through dad, Kevin Matthews, Jackson Henderson Farms in Madison, Alabama with, uh, 02:03 his father and sometimes grandfather, Chad and Mike, and then Connor slash Vern Garrett Connor, Vern Garrett is, uh, the, uh, oldest of the, uh, Kelly 02:12 and Amber Garrett lineage and, uh, area in Iowa, which is really not area, and it's basically North Dow City. 02:18 But when you've realize that both those two towns together are just about the size of your office, it doesn't really matter 02:23 what the hell you call it anyway. So as ag technology, where it should be. Um, let's start off here. Lane is, lane always impresses me. 02:31 He, he has a page and a half of a notebook paper written down on this topic. So let's go with you. Lane. 02:37 Is ag technology where it should be? Does it impress you or is it sometimes like, damn, I believe we're, 02:43 I believe we, we we could be further ahead than this. Uh, I'd stay fairly impressed. Um, I, I like it. Um, as far as, whereas it should be, 02:54 it would really depend on who you ask. Um, if you ask dad, there's too much of the, too much of it out there. 03:00 Um, there's, it's always changing. You never really get a hold of what you really want to do. Uh, I wrote down here that the average 03:08 farmer is 57 and a half years old. And so you take somebody that's, that's in their later fifties, are they really wanting 03:17 to adapt to the things that are here? Dad's 55, so he's fixing to hit that average, by the way. You need to make sure you let him know that. 03:24 Um, but he, he does pretty good as far as like wanting to bring things in because, uh, like you said, you know, you always need 03:32 to be looking at the person behind you that's coming up behind you. Because one thing he's good about is, 03:38 is Lane, you're gonna be coming up. So we've gotta be able to, to adapt to things that are happening. 03:44 If it was just him, I think he would still farm 48, forties. Uh, all right. Jackson, 03:51 you put on a new hat for this episode. I appreciate that. You gotta, you gotta, you got your look going there. 03:57 You run the sprayer. It's leaps and bounds ahead of what equipment looked like 10 years ago or 20 years ago for sure. 04:04 We're talking about seeing spray technology, we're talking about all kinds of stuff we've got with sprayers coming out new that are a million dollars. 04:09 That's pretty impressive to me, first off, that you can justify spending that kind of money, but secondly, what they're capable of doing. 04:14 But anyway, when you look around the farm, when you look around this industry, is ag technology impressive to you? 04:19 Or do you think it's still, um, do you, you think it still has some, uh, uh, some, some tweaks to be made? 04:28 Uh, it, it definitely impresses me where stuff is coming and what's to come. 04:32 Like you see some of the stuff they introduce in like the sea and spray, like it's gonna be 04:36 big when they get it figured out. But it, like, you know, it, it still ain't made for this type of area where we're 04:41 at with the heels and stuff. But, but it, the, the operation center in John Deere and the spraying and the machines, everything gets, 04:48 it's coming a long way. And, and it's, it's, it's gonna be good in the future. Danielle, is ag technology where it should be? 04:57 Does ag technology, um, keeping up with other industries, what do you think when you look around and then you look at your farm 05:05 and you look around this industry? I Feel like it is, I feel like the technology is there, there. 05:13 I mean, the quantity classic, you see drones everywhere. John Deere's introducing their new combine. 05:18 There's so many things that are coming about the sea and spray technology, but I think the part that's lacking is that the technology, 05:26 but like knowing how to use it and having the people there to train you on how to use it, I think that's more of where it's falling 05:34 behind than in the technology itself. I'd agree with that. Is ag technology in your, uh, perspective Caleb? 05:41 Um, impressive or just keeping up? I, I think it's darn impressive. I mean, you look at these things where we, the, 05:49 with the precision that we can plant, that we can, uh, know and record what we're doing on the farm. 05:54 I mean, that's stuff that even has changed, you know, certainly within our parents' lifetime and even within our own. 06:00 And that, I mean, it's, it's really crazy the kind of stuff that we can know from a mechanical standpoint, you know, uh, 06:07 from a technology side where what we're doing on the farm. And I mean, I, I'm impressed by it. That's, that's for sure. 06:13 Vern impressive. Just keeping up behind where's ag compared to other industries? You're, you're two and a half years out of Iowa State. 06:23 I mean, well, wait a minute. Iowa State, I don't know. They still have phone booths around there, don't they? Not quite, but yeah, I would say the university's a bit 06:32 behind what some private company research is doing, like extreme ag. But, uh, as far as technology goes, 06:39 I think we're keeping up. It's pretty impressive how far it's come, but I still don't feel like it's that refined. 06:44 There's no, it's tough to find that one stop shop for all your data, that all your field operations, all your soil sample, all your different things. 06:52 Op ops center's really done a great job and it's pretty impressive what you can get on your phone. But I, I think it could be more refined every time something 07:00 comes out, it's buggy. It has a hell of a time out here with the phone service and different things. So I think we, we, there's still room to improve, 07:08 By the way. That's one thing that I'm always, um, I don't know, somewhere between mystified or amused by when I, 07:14 and I, obviously I'm at ag functions every week of my career, and they say, and just think about it. You can have this phone out in your 07:22 fields doing this, this, and this. I'm like, well, I work with these extreme ag guys and I just wanna call 'em, I just wanna call 'em. 07:29 And they don't even have a signal, let alone being able to go on and do advanced graphics and manage software. They don't even have enough signal to receive a phone call, 07:37 which, my god, we've had cell phones now since the mid nineties, almost 30 years. And like, that's a neat thing, ag Tech company 07:44 that I can do all this from my phone, but trust me, I've got Kelly Garrett on the phone sometimes, and he just says, wait, are you there? 07:51 What? I'm like, so anyway, I I agree with you about that, about connectivity. We better, we better get, we better get better, uh, 07:58 better wireless out in the middle of, uh, hinterlands. Before we go too far, this Alexander is, are we where we need to be? 08:05 Are we behind? I mean, East Coast, Hey, wait, you're on the East Coast. Everybody knows if you're on the East coast, that's 08:11 where all innovation comes from. So surely you gotta tell me what's going on. Yeah, I I don't know if I'd fully agree with that, Damien, 08:19 but, um, no, I, I don't, I don't think we're behind. I think we're, we're keeping up and we're, and we're moving ahead. 08:24 Um, the biggest thing for us, um, is like Verne was saying serve or not service, but signal is a big, is a big deal with us. 08:33 Um, and you would, you wouldn't think it'd be that way. 'cause we're, you know, most of our farms are right on the water. 08:38 You would think we'd have plenty of service. Um, another thing would be, you know, um, keeping everything, you know, having one, 08:47 having everything on one device. So like, we run, you know, Trimble Auto Steer, but all of our stuff is, is tracked through the climate app. 08:54 Yeah. So, you know, having all that stuff, it would be nice to have it all in one thing, you know, that you could track 08:59 what you're doing, but you could also have your auto steer and you know, everything that runs on your planter 09:03 or whatever sprayer or whatever you're doing. I feel like that would be nice to have it, you know, just one, one screen, one monitor. Have it all there. 09:10 By the way, Alexander doing a great job of getting ahead of the interview, or I was going to ask my next question, 09:16 what do you need or what is wrong technologically on the farm? But you know what? He went ahead 09:21 and just, he is related to Temple. How many times am I trying to control the interview? And Temple just goes, 09:27 and like, he's, he's not a bull, a China shop. No, he's a, He's a damn, he's a damn rhinocerous in a clean room. 09:35 I mean, it's just, it's just, it ain't right. I mean, he just, he messes up everything. All right. Uh, what, what do you need when you look around that, 09:43 maybe again, the guy my age, g my age, doesn't realize they need, um, but you look at it on, on a farm 09:52 and you're like, my God, here's what all the stuff they're giving us is great if it works. But you know what we really need right now? 10:00 I'll give you an example. I fly all the time. How many times you been to the airports? You guys all just flew to Houston last week. 10:05 There's a flight problem. Uh, you go up to the talk to the agent, the agent gets out a keyboard that looks like it's 1988 10:12 and types in all this code. When you would think, couldn't they just drag their finger around on a screen and put me onto a different flight? 10:20 But instead they have to type in all this code like it's programming from 1988. 10:25 I look at this and I'm like, how is this so antiquated? You've got all this technologies world, and you still have to use a keyboard 10:31 to move me to a different flight. When you look at stuff, the way I just talked about the flying, what do you see? 10:37 And you're like, good god, how are we still this backward? I like Alexander's point. Who wants to go next? Danielle? 10:45 Mm-Hmm. I'll, I'll go next I think on it for A minute. All right, lane, what's, what's, what are we missing? 10:52 What do you need on your farming operation that as much as you got all the bells and whistles, there's still this thing, Alexander says, connectivity, 10:59 or shall I say almost? I think sharing is what he's talking about. If I could get this thing, this thing 11:03 and this thing to all share, is that what we're talking about Alexander? Yeah. And you know, the data's only as good as, you know, 11:11 the person putting it in. Um, so that's another, you know, side that we could talk about too, you know, 11:17 was it, did that go through? Yeah, Text messages through his laptop. I don't know what's going on. All right. 11:23 But anyway, yeah, we Got template And everything. Got, what do we need? Uh, yeah, I, I, I'm, I'm gonna have to tag along with, 11:31 with Alexander on that one. So as far as like, just say our, so I think it was Alexander said that our soil sampling, 11:38 our record keeping our, you know, planner information, all this stuff that we use, I mean, we're using 5, 6, 7 different different platforms, right? 11:51 And my mom, 5, 6, 7, 8 years ago, kept looking for that one platform. We're talking about 5, 6, 7 years ago. Yeah. 11:59 Looking for that platform that she could do all of our record keeping, at least operation would center, would talk to it, you know, 12:05 our soil samples would go in something that we would, and we're still, that's still a question mark today. So that part of, of technology and ag is behind. 12:17 Yeah. All it, it is just, it's just like farmers trying to adapt to all this new stuff. It's out there, it's, it's available if somebody can write 12:25 that program, but it's still sitting way back here. Yeah, I think that's the one-stop shop is what you're talking about. 12:32 Or the interfacing, so that this how I manage my grain. Then also my planting and inputs, then also my finance, then also my, uh, 12:41 you know, our machinery management or something. So those don't interface. So if that's a, that's a big one. Anybody else got anything on that? 12:50 Jack, you anything just to Throw something in there real quick? Like, just to give you like a, I don't know, 12:55 just kind of like an eyeopening thing. So like, we run 26 30 John Deere monitors in our combine our planner. 13:00 So like, just, just the fact of like, you know, we take a flash drive out, we, where we plug it in, you know, run through the year, take it back out, 13:07 and then have to plug it into a computer just to download all of our stuff, you know, of course now we have our climate app and stuff like that, 13:13 but that's just kind of like a eyeopener. There is, is, you know, it's kind of a pain to, you know, do that. 13:21 Vern, you nodding your head. What technology do we need on the farm? What technology is missing? What do you look around and say? 13:28 How is it still this antiquated? Um, I'd, I'd have to agree with them on the data interfacing 13:36 and the one stop shop like we talked about, um, and just in everywhere else is that the, those sensor problems, the reliability of it, 13:48 all these new systems that come out, they're great. The potential of them's great and then you get over a few acres and it, it quits working. 13:55 The electronic component of it goes out. I love all the electronic systems from planning to spraying just for their precision application, 14:03 their ability to be that precise and that exact, you know, like switching on a light switch. But once we get out there and it sees a little dirt 14:12 and a little moisture, and all of a sudden that starts getting buggy, that I, I, I'd like to see more reliability out of those. 14:19 Jackson and Danielle, we've given you all this time to think so you gotta be ready. I was gonna say like the, just the sim simplicity of the, 14:29 like the screens and stuff and the tractors, you know, like if you, if you got somebody that's older, like my 14:34 grandfather, somebody needs to get on there. You know, we, all of us was raised like, you know, evolving with the technology and the computers. 14:41 We know how they work. We're like my grandfather and them. He has to call me, Hey, how do you get this thing 14:46 to make a line or something, you know, just this, you know, making it more simpler to do stuff in the computer without 14:52 having to go here, here, here, here, here, there, you know, in the same way in the operation center. 14:57 You know, just putting everything in one place to make it more understandable for people that's not just the younger generation. 15:03 We're still a long, I, I appreciate that. We're still a long way from where we're used to be. Again, most usage of this stuff, you know, 15:12 before you were born was like that, that clerk at the airline counter where you had to like type in some, honestly, you like had to type in codes and, and funky words 15:23 and enter and backspace and all this to get to do something. So at least with these kinds of, 15:28 and you know, it's, it's more intuitive and interactive. You know, once you get Mike, your grandfather, you know, 15:35 who's in his seventies to a certain space, I'm sure that he can at least do it. But, um, you know what, Jackson, I'm at that age, 15:42 by the way, at Commodity Classic, I had to hand my phone off to Lane and have him fix a couple things for me 15:49 because I'm now like your grandpa. I said, how the hell do I get it off of Do not disturb? And he had to show me. And it was real easy. 15:56 I mean, I understood, Danielle, what's, what's missing? I think the interface is what's missing. I mean, when you go to start explaining this technology 16:06 to somebody and I tell them they gotta have three different apps on the iPad 16:10 and enter this stuff in it, it becomes too much if you want it to be done precise and Exactly right. I mean, one thing we had to get over 16:21 just on our operation was if the guys didn't see the field name there, they wanted to just like add the field name in, 16:27 but they didn't realize how much work that creates on the backend side when we're sitting in the office 16:33 because they didn't take the time to scroll all the way down to see the field name. They just decided they were gonna add it in there 16:40 and call it something different. So it's like little steps like that that it's not necessarily things that are missing, 16:47 but it's like using it correctly. Kayla, what's, uh, what's missing? You got a different set of circumstances. 16:55 You're in a manufacturing and a service business versus production agriculture, but it's a business 17:02 and there's also the, the people part of it. And then you've gotta train people to do it. And then there's the generational difference. 17:09 Your father versus you versus maybe your grandfather, whoever else. So many of these things are still the same. 17:15 What's missing from your perspective technologically? Yeah, I would love to get my dad to understand that you do not have to exit out of a window. 17:23 You can just minimize it and you don't have to log into something seven times. You can just leave it open all day 17:30 and keep coming back to it. Um, I mean, from our end, you know, my wheelhouse is, is plant biology in the, the agronomy side. 17:37 The, the physiology side. And it would be, you know, uh, tissue testing, sep testing, all this stuff is out there and it's all great, 17:46 but it could be better. It could be, you know, our universities, like, uh, Connor was saying, you know, we're, we're behind the, 17:54 the ball a little bit compared to some of our private corporations here. You know, they're, they're using methods that are outdated. 18:01 We're still, uh, looking at removal charts and stuff that are not even remotely accurate at this point. 'cause our soil's in a completely different state than it 18:10 was when those charts were made up. So for someone to kinda go back to the drawing board on that kind of stuff on 18:17 and try to nail down on a, from a technological standpoint, you know, this is where nutrient levels, you know, should be 18:24 where, how much we're pulling for this kind of, you know, yields. That would be what I'd love to see 18:32 because it's only gonna help us on the, the nutritional side, on the, the industry side, be able to better make recommendations for you guys 18:40 and be able to see that, you know, the yields pushed even better. 'cause we have a better understanding. 18:46 Everyone has a under understanding of where we're going, Introducing and implementing technology. 18:54 It's always a struggle. It is around my little company of one and a half with my wife, oh God, 19:00 we're gonna do a new record keeping thing or we're gonna do this. Then it's like, is this gonna cause us to fight? 19:05 Is this gonna cause us, is this gonna, is it, I mean, so how is it around the business? 19:11 I imagine that you guys are the introducers or, um, Michelle, I say installers of some of these new technologies. 19:20 What's that like working at your farming operation Lane? I'm gonna lead off with you again 19:25 because when I, years ago when I interviewed your old man, he talked about if the combine was running 19:30 and getting the grain outta the field, that's all that mattered. And he said, I would've never stopped the machine 19:35 because of the data collection. He says, now the combine doesn't run unless all the technology is gathering the information. 19:43 So that way I can be a better farmer. So he's, he's a maybe isn't the person that knows how to program at all in, but he sure 19:49 as heck understands the importance He does and, and definitely getting better. Uh, I can tell you, when you put something new out there 19:58 or you bring something new to the farm that, excuse my French, that s**t better work. 'cause when it breaks down, it's the end of the world. Yep. 20:06 Uh, that, I mean, it it, that's, that's the hardest part is when you bring something new in and, and it gets some of those bugs 20:15 that Connor was talking about, or Verne uh, when, when it does, when it does get a little dirt on it, 20:22 a little moisture on it, it it that, that stuff will drive it. And not only, I mean it drives me nuts. 20:27 I'll be, I'll be out in the middle of the field. I'll be some red faced so mad that I can't hardly breathe, but, uh, you don't, you don't wanna really wanna be 20:35 around dad when something tech technological breaks or tears up or whatever. So you get the famous line. I told you so. 20:46 Oh yeah, I did the exact same thing you did and I don't know why it didn't work. Exactly, yes. 20:54 Alright, now that's kind of fun. Rapid fire. So now you're going around when all of these things blow up. First off it was, I told you so, 21:01 or I don't know what happened. I did the exact same thing you did, it didn't work. So we know that one. Vern, what do you hear? 21:08 I, I don't know why can't make this work. This wasn't, Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much the same thing. 21:12 We just, this morning we, uh, we've got a new system in our feed wagon and it's, it tracks what I load with the payloader. 21:19 I've gotta push what ingredient I'm loading and then it tracks dad in the feed wagon as the unloads it. Well it's an iPad 21:26 and I, I told him for a month, you gotta shut it off at the end of the night, otherwise the system starts to get buggy. 21:33 Well now it's buggy and the iPad's buggy. It freezes up on him. And he was having a full blown meltdown this morning and I was like, 21:39 just double tap up and clear it out. Double tap and swipe up. And he, he didn't know that was a thing somehow. 21:45 I don't know how his phone has been working this long, but yeah, we still, we have those pretty frequently. By the way, you always go ahead. 21:55 You always, you always write down notes. Write down a note. Uh, after we're done recording, explain 21:59 to Damien double tap and slide up. 'cause I don't know what that means either. Okay. I had to show Commodity Classic how to bring, you know, 22:07 how you, like, you bring the corner of the phone down and it brings all the shorthand things up. He said, man, I didn't know it did that. 22:16 Hey, it's fine. I don't mind you young guys laughing. Young gals laughing at me. I, that's why we're talk, talking about this. 22:21 'cause here's the thing, by the way, I think lane's a little bit, um, I think he's actually, that stat he read, I thought it was closer 22:27 to 60, was the average age. So the point is older than me is the average age the North American farmer, and here you guys are in 22:34 your twenties or early thirties. Um, this is gonna be a reality for a while until you realize that it's your kids then 22:42 that are gonna be showing you the next thing. Because this has obviously been going on. You know, we used to make the joke about the VCR that uh, 22:48 the old person didn't know how to program and it just flashed 12 o'clock and all that sort of thing. And VCRs are Jackson. Jackson. 22:56 The VCR was how people watched movies in the old days. Okay, I understand that. Alright, 23:01 So anyway, what, um, what are we talking about? What are the, what are the blowups, uh, going around the farm? 23:06 Uh, you know, grant's kind of amusing, but also, so we heard about the feed wagon and then Caleb says, uh, 23:11 I did the exact same thing as you did. Danielle says, uh, I told you So Jackson, what happens when, when a, a new innovation, uh, piece 23:21 of tech on the farm blows up? My dad, my dad's famous quote is, Hey, you can find that right? 23:27 Or you, you, you can go back and fix that, right? Like, I gotta go. So you, you go back and find that and fix it. 23:32 Get in line for me. We're all set, you know, I'm like, but that's our, when we're go, go, go. And like I said earlier, when we, 23:39 'cause we're so shorthanded when we're go, go, go and don't have time, he don't slow down and put the thing and he is like, you go back and fix it 23:44 later. You know? You got it. Yeah. And whether you do or don't Alexander, what happens around, uh, Chestnut Manor farms when, uh, there's technology problems 23:53 Like the auto steer side, we, you know, that came 2008, 2009. Um, but like the whole field view thing, we kind of got that 24:01 established with both of us. So it wasn't like, you know, he knew more than I did, which he does know more than I do, 24:07 but it wasn't like we were back and forth, back and forth. We were kind of like a balance so 24:11 that there's no really like, hard throwing tools, stuff like that. It's just, you know, let's get it fixed, let's get it done 24:17 and let's, you know, get on the way. 'cause I'll be, I'll be quick, you know, something tear up electronically. 24:22 I'm like, all right, I'm, I'm dropping in the ground, I'm going, you know, but he kind of helps me slow up a little bit and fix it. 24:29 Right. And go ahead with it. What thing in the last year have you, or two technologically innovation changes you've made 24:41 has been like, oh man, I'll tell you what, this is a game changer. And is there anything you can think to 24:48 that you've been involved in that again, your, your, your dad leaned on you and you said, all right, we're gonna do this. 24:55 And it's been a game changer. Anybody got anything like that? I got one. It's not really, 25:02 not really completely on like the field side of the farm, but on the office side, that's, 25:06 So, um, that's an important, that's an important part of it also, right? Yeah. It makes the world go around. Everybody wants a paycheck. 25:12 So I've started, and it's probably been two months now of using the app to clock in and out. 25:20 So simple before everybody was writing their time down. And then you have to figure up their time, then you have to text 'em, then you have to call 'em, 25:27 make sure they send you your time to do payroll on time. Now Wednesday nights, pull up the app, 25:33 you can see everybody clock in and out time. It totals it for you. It's right there. It's just something simple that saves 25:41 so much time in the end. But it's not technically in the field, but it's something we've done in the office. 25:49 Anybody got anything? Uh, probably inventory management, uh, anything like that on your end, Caleb? 25:55 Oh yeah, we, uh, inventory management's been something new that, I mean, the biggest thing on our end has been, uh, 26:02 you know, the last, you know, six months. I convinced dad that we're, we're doing enough of this stuff that we need to automate everything, you know, the loading, 26:10 you know, I mean, to, for all you guys before, I mean, I was, when I was sending loads out to you, I was hooking up to a truck. 26:18 I was weighing it out on a truck scale. I was, you know, having to swap between each individual product 26:22 of, you know, a different hose. And now, you know, it's as simple as load number seven on the computer, green button 26:31 loaded in half the time. Yep. And dad was very hesitant through that. You know, it's, it's trusting technology, trusting a meter 26:37 to, uh, be as accurate as math, which is, you know, math doesn't break, you know, as long as you know what you're doing. 26:44 Math is math. Um, but after, uh, after, you know, the last month of using it, I, I think he sold. 26:51 So, So speaking of the technology automation and, and I mean, this has been going on for a long time, obviously we used to go, we used to pick cotton by hand 27:00 and we used to, you know, walk soybean fields with a hoe. And I can go on, on on about it 27:05 and sound like, you know, some old timer about how hard they had it. But it's been going on for a long, long time. 27:11 You're gonna continue to struggle to get good qualified labor on the farm. It's something we hear a lot about. 27:16 And, you know, the larger your operation or the, if your company, you know, continues to expand and grow, Caleb, is the technology there to make it 27:25 so you never need to hire another person, or is it going to be that it one goes with the other? I, I got, I always wonder about that. 27:31 Of course, it depends on what your farming operation or your, or your company's gonna look like. But what do you guys think about when you look at the future 27:37 human human capital versus technological capital? I don't think you'll ever get rid of people and don't, especially in this industry. 27:45 I think it takes good, uh, good hardworking people, uh, with a good solid foundation of technology that can, they can use to get everything done. 27:54 But you're never gonna, you know, a machine is never gonna work as hard as a person is. And you're, you're always gonna have someone 28:00 that is gonna have to want it and want to get out there and work hard to get it all done. Who else for that? 28:09 Vern, you've been quiet for a little while. Uh, I, yeah, I don't think you totally replace people, but as you, as you add that automation you need, 28:17 maybe you need less people, but more qualified people, higher skill, level of technology, higher level 28:23 of adaptability to this sort of stuff. We're talking about Lane's nodding his head. What do you got, lane? 28:28 Yeah, Vern took, totally took mine. I I was going with, uh, yeah, that, that same route. I don't think you get rid of people. 28:36 I think a person's job changes. It's, it's gonna be managing that automation and your skillset's gonna have to change. Yeah. 28:43 Yeah. I I I'd say that you're still gonna, you know, in operational like yours, obviously you've got employee, that employee's role will change Yep. 28:52 And probably get more done. Ideally. That's what I, that's what technology's supposed to do. Make it so you can do more with less. 28:58 So maybe you're farming 4,000 more acres of the same number of people, but the person's role went from driving the 29:05 whatever to doing something else. Anyway. Alexander and Jackson, what do you got on this? Yeah, I think kind of to play off those, I think, 29:12 you know, we will never, never not have people because you know, you need the emotional and you need the quality side 29:18 of, you know, what you're doing. You can have an autonomous all the time, but you're whenever you want. 29:22 But you know, if it's not doing the right thing or it's not doing as good as you want it to do it, it's not worth anything. 29:27 So I feel like the people, yeah, we could, I feel like we're, we're never gonna not have, you know, people doing something maybe less like y'all were saying, 29:35 but I don't think, we'll, it's never just gonna be like, all right, just lemme set this on my computer. 29:39 It'll go it. I don't think, Jackson, what, do you got anything on this? Get me outta this topic. 29:44 More like, it's not just people, but more like advanced people too. Because as this technology's getting better 29:50 and this equipment's getting more expensive, you know, you, you don't wanna put just some random person on it too. 29:54 So like people, you know, it almost takes a good mindset and good education now to run these things. Yeah, 30:00 Yeah. You got 700, 800,000, $900 million piece of equipment and with the kind of, uh, technology that it's, 30:08 and we were at the, the Fent tractor that was at Miles Farms and there was three computer screens in there. 30:13 And then his old man got in it because we had to move it for a photo shoot and a video I was gonna do. 30:20 And he had to call Lane and said, how do you start this? How do you, And that's it. 30:25 This is not some guy that just, uh, came from the suburbs of, uh, of, you know, Chicago. 30:31 This is a guy that's, that's been driving equipment since he was a little kid. And he got in a piece of equipment just this October 30:37 and said, lane, how do I start this? That's an interesting thing to me. Now there's the last, uh, uh, last two couple topics. 30:42 One sentence or less, you know, a little rapid fire to us outta here. What did we over complicated? 30:48 I look at stuff, there's something technologically that's more complicated than it should be. Who's got something for that? 30:55 Tractors in general nowadays More, more, more, more difficult to operate than they really should be. 31:02 I think, I think I can go along with that. When your old man can't even figure out how to start. Who, what's more difficult than it needs to be. 31:07 I'll agree with on tractors, we, we got, we had some shutdowns. Uh, the seat sensor on the tractor, 31:16 it stops reading the person in it and then it jumps off your autosteer line. We've made these things so complicated with massaging chairs 31:22 and refrigerators and things that aren't really necessary that we're, we're limiting our necessary capabilities. 31:29 Yeah, that's interesting. So yeah, I got a Ford F-150 brand new last year and it dings and beeps and honks over if I have kids in the backseat, 31:37 I don't even have kids. And I'm like, I just want the damn thing to actually, I, I wanna be able to actually see, you know, 31:45 am I in the right drive mode? Am I in two wheel drive or four high? And I don't really need to know the, be warned 31:52 that there might be some kid in my backseat and I would know, have no idea where they came from. 'cause I don't have kids. Anyway. I'm with you on that. 31:59 What's more complicated than needs to be? Danielle, you're laughing. I won't, I won't send my kid there with you. Don't worry. 32:05 That's right. I, I'll keep him in my truck. Your kid Is there. I'll probably know it anyway. 32:10 Um, uh, hey, where does kid come from? All right. Uh, what's more complicated than it needs to be? I'm gonna say when it comes to tractors, I mean, 32:19 we got a new tractor this fall and it couldn't even read like me sitting in the seat because when you put the PTO in gear, it was saying 32:29 that operator left the cab. Yeah. So it wouldn't even put the PTO in gear and you had to sit on the front edge 32:35 of the seat, rock it back and forth. And I mean, it's one of those things they did come out and fix it immediately, 32:40 but it's like, it's a brand new tractor and it's saying that somebody's not sitting in the seat. Yeah, 32:46 Baby. Probably got the, the shaking baby syndrome. If he's having to do all that. Hey, there wasn't no baby at that point. It's fine. 32:55 All right. Anybody else? Alexander Jackson, Caleb, where, where, what, what thing is more unnecessarily complicated? 33:01 Uh, what, what thing is unnecessarily complicated? I was gonna say like, maneuvering through the software, maneuvering through the screens in the tractor. 33:08 Like I said earlier, you gotta press 4, 5, 6 buttons just to find some simple, like turning the headlights on. 33:13 I mean, you know, like, just stuff like that. Yeah. It used to be, it used to be a knob you pulled out and the headlights went on 33:19 and now you've got decipher go through, uh, an entire thing. Alexandria, you got anything? 33:24 Anything that's unnecessarily complicated? Caleb? Uh, yeah, kind of touch on those. Um, we go with, you know, tractors too, 33:32 but also to monitors, you know, easy accessibility to each everything. Um, and we go to sprayers even, you know, 33:38 like Jackson was saying earlier about the spot spray and all that stuff. It's just, it's just a matter of time 33:42 of working out the bugs. You know, every, everybody wants to come out with something new and get this new, 33:46 brand new, blah, blah, blah. But if it don't work, you know, it, it, it's not worth anything. 33:50 So I think that's a big, the big thing is getting over that hurdle of, of making sure when it comes out that there's, you know, not as many bugs. 33:59 Yep. Kaylie, you anything. Yeah. Despite, uh, having, just putting in an, a new automation system, I'm gonna round out 34:05 with everyone here and that it's vehicles. I mean, we do a lot of our own delivering and I mean, we just have duallys 34:11 and to get, they've got so many sensors and alarms in 'em, uh, you know, filters that if they go wrong, they shut down the whole truck. 34:19 I had a a, a delivery guy get stuck half a state away 'cause uh, a sensor went bad and it's just like, you're done. 34:26 You can't drive anymore. And we had to go, you know, put 'em in a hotel for the night and come get him, uh, because, you know, it just doesn't wanna run. 34:34 Right. Or, you know, we have to do follow all the good DOT rules and the truck. You gotta have electronic logs 34:41 and so you move over five mile an hour, it logs it, all that kind of stuff. And it, it just shouldn't be that hard. You know? 34:46 The old, yeah, the old record keeping wasn't too bad to begin with, so. Well, it's the old thing. The promise. 34:52 The promise is neat and it's there, but then when the promise means that your hired guy didn't get product to a customer 34:59 and then your, your truck didn't get back and you had another customer that got delayed and you had to buy a hotel, I mean, 35:03 you were paying your employee the promise of that technology made things not just, uh, 35:11 not just inconvenient. It cost you money. Yeah. You're, you're, you're delivering a pallet of sugar to a guy in the bed of a truck that's on a trailer 35:20 because you had to go send another truck with a trailer to pick up that truck, but you didn't have room for the pallet, so you left it in the bed 35:25 of the truck while you delivered it. Alright, get me out here. Last, last question. Where are we going? Where's, uh, 35:30 when you look at the future from your perspective to me, you know, I can get kind of excited. 35:35 I can geek out a little bit. You know, Vern talks about reading, I like to read about where I see things going, and frankly, it gets overwhelming 35:40 and that's good because it kind of like it. Oh, so what overwhelms you but also excites you about the future 35:46 technology in agriculture? Uh, who wants to go first? Um, I, I think automation has been the next frontier for as long as I can remember 35:56 that we're gonna have driverless tractors and it's not there yet, but that's still what I'm hearing. O other thing I throw out there is AI capabilities. 36:05 What's that gonna look like from a data management perspective or planning, analyzing and planning the next drop. 36:10 Yep. Alexander, where's what excites you? Tell me about what excites you or overwhelms you while still exciting you about technology 36:17 coming to agriculture one year, five years, 10 years, 20 years from now. Oh, sex control, spot spray, all that stuff. 36:27 Just so we can cut back on our end, you know, our investments and use it where it's needed and not, you know, overspray where it doesn't need it 36:34 or where you've already been. Yeah. Um, It's got an environment, it's got an environmental benefit, which is gonna excite the people. 36:40 Well, it may appease the people that exactly The whole, the whole sustainable aspect. Yep. Just using what we need 36:46 and getting by with, with what we got. And, um, you know, the whole precision ag stuff too, right. Lane, what you get excited about, 36:53 about the future one year, 10 years, 20 years when your kids might be, uh, in your role. What, what excites you about technology, 36:59 technological innovations coming to the farm? I would say kind of exciting, but also a little scary is the ai. 37:06 Mm-Hmm. Um, I mean now they're, they, they're putting 'em on the combines. They're seeing spray. 37:12 Um, just hope maybe that in 10 years my kids aren't using it to write essay papers That might happen. Jackson, 37:19 what excites you or overwhelms you? Or when you think about it, when you're spending your days driving in sprayer, 37:24 what do you think about technologically that's coming to the farm that excites you or, or scares you a little bit? Or 37:29 Both? I would say like the, the drones and stuff they come out with, or all these products they're making where you can get 37:34 through so much less and go so much further. Yeah. You know, just, just stuff we ain't never seen before. Yeah. The idea that a drone might spray, uh, 37:43 all 43,560 square feet of an acre and you're like, how do they do that? They've got, like, there's more, there's more volume 37:49 of fluid in my glass right here, but you know, that day could be coming as Long as you can keep them batteries charged up. 37:55 Anything scare you? Not, not really. Not yet. Danielle, what excites you and or scares you, uh, about technology coming to the farm? The 38:05 Data management side is what excites me. The, the reporting that we have to turn in, the sustainability factors that are starting 38:14 to play into the future, the data management that's there and being developed. 38:20 And if we can get it to one platform like we've talked about, that's what excites me for the future. What scares me is putting your tru all of your trust into 38:29 that data management software and it not crashing. And now, and that, and that's where you and me and Lane, the whole world is gonna be shut down. 38:38 But you and me and Lane are gonna have our notepads and our pen and paper. Sorry Caleb, get me outta here. 38:44 What excites you and what scares you about the future technologically speaking, that coming to agriculture? Uh, I think I'm most scared, uh, I would agree with, uh, 38:52 several of the other guys here. I, you know, ai, when we start putting our faith in, uh, in machines to know better than we do when we stop letting 39:02 go of skills that we need to know. Yep. I think that's, uh, that's scary. You know, uh, you know, they're useful, 39:07 they're useful tools, but we shouldn't be a hundred percent relying on 'em to tell us what we need to do. 39:13 You know? Uh, I think I'm most excited about, uh, data management on your guys' end, rather than on my end, uh, to be able to see exactly, you know, hey, 39:22 we went out and we put this out here. We used your products here, we used this there, blah, blah, blah. 39:27 And then be able to get, uh, accurate results, see where we did, you know, so that we can come back next year and help fine tune those recommendations 39:36 and make 'em even more efficient for you guys. I mean, that's, that's where I'm excited to see, you know, I, I wanna be able to do the best job I can at recommending 39:45 stuff and putting the right stuff out there at the right time rather than, you know, I mean, uh, 39:50 tissue samples are great ex you know, great example. They're, uh, they're, they're an X-ray. They're a good tool, but I mean, we could be better at it. 39:57 We could see more accurately what's going on and we can make even better recommendations rather than being a little bit behind the eight ball, you know, 40:05 Talked about as ag technology where it should be than we talked about what's useful. We talked about what's not useful, 40:12 talked about what needs improvement. Talked about the adoption and the adapting to new things on the farms. 40:17 Talked about, uh, these guys and their role. This is extreme ag. These are the young guns. These are the offspring of the people 40:25 that created extreme Ag Con Verne Connor sometimes knows Vern Garrett, who's amazingly, remarkably adaptable for being as old as he is. 40:35 I mean, he's 25 tomorrow, but he sometimes is about 30 years older than his dad and me. 40:41 Uh, Danielle Venable with child, by the way, she'll have, she'll have, she'll have that, uh, that, uh, you know, 40:49 what's interesting is that maybe they kept saying on that tractor, uh, Danielle, that they thought there was two people in the 40:56 seat and maybe that was the problem. They didn't think there should be two people been in the seat since there was going off. 41:00 Jackson, Henderson, lane, miles, Alexander Evans, or Rhodes. Then of course Caleb Coz Till 41:08 next time, thanks for being here. This is a four part series. We're talking about the future with the Young Guns, uh, the next Generation. 41:14 And it's a great little series. It's brought to you by Tiva. If you wanna learn more about Tiva, 41:18 that's Caleb's company, go to Tiva Corporation. Is it tiva corporation.com. Tiva corporation.com 41:23 corporation is spelled all the way out. TEVA corporation.com. Go check it out. Until next time, thanks for being here. I'm Damien Mason 41:29 and this is Extreme Ass Cutting the Curve. That's a wrap for this episode of Cutting the Curve. Make sure to check out Extreme ag.farm 41:36 for more great content to help you squeeze more profit out of your farming operation.