March 17, 2022 • 21 mins
Get ready for National Ag Day with AEM's Nick Tindall and host Dave Orr. They will discuss a new and exciting event, promoting the impact of precision agriculture on the environment and on the Capital Mall in Washington, D.C. March 21-22.
Register at www.agday.org/2022events
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello, and welcome to another podcast with top con
talks egg.
My name is Dave or, and I am theregional sales manager for
Canada.
Today.
We have a very special guest totalk to us about the upcoming
event in Washington, DC, whichis in celebration of national
egg day in America today.
Nick Tindel the senior directorof regulatory affairs for the
(00:36):
association of equipmentmanufacturers joins us.
Thanks a lot for being heretoday, Nick,
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Thank you for having me pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So Nick, as mentioned , uh, you, you worked for the
association of, uh, equipmentmanufacturers, uh, probably
commonly knowing more in theindustry as AEM.
Um, you're the senior directorof regulatory affairs.
Can you just give us a briefoverline of what that is?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, you know, my role as seniordirector of regulatory affairs
is really interfacing betweenthe tremendous amount of
intellectual and engineeringknowledge.
Our member companies have on ahost whole variety of issues
from agriculture, EPA workersafety, um, and then taking all
(01:18):
that knowledge and making surethat the folks in the regulatory
agencies have access to all thatinformation to help guide a
productive, uh, regulatoryprocess that comes out with a
result that's workable for both,uh, users, the manufacturing
industry and improves workersafety and environmental
stewardship.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Okay.
Uh, and so, you know, a, uh, AEMis, uh, American based
corporation, correct.
Uh, are you working directlywith United States officials or
are you
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, we like, we like to be north American based.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Um, so a association of equipment manufacturers is a
north American, uh, company.
And so you're working with alllevels of government across
north America then on regulatoryaffairs.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yes.
Uh, they a us federal Canadianfederal out of Ottawa, uh, the
promises and the stategovernments.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Awesome.
And so do you have a, you know,a, maybe a example of something
that you were able to work onand walk through maybe
specifically in the eggindustry?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Uh, yeah.
And it was an issue we dealtwith both in the United States
and in O Ottawa, it, it dealtwith, uh, cor fugitive dust from
corn planters when plantedtreated seeds.
You know, there's a tendencysometimes for some of the seed
treatment, which contains NeoOIDs to shake off during the
planting process.
And some of that can beexhausted, uh, through the
(02:40):
planter.
Um, you know, and this wassomething that E the EPA and pan
Canada's pest managementregulatory agency took notice
of.
And we would worked with ourindustry to come up with a
solution to mitigate the amountof that fugitive dust.
And as part of that, you know,years long conversation with
both regulatory bodies, uh, wecame up with an ISO standard
(03:02):
that redesigned a couple of ourplanter models to minimize that
effect.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Wow.
And so then you take thatplanter model back and you, you
show your, uh, members how itcan be, you know, effective in,
in their industry and in theirmanufacturing to be able to meet
these regulatory standards then.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Oh, yes.
Uh, absolutely.
You know, when we push, uh, for,as a regulation that is, um,
descriptive and notprescriptive, you know, give us
a performance metric you want usto meet and our engineers will
meet it.
We just prefer you not to tellus how to design equipment.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
And so you probably work withboth the agriculture and other
industries, or are you strictlyjust agriculture yourself?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Uh, well, AEM covers, uh, the, the, at entirety of the
offroad sector.
So agriculture construction,forestry, utility mining, um,
and I covered the regulatoryissues along with the great team
as part of our safety andproduct leadership group, uh, to
advocate for all of thosesectors.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Well, it sounds like, uh, I bet you, you you're
certainly kept busy and havelots on your plate at any given
time.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
That's awesome.
So upcoming, um, next week, as I, as I mentioned is, uh, egg
national ag day, um, in America,uh, up here in Canada, we have
ours back in February, and Iknow that you, uh, you, you're
working on a unique opportunityhere coming up, uh, over the
21st and 22nd of March to maybeexhibit exactly, you know, what
(04:30):
egg means to America.
And that's by hosting basicallya, a show on Capitol hill and at
the mall, correct?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yes.
The celebration of modern ag onthe national mall.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Wow.
Wonderful.
And what, uh, you know, what isthat, and what does that mean to
, um, the farmer that'slistening today?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Uh, well, it's an opportunity for the entirety of
the agricultural sector, notjust equipment manufacturers,
but also inputs and growergroups, uh, to really show the,
the folks in Washington DC inthe media that modern
agriculture is a good thing,technology and our food
production and food that helpsfeed the world, uh, using
sustainable practices.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And now is this event , um, this is event produced and
hosted by AEM yourselves andyour partners.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Uh, yes, uh, AEM is the, the lead organizer of the
event.
Uh, but we are happy to partnerwith a great number of
agricultural associations inaddition to the 15 AEM member
companies participating.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And now you said that , uh, you know, this is kind of
geared towards the people of, ofWashington and, and the media.
Um, I assume that farmers arestill welcome if they're able to
come out and, and take in theevents of the day.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Uh, certainly, uh, you know, a lot of folks don't
realize, but agriculture is apretty big part of the local
economy here in, in the greaterDC area.
And a number of our, uh, agpartners are having farmers as
part of their exhibits.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That's interesting.
And so are you, you're actuallyhoping that, uh, maybe some
lawmakers are coming downwalking through, uh, this area
that I believe is just outsidethe Smithsonian Metro, correct.
Um, and coming and taking inexactly what the ag industry
means.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Uh, yes.
You know, we're targeting folksat both the, uh, agency level,
you know, those working at theus department of agriculture,
environmental protection agency,as well as the, the house I
Senate and their staffs.
We have a number of great toursset up for a number of VIPs and
folks that work in the agenciesat the career level.
Um, but it's, you know, no RSVPrequired come one come.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And so exactly.
How does this work?
Is it, uh, is it similar to atrade show or is it a little bit
more formal?
Um, what I guess would be theexpectations of a farmer, uh,
that's going to maybe come intothis and, and see it.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah.
I mean, if you really wanted toboil it down to, to, to just the
fewest lines possible, it, it'sa farm show, uh, in the heart of
Washington DC, between theWashington monument and the
capital building.
Um, so a great lineup ofequipment from our member
companies that is being staffed,uh, by their, their, their trade
show crews and their engineeringexperts to have in depth
(07:06):
conversations.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Right.
And I know that, uh, talk concertainly has a booth there.
They, they, they believe thatthis initiative is a great
initiative.
Is this something that this isthe first time this is
happening?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Um, well, you know, if COVID had given us seven more
days back in 2020, it would'vebeen awesome and this would be
the second time we're doing it.
Um, so I'm calling this ourthird annual attempt to hold our
inaugural celebration of modernag on the national mall.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And, uh, is this, you know, is this your project?
Is this your baby?
Was this your concept to, to tryand get our agricultural
industry at the forefront inWashington?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, it it's been a, a, a long term vision and goal
of mine to do something likethis.
Uh, for a number of years, we'vehad a very successful field
demonstration day, uh, for bothactually the United States and
Canadian regulators, where webust people out to fields in the
, those metropolitan areas tosee equipment work in fields and
have really great conversations,but I'd always wanted to do this
(08:04):
right here, uh, in the heart ofDC.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
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Speaker 1 (08:37):
Well, you know, all things considered, you know,
we're seven days away, and lasttime you, you were seven days
short of it, but hopefully itcontinues on the path and, and
it really comes to fruition foryou.
It's obviously been a, a longstretch of, uh, of a vision,
which is awesome to see come tofruition.
So I guess the question questionthat I have about this, um,
being a Canadian myself, uh, andknowing what the agricultural
(09:00):
industry means to Canada and howit integrates into, you know,
local politics, but then alsothe nation's politics.
What is a successful day on themall gonna look like, um, for,
for you and your clients and,and your, your partners,
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I guess you could really judge success by not just
the, the number of senators andstaff and, you know, secretaries
and under secretaries that weget there, but what kind of
conversations are we having onthose one-on-one bases are the
policy makers and influencers.
We are talking to really tryingto dive in and understand, you
(09:36):
know, how is technologyinnovation and science in our
agricultural productionpractices?
How is that enablingsustainability?
You know, that's the theme thisyear, innovation enables
sustainability,
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Right?
And, and, and so how, you know,what, what message are you
hoping to say is that the, thecontinued success of, of
implementing new practices intofarming or the new inventions of
technology along those lines arereally changing the way that we
should view farming andunderstand how it's actually,
um, changed the actual industry?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Uh, yeah.
You know, there's this, youknow, common misconception
people have that.
We did things back in the goodold days.
Um, but you know, O oddlyenough, no one Pines for the
days when surgeons operatedwithout anesthesia, but yet
there's a lot of folks thatthink we should farm.
Like it's the 1940s, but, youknow, facts of the matter are,
we're simply not gonna be ableto sustainably feed a world of 9
(10:35):
billion people, uh, withoutscience and technology.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah.
And that's something that'sdefinitely come up a lot more
and more.
And I think as we go throughworld events over the last two
years and looking forward, weunderstand that, you know,
feeding the world is becoming avery daunting task and, and it's
gonna, you, I, I think there's astatistic out a couple of weeks
ago that I read that in 10years, we're gonna almost have
to triple what we are doing inthe late 1990s to be able to
(11:01):
feed the world.
Um, and so, you know, I guessthings like this and, and
processes like this of trying tohelp people in Washington DC
make educated decisions on, onwhat can be allowed and not
allowed for regulatory standardsis certainly welcomed to anybody
in the industry.
I certainly imagine.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah.
A absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
And so H how, what would your week next week look
like?
Are you, you're gonna be on thegrounds, I imagine, and you're
gonna be working directly withsome of these, um, people in,
from Washington DC that you havea relationship with, um, trying
to gain some exposure for themexactly.
On what this industry is doingand, and where we're proceeding.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah.
So, you know, to next week, youknow, it's gonna be cheek cherry
blossom season is what thereports are saying.
So we'll have a great turnoutfrom just the general public
during a lot of school springbreak.
And we, uh, expect really goodattendance, both from guided
tours and just folks showing upto have these types of
conversations to, to understandjust how much science and
(11:58):
technology really goes into ourmodern food.
You know, some of the equipmentwe have coming down from the
John Deere X nine combine to aJaguar forge harvester, uh, to a
ACO Fent track tractor, I thinkwe're really awe a lot of people
with just the, the scale of whatmodern agricultural equipment
(12:18):
is.
And also the number of computersand lines of computer code that
are in them.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah.
You know, for somebody thatmight be, you know, a little bit
removed from the agriculturalindustry, like you said, if they
believe that it's just a tractorand a plow going through a
field, they might certainly havetheir eyes opened up a little
bit when they see some of thesemachines, not only the breadth
of size of'em, but also, youknow, the technology, hopefully
they have a chance to get insideand understand exactly that, uh,
(12:45):
what a farmer is going throughon a daily basis, trying to be
able to be responsible fromvariable rating, into precision
agriculture and all of thosethings, uh, and how they're
actually trying to protect theenvironment and take care of the
land that they're working.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah.
I always like to tell folks, uh,that, you know, outside of the
defense industry, there isn't asector that's more
technologically intensive thannorth American production
agriculture.
And the inside of your averagetractor has a lot more in common
with an F 35 fighter than itdoes a Buick.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
It that's so true.
And it's, it's hard to believe,um, you know, thinking that
these go, go and watch an F 35and see what it can do and
maneuver it.
You think that it's basicallythe, you know, astronaut running
it, but then you look at a guytrying to run a combine with a
couple of monitors, one drivingit one, sorry, one steering it,
one doing yield data collectionand all of that, and
understanding the ability, whatyou can do with that data is, is
(13:38):
absolutely amazing.
And it's a great comparison thatyou've made there.
Um, moving forward.
Is this something that you thinkthe lawmakers in DC, or, or, or
anybody in DC has been askingfor, or is it just a need that
you saw to be able to address,um, some of these things and
help help the agricultureindustry get that recognition?
Like it's a very unique way ofdoing it.
(13:59):
You're basically saying, uh,don't come to the local farm
show.
We're gonna bring the local farmshow to you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
You it's a little bit of both, you know, there are,
uh, a lot of folks on Capitolhill, both, uh, elected
officials and career, uh,staffers and at the agency
levels too, that haveagriculture in their blood.
Like, you know, folks like me,you know, I'm an Iowa farm boy.
I grew up on a family farm.
So, you know, I get it.
And, you know, they generallyget it as well, but, you know,
(14:26):
you know, the story more andmore people are moving, uh, from
rural areas to the suburbs andurban areas, or even if they
live in the rural areas.
They're, they're not, they're,they're not their economic life.
Isn't dependent on agriculture.
You know, they're teleworking toa job that's in New York or San
Francisco.
So that disconnect between, youknow, the modern life and where
(14:47):
people's food comes from isincreasingly a big problem.
And I think to get the messageout of just how great all doing
is we need to bring it to them,uh, because they just don't live
in areas, or they're just notinterested if they do live in
the areas and this type ofstuff.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Right.
And I think, uh, you know,there's a lot of people that
come from farming backgroundsthat still like to hold onto the
fact that they come from a farmbackground, but might have
actually lived in the city fortheir whole life, you know, the
generation before'em, or theywent back to the family farm.
And it's, I think it's ineverybody, you know, in, in my
neck of the woods in WesternCanada, farming is truly in
everybody.
Um, everybody's, you know, lifedoes have something to do with
(15:27):
farming in some way down theline.
Um, but a lot of people mightbe, you know, a little bit
removed from what that actuallymeans.
And so that's why I think thisis just a phenomenal, um, event
that you have lined up here.
Do you have anything, any otherevents similar to this one lined
up, uh, in other jurisdictions,or even just maybe on a more
local level for stategovernments or anything along
(15:47):
those lines?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Uh, you know, nothing in the works right now, uh, you
know, with COVID everything justthrowing our long term plans
completely out the window.
We're just trying to get throughthis one.
Although we are starting a demoday program off for construction
site of equipment to, to bringfolks from OSHA out to a work
site, to see how we engineerworker safety into our products.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Got you.
And, and so, you know, AEM, Ibelieve, uh, I, earlier this
year, I had a chance to, uh, doa podcast with another fellow
who's in charge of your tradeshows.
Um, you guys obviously have alot of trade shows going on.
Um, and this one is first one.
Is this the first one sinceCOVID?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Uh, well, we had utility expo in September of,
uh, last year.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Oh, okay.
Sounds good.
So, so this will kind of geteverybody from, from the office
back into the, the grind ofthings and getting the ideas or
trade shows back on the front oftheir mind.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's a great way to, tokind of kick off the, hopefully
return to the new normal,
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Right.
Cuz it's certainly been a long,uh, long time.
What do your, uh, what are yourmembers saying about the ability
of bringing back for shows andtrade shows in general?
Are they excited about theopportunity to get back out to
these yearly shows?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Oh, I, I think so.
Uh, last week, uh, there was thecommodity classic, which is, uh,
a trade show and annualconferences for a lot of grower
groups that our members exhibitat.
And I was fortunate enough toattend and newer Orleans.
And you could just really fillthis sort of vibe in the
audience of just folks happy tobe in person.
Again, I, I think we alldiscovered there's a whole lot.
(17:23):
We can do via teams meetings,but at the end of the day, you
just really want to get thatface to face, uh, opportunities
now.
And again,
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Interesting in, uh, I guess one last question I have
for you about, uh, ag on themall, which runs on March 21st
and 22nd in Washington, DC.
Um, a farmer that's going, uh,that might be listening to our
podcast here today.
Um, is there anything he canexpect to see out of the
governments?
Is there an opportunity to see,you know, some form of grants
(17:54):
or, or groups that are going tobe there that are gonna be
prevalent, that that might beinteresting to them going the
opposite direction?
Um, the show seems like it'sgeared towards agriculture
showing, uh, DC, whatagriculture is all about.
Is there anything that might beshowing, uh, the farming and
agriculture industry, what DChas to offer them back?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Uh, you know, nothing comes to mind, but you know,
when a farmer, any farmers that,you know, make the trip down to,
to DC for this event, uh, youknow, if you do come, I
encourage you to do, you know,please kind of keep an eye out
in the audience of when you'reattending exhibits.
Uh, you know, federal employeestend to really stick out like
sores, you know, they, theyshould be pretty distinguishable
(18:35):
between the tourists, uh, and,and other folks try to engage
them in a conversation, uh,about what you do, why you do
it, you know, let them know thatyour family farm has been in
your, uh, family for, forgenerations.
And no one cares about thequality of that land, uh, more
than you do.
No one cares about the waterquality of that land more than
(18:57):
you do, because that's thewater, your family drinks, and
you hope it's the, the water,your great grandchildren are
gonna drink when they take overthe farm.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah.
And so what we're really lookingfor here is that unified message
that we are steward to the landand we are, um, trying to do
everything that's best for ourourselves, our families, our
local communities, our state,and, and most likely our country
and the world.
Right.
And we're doing that throughfarming and every time we can
get into the year of, of anybodyelected or civilian officials,
(19:26):
um, I think it is definitely aworthwhile cause.
Correct?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Well, thank you very much for this Nick.
Uh, very, very interesting.
I'm very, uh, excited to see howthis event runs and hopefully in
the, in the future, I'll be ableto slip down and see it myself
because it seems like a very,um, intuitive platform that, uh,
will hopefully garner a lot of,uh, interest from, from
everybody that the intendedaudience in DC and will maybe
allow you to make some of theseregulatory affairs and, and, and
(19:53):
issues a little bit easier tocommunicate and, and work
through with them.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Oh, absolutely.
No, I hope you can make it.
And, you know, hopefully we cankick off our, you know, restart
of our, uh, Canadian demo dayshere next year as well.
And just really happy to havethe opportunity to, to help show
folks in DC that at the end ofthe day, uh, there is no greater
threat to the environment thanhunger because hungry people do
desperate things.
And what will be on display onthe national mall is gonna show
(20:21):
how we plan to feed that worldof 9 billion people sustainably
because they're gonna fight tofeed their kids one way or the
other.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Absolutely.
Well, Nick, on behalf of, uh,the people I know in the culture
industry, I think, uh, we canall say thank you for this work
that you're doing and, andhelping us, uh, work with these
with the lawmakers and everybodyin Washington, DC.
And we look forward to seeingwhat this event does and, and
continue it on for years tocome.
So thank you very much, Nick.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Uh, thank you for the , having the opportunity to talk
about it.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
An egg on the mall is something that you can attend
virtually.
If you're interested, you can goand register@wwwdotaday.org
slash 22 events.
That's ag D a Y dot O org Gslash 2 2 2 E V E N T S.
And register today.
(21:11):
You can also learn more aboutthis topic at top com
positioning.com/a/sustainability.
So once again, thank you verymuch, Nick, for having us on
Topcon talks, agriculture, welook forward to having all of
our listeners back for our nextepisode.
Take care.
Hello, and welcome to another podcast with top con
talks egg.
My name is Dave or, and I am theregional sales manager for
Canada.
Today.
We have a very special guest totalk to us about the upcoming
event in Washington, DC, whichis in celebration of national
egg day in America today.
Nick Tindel the senior directorof regulatory affairs for the
(00:36):
association of equipmentmanufacturers joins us.
Thanks a lot for being heretoday, Nick,
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Thank you for having me pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So Nick, as mentioned , uh, you, you worked for the
association of, uh, equipmentmanufacturers, uh, probably
commonly knowing more in theindustry as AEM.
Um, you're the senior directorof regulatory affairs.
Can you just give us a briefoverline of what that is?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, you know, my role as seniordirector of regulatory affairs
is really interfacing betweenthe tremendous amount of
intellectual and engineeringknowledge.
Our member companies have on ahost whole variety of issues
from agriculture, EPA workersafety, um, and then taking all
(01:18):
that knowledge and making surethat the folks in the regulatory
agencies have access to all thatinformation to help guide a
productive, uh, regulatoryprocess that comes out with a
result that's workable for both,uh, users, the manufacturing
industry and improves workersafety and environmental
stewardship.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Okay.
Uh, and so, you know, a, uh, AEMis, uh, American based
corporation, correct.
Uh, are you working directlywith United States officials or
are you
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, we like, we like to be north American based.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Um, so a association of equipment manufacturers is a
north American, uh, company.
And so you're working with alllevels of government across
north America then on regulatoryaffairs.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yes.
Uh, they a us federal Canadianfederal out of Ottawa, uh, the
promises and the stategovernments.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Awesome.
And so do you have a, you know,a, maybe a example of something
that you were able to work onand walk through maybe
specifically in the eggindustry?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Uh, yeah.
And it was an issue we dealtwith both in the United States
and in O Ottawa, it, it dealtwith, uh, cor fugitive dust from
corn planters when plantedtreated seeds.
You know, there's a tendencysometimes for some of the seed
treatment, which contains NeoOIDs to shake off during the
planting process.
And some of that can beexhausted, uh, through the
(02:40):
planter.
Um, you know, and this wassomething that E the EPA and pan
Canada's pest managementregulatory agency took notice
of.
And we would worked with ourindustry to come up with a
solution to mitigate the amountof that fugitive dust.
And as part of that, you know,years long conversation with
both regulatory bodies, uh, wecame up with an ISO standard
(03:02):
that redesigned a couple of ourplanter models to minimize that
effect.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Wow.
And so then you take thatplanter model back and you, you
show your, uh, members how itcan be, you know, effective in,
in their industry and in theirmanufacturing to be able to meet
these regulatory standards then.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Oh, yes.
Uh, absolutely.
You know, when we push, uh, for,as a regulation that is, um,
descriptive and notprescriptive, you know, give us
a performance metric you want usto meet and our engineers will
meet it.
We just prefer you not to tellus how to design equipment.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
And so you probably work withboth the agriculture and other
industries, or are you strictlyjust agriculture yourself?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Uh, well, AEM covers, uh, the, the, at entirety of the
offroad sector.
So agriculture construction,forestry, utility mining, um,
and I covered the regulatoryissues along with the great team
as part of our safety andproduct leadership group, uh, to
advocate for all of thosesectors.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Well, it sounds like, uh, I bet you, you you're
certainly kept busy and havelots on your plate at any given
time.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
That's awesome.
So upcoming, um, next week, as I, as I mentioned is, uh, egg
national ag day, um, in America,uh, up here in Canada, we have
ours back in February, and Iknow that you, uh, you, you're
working on a unique opportunityhere coming up, uh, over the
21st and 22nd of March to maybeexhibit exactly, you know, what
(04:30):
egg means to America.
And that's by hosting basicallya, a show on Capitol hill and at
the mall, correct?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yes.
The celebration of modern ag onthe national mall.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Wow.
Wonderful.
And what, uh, you know, what isthat, and what does that mean to
, um, the farmer that'slistening today?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Uh, well, it's an opportunity for the entirety of
the agricultural sector, notjust equipment manufacturers,
but also inputs and growergroups, uh, to really show the,
the folks in Washington DC inthe media that modern
agriculture is a good thing,technology and our food
production and food that helpsfeed the world, uh, using
sustainable practices.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And now is this event , um, this is event produced and
hosted by AEM yourselves andyour partners.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Uh, yes, uh, AEM is the, the lead organizer of the
event.
Uh, but we are happy to partnerwith a great number of
agricultural associations inaddition to the 15 AEM member
companies participating.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And now you said that , uh, you know, this is kind of
geared towards the people of, ofWashington and, and the media.
Um, I assume that farmers arestill welcome if they're able to
come out and, and take in theevents of the day.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Uh, certainly, uh, you know, a lot of folks don't
realize, but agriculture is apretty big part of the local
economy here in, in the greaterDC area.
And a number of our, uh, agpartners are having farmers as
part of their exhibits.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That's interesting.
And so are you, you're actuallyhoping that, uh, maybe some
lawmakers are coming downwalking through, uh, this area
that I believe is just outsidethe Smithsonian Metro, correct.
Um, and coming and taking inexactly what the ag industry
means.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Uh, yes.
You know, we're targeting folksat both the, uh, agency level,
you know, those working at theus department of agriculture,
environmental protection agency,as well as the, the house I
Senate and their staffs.
We have a number of great toursset up for a number of VIPs and
folks that work in the agenciesat the career level.
Um, but it's, you know, no RSVPrequired come one come.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And so exactly.
How does this work?
Is it, uh, is it similar to atrade show or is it a little bit
more formal?
Um, what I guess would be theexpectations of a farmer, uh,
that's going to maybe come intothis and, and see it.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah.
I mean, if you really wanted toboil it down to, to, to just the
fewest lines possible, it, it'sa farm show, uh, in the heart of
Washington DC, between theWashington monument and the
capital building.
Um, so a great lineup ofequipment from our member
companies that is being staffed,uh, by their, their, their trade
show crews and their engineeringexperts to have in depth
(07:06):
conversations.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Right.
And I know that, uh, talk concertainly has a booth there.
They, they, they believe thatthis initiative is a great
initiative.
Is this something that this isthe first time this is
happening?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Um, well, you know, if COVID had given us seven more
days back in 2020, it would'vebeen awesome and this would be
the second time we're doing it.
Um, so I'm calling this ourthird annual attempt to hold our
inaugural celebration of modernag on the national mall.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And, uh, is this, you know, is this your project?
Is this your baby?
Was this your concept to, to tryand get our agricultural
industry at the forefront inWashington?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, it it's been a, a, a long term vision and goal
of mine to do something likethis.
Uh, for a number of years, we'vehad a very successful field
demonstration day, uh, for bothactually the United States and
Canadian regulators, where webust people out to fields in the
, those metropolitan areas tosee equipment work in fields and
have really great conversations,but I'd always wanted to do this
(08:04):
right here, uh, in the heart ofDC.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
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Speaker 1 (08:37):
Well, you know, all things considered, you know,
we're seven days away, and lasttime you, you were seven days
short of it, but hopefully itcontinues on the path and, and
it really comes to fruition foryou.
It's obviously been a, a longstretch of, uh, of a vision,
which is awesome to see come tofruition.
So I guess the question questionthat I have about this, um,
being a Canadian myself, uh, andknowing what the agricultural
(09:00):
industry means to Canada and howit integrates into, you know,
local politics, but then alsothe nation's politics.
What is a successful day on themall gonna look like, um, for,
for you and your clients and,and your, your partners,
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I guess you could really judge success by not just
the, the number of senators andstaff and, you know, secretaries
and under secretaries that weget there, but what kind of
conversations are we having onthose one-on-one bases are the
policy makers and influencers.
We are talking to really tryingto dive in and understand, you
(09:36):
know, how is technologyinnovation and science in our
agricultural productionpractices?
How is that enablingsustainability?
You know, that's the theme thisyear, innovation enables
sustainability,
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Right?
And, and, and so how, you know,what, what message are you
hoping to say is that the, thecontinued success of, of
implementing new practices intofarming or the new inventions of
technology along those lines arereally changing the way that we
should view farming andunderstand how it's actually,
um, changed the actual industry?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Uh, yeah.
You know, there's this, youknow, common misconception
people have that.
We did things back in the goodold days.
Um, but you know, O oddlyenough, no one Pines for the
days when surgeons operatedwithout anesthesia, but yet
there's a lot of folks thatthink we should farm.
Like it's the 1940s, but, youknow, facts of the matter are,
we're simply not gonna be ableto sustainably feed a world of 9
(10:35):
billion people, uh, withoutscience and technology.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah.
And that's something that'sdefinitely come up a lot more
and more.
And I think as we go throughworld events over the last two
years and looking forward, weunderstand that, you know,
feeding the world is becoming avery daunting task and, and it's
gonna, you, I, I think there's astatistic out a couple of weeks
ago that I read that in 10years, we're gonna almost have
to triple what we are doing inthe late 1990s to be able to
(11:01):
feed the world.
Um, and so, you know, I guessthings like this and, and
processes like this of trying tohelp people in Washington DC
make educated decisions on, onwhat can be allowed and not
allowed for regulatory standardsis certainly welcomed to anybody
in the industry.
I certainly imagine.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah.
A absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
And so H how, what would your week next week look
like?
Are you, you're gonna be on thegrounds, I imagine, and you're
gonna be working directly withsome of these, um, people in,
from Washington DC that you havea relationship with, um, trying
to gain some exposure for themexactly.
On what this industry is doingand, and where we're proceeding.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah.
So, you know, to next week, youknow, it's gonna be cheek cherry
blossom season is what thereports are saying.
So we'll have a great turnoutfrom just the general public
during a lot of school springbreak.
And we, uh, expect really goodattendance, both from guided
tours and just folks showing upto have these types of
conversations to, to understandjust how much science and
(11:58):
technology really goes into ourmodern food.
You know, some of the equipmentwe have coming down from the
John Deere X nine combine to aJaguar forge harvester, uh, to a
ACO Fent track tractor, I thinkwe're really awe a lot of people
with just the, the scale of whatmodern agricultural equipment
(12:18):
is.
And also the number of computersand lines of computer code that
are in them.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah.
You know, for somebody thatmight be, you know, a little bit
removed from the agriculturalindustry, like you said, if they
believe that it's just a tractorand a plow going through a
field, they might certainly havetheir eyes opened up a little
bit when they see some of thesemachines, not only the breadth
of size of'em, but also, youknow, the technology, hopefully
they have a chance to get insideand understand exactly that, uh,
(12:45):
what a farmer is going throughon a daily basis, trying to be
able to be responsible fromvariable rating, into precision
agriculture and all of thosethings, uh, and how they're
actually trying to protect theenvironment and take care of the
land that they're working.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah.
I always like to tell folks, uh,that, you know, outside of the
defense industry, there isn't asector that's more
technologically intensive thannorth American production
agriculture.
And the inside of your averagetractor has a lot more in common
with an F 35 fighter than itdoes a Buick.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
It that's so true.
And it's, it's hard to believe,um, you know, thinking that
these go, go and watch an F 35and see what it can do and
maneuver it.
You think that it's basicallythe, you know, astronaut running
it, but then you look at a guytrying to run a combine with a
couple of monitors, one drivingit one, sorry, one steering it,
one doing yield data collectionand all of that, and
understanding the ability, whatyou can do with that data is, is
(13:38):
absolutely amazing.
And it's a great comparison thatyou've made there.
Um, moving forward.
Is this something that you thinkthe lawmakers in DC, or, or, or
anybody in DC has been askingfor, or is it just a need that
you saw to be able to address,um, some of these things and
help help the agricultureindustry get that recognition?
Like it's a very unique way ofdoing it.
(13:59):
You're basically saying, uh,don't come to the local farm
show.
We're gonna bring the local farmshow to you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
You it's a little bit of both, you know, there are,
uh, a lot of folks on Capitolhill, both, uh, elected
officials and career, uh,staffers and at the agency
levels too, that haveagriculture in their blood.
Like, you know, folks like me,you know, I'm an Iowa farm boy.
I grew up on a family farm.
So, you know, I get it.
And, you know, they generallyget it as well, but, you know,
(14:26):
you know, the story more andmore people are moving, uh, from
rural areas to the suburbs andurban areas, or even if they
live in the rural areas.
They're, they're not, they're,they're not their economic life.
Isn't dependent on agriculture.
You know, they're teleworking toa job that's in New York or San
Francisco.
So that disconnect between, youknow, the modern life and where
(14:47):
people's food comes from isincreasingly a big problem.
And I think to get the messageout of just how great all doing
is we need to bring it to them,uh, because they just don't live
in areas, or they're just notinterested if they do live in
the areas and this type ofstuff.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Right.
And I think, uh, you know,there's a lot of people that
come from farming backgroundsthat still like to hold onto the
fact that they come from a farmbackground, but might have
actually lived in the city fortheir whole life, you know, the
generation before'em, or theywent back to the family farm.
And it's, I think it's ineverybody, you know, in, in my
neck of the woods in WesternCanada, farming is truly in
everybody.
Um, everybody's, you know, lifedoes have something to do with
(15:27):
farming in some way down theline.
Um, but a lot of people mightbe, you know, a little bit
removed from what that actuallymeans.
And so that's why I think thisis just a phenomenal, um, event
that you have lined up here.
Do you have anything, any otherevents similar to this one lined
up, uh, in other jurisdictions,or even just maybe on a more
local level for stategovernments or anything along
(15:47):
those lines?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Uh, you know, nothing in the works right now, uh, you
know, with COVID everything justthrowing our long term plans
completely out the window.
We're just trying to get throughthis one.
Although we are starting a demoday program off for construction
site of equipment to, to bringfolks from OSHA out to a work
site, to see how we engineerworker safety into our products.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Got you.
And, and so, you know, AEM, Ibelieve, uh, I, earlier this
year, I had a chance to, uh, doa podcast with another fellow
who's in charge of your tradeshows.
Um, you guys obviously have alot of trade shows going on.
Um, and this one is first one.
Is this the first one sinceCOVID?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Uh, well, we had utility expo in September of,
uh, last year.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Oh, okay.
Sounds good.
So, so this will kind of geteverybody from, from the office
back into the, the grind ofthings and getting the ideas or
trade shows back on the front oftheir mind.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's a great way to, tokind of kick off the, hopefully
return to the new normal,
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Right.
Cuz it's certainly been a long,uh, long time.
What do your, uh, what are yourmembers saying about the ability
of bringing back for shows andtrade shows in general?
Are they excited about theopportunity to get back out to
these yearly shows?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Oh, I, I think so.
Uh, last week, uh, there was thecommodity classic, which is, uh,
a trade show and annualconferences for a lot of grower
groups that our members exhibitat.
And I was fortunate enough toattend and newer Orleans.
And you could just really fillthis sort of vibe in the
audience of just folks happy tobe in person.
Again, I, I think we alldiscovered there's a whole lot.
(17:23):
We can do via teams meetings,but at the end of the day, you
just really want to get thatface to face, uh, opportunities
now.
And again,
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Interesting in, uh, I guess one last question I have
for you about, uh, ag on themall, which runs on March 21st
and 22nd in Washington, DC.
Um, a farmer that's going, uh,that might be listening to our
podcast here today.
Um, is there anything he canexpect to see out of the
governments?
Is there an opportunity to see,you know, some form of grants
(17:54):
or, or groups that are going tobe there that are gonna be
prevalent, that that might beinteresting to them going the
opposite direction?
Um, the show seems like it'sgeared towards agriculture
showing, uh, DC, whatagriculture is all about.
Is there anything that might beshowing, uh, the farming and
agriculture industry, what DChas to offer them back?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Uh, you know, nothing comes to mind, but you know,
when a farmer, any farmers that,you know, make the trip down to,
to DC for this event, uh, youknow, if you do come, I
encourage you to do, you know,please kind of keep an eye out
in the audience of when you'reattending exhibits.
Uh, you know, federal employeestend to really stick out like
sores, you know, they, theyshould be pretty distinguishable
(18:35):
between the tourists, uh, and,and other folks try to engage
them in a conversation, uh,about what you do, why you do
it, you know, let them know thatyour family farm has been in
your, uh, family for, forgenerations.
And no one cares about thequality of that land, uh, more
than you do.
No one cares about the waterquality of that land more than
(18:57):
you do, because that's thewater, your family drinks, and
you hope it's the, the water,your great grandchildren are
gonna drink when they take overthe farm.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah.
And so what we're really lookingfor here is that unified message
that we are steward to the landand we are, um, trying to do
everything that's best for ourourselves, our families, our
local communities, our state,and, and most likely our country
and the world.
Right.
And we're doing that throughfarming and every time we can
get into the year of, of anybodyelected or civilian officials,
(19:26):
um, I think it is definitely aworthwhile cause.
Correct?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Well, thank you very much for this Nick.
Uh, very, very interesting.
I'm very, uh, excited to see howthis event runs and hopefully in
the, in the future, I'll be ableto slip down and see it myself
because it seems like a very,um, intuitive platform that, uh,
will hopefully garner a lot of,uh, interest from, from
everybody that the intendedaudience in DC and will maybe
allow you to make some of theseregulatory affairs and, and, and
(19:53):
issues a little bit easier tocommunicate and, and work
through with them.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Oh, absolutely.
No, I hope you can make it.
And, you know, hopefully we cankick off our, you know, restart
of our, uh, Canadian demo dayshere next year as well.
And just really happy to havethe opportunity to, to help show
folks in DC that at the end ofthe day, uh, there is no greater
threat to the environment thanhunger because hungry people do
desperate things.
And what will be on display onthe national mall is gonna show
(20:21):
how we plan to feed that worldof 9 billion people sustainably
because they're gonna fight tofeed their kids one way or the
other.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Absolutely.
Well, Nick, on behalf of, uh,the people I know in the culture
industry, I think, uh, we canall say thank you for this work
that you're doing and, andhelping us, uh, work with these
with the lawmakers and everybodyin Washington, DC.
And we look forward to seeingwhat this event does and, and
continue it on for years tocome.
So thank you very much, Nick.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Uh, thank you for the , having the opportunity to talk
about it.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
An egg on the mall is something that you can attend
virtually.
If you're interested, you can goand register@wwwdotaday.org
slash 22 events.
That's ag D a Y dot O org Gslash 2 2 2 E V E N T S.
And register today.
(21:11):
You can also learn more aboutthis topic at top com
positioning.com/a/sustainability.
So once again, thank you verymuch, Nick, for having us on
Topcon talks, agriculture, welook forward to having all of
our listeners back for our nextepisode.
Take care.
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