February 24, 2022 • 25 mins
Host Dave Orr visits this episode with Bourgault Industries agronomic lead Curtis De Gooijer to discuss test plots, trends and data collection. Listen in as he shares how he is looking forward to continued innovations in autonomy, robust sensors and data management.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello, and welcome to another edition of top on talks
agriculture.
My name is Dave O and I'm theregional sales manager in
Canada.
And today I'm excited to bejoined by Curtis de Goyer.
Curtis is an agronomist by tradeand works at forgo industries as
an agronomy team leader.
Welcome to Topcon.
Talk to Curtis and thanks forjoining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Thanks Dave.
Yeah know, I'm yeah.
Excited to be here and see wherethe conversation goes, I guess
today and see what we, uh, seewhat really comes out.
So it'll be good.
I'm excited to,
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So, Curtis, uh, as I mentioned, you, uh, you
currently are the agronomy teamleader for Borgo industries.
Uh, maybe if you just want totell our listeners what exactly,
uh, your background is kind of,uh, how you got to where you are
today.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Sure.
I, uh, guess, you know, startoff, uh, little farm here in,
uh, Saskatchewan Canada, uh,grew up with about 1100 acres or
so and mixed cattle, cattle andgrain headed off to university
of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon,uh, worked for a couple years at
car gal as an agronomist there.
So scouting acres for guys.
(01:16):
And so getting a lot of, uh,yeah, a little bit of experience
there, I would, I would say, and, you know, seeing a lot of
different crops and then thisopportunity came up in St.
Bruce Saskatchewan, uh, at Borgoand, uh, kind of jumped on it.
There is, uh, there's some talkabout being able to travel
around and, and do my ownresearch and, and play with the
brand new equipment.
So I thought that sounded pretty, uh, pretty sweet to me.
(01:38):
So I kind of jumped on thatopportunity.
And so I've been up here since,uh, 20, 20 14, uh, I've been at,
at, at BOGO industries.
So coming up to eight years now.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Nice.
And now is, is St.
Brew closer to home for you or,or further away,
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Uh, St.
Brew, uh, to little town ofKellerher, uh, is about oh two
and a half hours, 250 kilometersaway there to the south.
So.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Awesome.
And so what exactly is your roleat BOGO now?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Sure.
Yeah, it's a good question.
I get that one, uh, a few timeswhat's an agronomist doing at
equipment manufacturing and, uh,you know, basically what it
comes down to is, you know, webuild equipment here to put, put
seed and fertilizer in theground.
Uh, we better know how thatinteraction works.
And so what my role is, uh, isto kind of take in kind of
combined actually that wholeagronomy world with, uh, with
(02:25):
the equipment manufacturingworld kind of be that bit of a
bridge, right.
What's happening in both ofthose, uh, areas.
Uh, and then being able to let'ssay, bring in information from
agronomy from the agronomicworld to say, Hey, you know
what, we need equipment to dothis.
And then, you know, talk withour engineers kind of, I guess,
bring'em up to speed on what'shappening in the industry.
(02:46):
Um, and then the other part ofit too, is, uh, these trials.
Uh, we do a lot of, uh,equipment trials where we're
playing with fertilizer and seedplacement and different rates,
uh, using different types ofequipment.
Uh, so that kind of helps us,you know, in the design of
different equipment, uh, comingdown the line, whether it's a
whole new strategy or a wholenew way of doing something or
(03:08):
just proving some things out.
Uh, and then once we have theseresults, actually the extension
work going and givingpresentations, uh, taking
questions from, you know,producers, our customers are not
our customers.
You know, we've got a lot ofresearch here that guys are
finding.
Interesting.
Um, and then just, again, justbeing that liaison between the
two, the two industries, theagronomic world and the
(03:30):
manufacturing world
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Now is, is that something that's common that
maybe, um, end users orproducers don't recognize ABO
equipment manufacturing is thatit's common to have an
agronomist on staff that'shelping drive research and, and
helping understand how their ownequipment can be better in the
application that they're workingin.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Right.
Um, I would say that there'sgetting to be more and more kind
of agronomists on staff at, uh,at different different
manufacturer.
I'm thinking of some of our, youknow, close competitors.
They've had agronomists onstaff, some of'em were actually
even created by agronomists.
Um, so yeah, you know, there isthat link, but I would say what
(04:09):
kind of sets, uh, Borgo apart iswe've got, we've got a 2300 acre
farm here and we're running itlike a commercial farm.
So we're, we're understandingsome of just the, you know,
logistics and, and differentthings that guys would be going
through.
Uh, and then we take a lot of,or some of that land and we
actually divvied up into thesesmaller trials and, and do you
(04:30):
know, hundreds of these largerscale field replicated trials?
So I would say that no othermanufacturer is doing quite to
the extent, uh, you know, inour, in our, I guess, uh,
specific industry, you know, onthe seating side of it.
Um, but I would say that most dohave some kind of agronomic, uh,
(04:52):
advisor on, on, on their teamsomewhere.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Right.
And, and so maybe just for thelisteners, um, you can kind of
give us a quick overview of, ofwhat BOGO industry actually, uh,
what, what that specificindustry is.
It's more of a broad acreseeding than maybe a precision
seating where, um, they areworking with widths of, you
know, 65 or, or bigger feet andwidths at the time of, of
planting and fertilizing in, insingle passes.
(05:16):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
So our kind of bread and butteris, uh, you know, it kind of
started off, you know, in 1974,the very first, uh, cultivator
was kind of introduced and, uh,you know, that that's where
Borgo originated from, wascultivating working up the soil.
And, you know, since then movedmore into our bread and butter
being the, the seeding side ofit, we still make cultivators,
(05:38):
we make heroes, but our drillsare really what, uh, really set
us apart, uh, a no-till drill.
So we putting down seed andfertilizer in a, in a single
pass without having to work upthe soil ahead of time.
Uh, you know, our most commonsize of drill that we sell right
now is 76 feet wide.
And our most common tank that wesell, uh, that gets coupled with
(06:01):
that drill is, uh, 950 bushel.
Now we make up to a hundred footdrills and we also make up to
1300 bushel carts.
And actually those 1300 bushelcarts are getting to be more and
more popular.
Uh, so definitely broader acres,um, is, is what our main target
has been or has been in thepast.
(06:23):
Uh, but we do have smallerdrills.
We're coming online with now two30 and 40 foots with onboard
tanks on there.
And, and, and we just moved intothe simulation world now, uh,
you know, where we havesimulators on board, we can, we
can simulate corn, plant cornand Ize at the same time.
So that's gonna be reallyinteresting moving forward.
That's gonna be able to open upa couple more, uh, industries
(06:45):
or, or areas I would saygeographically speaking, um, you
know, into the future here.
So that's pretty exciting, but,but you're right, David, we're
larger equipment.
We're not gonna, we'renot going downtown, uh, you
know, in Toronto or, or anywherelike that.
Right.
We're, we're, we're pretty bigequipment.
So
Speaker 1 (07:02):
We're not talking 12 year old box planters right now.
We're talking a lot of acres in,in single days in, in multiple.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
We're hundreds of acres a dayis, you know, the guy's goals.
Right.
And, and a lot of, lot of thefarms now are, are multiple,
multiple units in the field, uh,of this size.
So just to get a, give a bit ofa indication of the sizes of
farms that we're, that we'rekind of working with, for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah.
And, and I've been lucky enoughto, you know, sit in on some of
your extension work.
I've been at different events,uh, whether it's a trade show or
whether it's a, you know, a showthat forgo has put on themselves
, um, at their research farm or,or what would it be.
And I understand the value addedthat a, you know, a position
such as yourself or yourcounterpart, Jeff bring to those
(07:48):
conversations, but what's beenthe feedback from maybe end
users about an agronomist onstaff.
That's actually doing the workplaying in the same soil that
they're playing in and beingable to actually speak to what
this machine can do for them.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah.
You know, actually the other,the other day, literally a
couple days ago, got a call froma guy I'd never met him before.
And he, uh, he was, you know, hehad a couple questions.
We post all of our resultsonline.
And so he just wanted to followup with a few questions.
And he said, you know, it's,it's pretty sweet.
Like I go online, I had thesespecific questions and all of a
(08:22):
sudden, you know, he foundhimself on our website and
there's, there's the questionshe was asking and we've got the
trials for it.
Right.
So, um, exactly to your point,guys are, are, are really liking
that ability to, to get thatinformation that really pertains
to their, to their farm.
And, uh, and, and honestlythat's where these trials and,
(08:43):
you know, a lot of the work thatwe do and questions that we ask
ourselves are, are stemmingfrom, is, you know, from talking
with producers.
Right.
And, and what's happening outthere, then we put it into the
trials.
Right.
So, uh, you know, overall, I, I,I think it's been, I think it's
been good, you know, of courseyou'll have, you'll have some
other guys out there, you know,ah, you're doing the trial.
(09:04):
So, you know, how much can wereally believe about, you know,
what you're doing, right.
If you're trying to sell ussomething and, you know, okay.
I, I got a guess I can respectthat, uh, to a certain degree,
but, you know, we're definitelydoesn't help us to, to, to not
find the true answers, thequickest, right.
So, uh, overall it's been, it'sbeen really, I think it's been
really good.
(09:24):
So,
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And I, and I, I would have to imagine, uh, being,
working in the sales industry,myself, that the salesman for,
for BOGO and probably thedealership salesman really enjoy
being able to talk to an enduser.
And when they want to know moreinformation, they have a
resource such as yourself whereit's a, where you've used the
same tools that they've used and, and been able to get the
(09:45):
results that they desire.
So, as a, as a salesstaff, I betcha, they certainly
appreciate having a, a residentknowledge such as a, an
agronomist or agronomy team ontheir side.
For sure.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, I I'd like to think so, but you never know
these, you know, these salesmenout there.
Hey, all of a sudden if I tellthe, the customer something,
maybe they don't want to hear, I, I don't know if they really
appreciate us at that point, but, I'd like to believe
it's for the, for the, the, thegood of, for the customer and
the company.
So,
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah.
And one thing that, uh, youknow, you kind of hit on here
today that I guess I haven'treally put together as, as you
guys, aren't just going out andtesting, you know, what the best
formula of rate to fertilizeror, or spacing or any of that is
, um, you know, between seeds inthe same row, but you guys are
also doing testing on your ownequipment to see if, you know,
(10:33):
maybe 10 inch spacing is bettercompared to 12 inch facing.
If that's a design that you guysshould go with or vice versa, or
maybe the air delivery system tothe openers of the, of the
fertilizer or velocity of airand stuff like that.
So it sounds like you're doing alot more than just, you know,
what, what, what probably a lotof people stereotypically would
say an agronomist is doing whenit comes to looking at test
(10:55):
plots, you're, you're actuallytesting the machine itself too,
correct?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
With, you know, we've got a, youknow, we've got a new drill
every other, every couple years,and we're always testing out,
you know, the, the, the latestand greatest coming down the
pipeline, you know, uh, yeah.
Whether it be, yeah, like yousaid, mechanical or, or on the
tech side of it, um, which canmake for some, you know, some
frustrating times, but, youknow, it's better that we kind
of go through this first andthen, you know, we can test it
(11:20):
out.
And before it gets into thehands of the producers who, you
know, when it's time to go, theygotta go, they can't be
monkeying around.
So for sure, we're, we're tryingto do as much of that as we can,
and then provide that feedback,uh, back to the engineers here.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And there must, there must be some validation between
what maybe the salesman arehearing from the field about
what they, what end users wouldlike in the future and kind of
what engineering things they cando and whether or not it's a
viable thing, you know, for themarketplace probably is, is a
probably combination between alot of different sources inside
the walls of, of any OEM, notjust, just specifically BOGO.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Well, for sure.
There's a lot of, there's a lotof good ideas.
There's a lot of ideas I canfloat it across.
Right.
And, you know, you gotta kind ofpick through some of them, uh,
some of'em might seem like areal good idea.
And, uh, you know, when it getsput into practice, it's all of a
sudden, eh, maybe that didn'twork out way, a guy thought it
would.
And so, yeah, you gotta pickthrough it and, and, uh, yeah,
(12:14):
but OB obviously come from thefield.
Right.
the best ideas are theones that come from the field
and they're the ones that applythe best too.
Right.
So,
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Well, yeah.
Um, today we're joined on talkPokemon talks, agriculture by
Curtis de Goyer from, uh, BOGOindustries, agronomy team
leader.
Um, thanks for filling us in, onkind of what you do at forgo and
what BOGO does for, uh, orwithin the industry.
Um, but just a couple ofquestions, uh, since we got you
on the line here, maybe turningtowards agronomy as a whole, um,
(12:43):
you said that you've beenworking at BOGO since 2014.
So in those seven years or eightyears, I guess it is.
Um, and then even your time atcardio after university, what
are some of the trends you'veseen develop or, or change, um,
in your industry specificallythat that kind of have
revolutionized farming specificto agronomy?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Well, that's a pretty , uh, yeah, that's a pretty big
question.
Um, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Putting you on the hot seat today, Curtis.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, the one thing thatcomes to mind right away, right,
is just, uh, just on thetechnology side and, you know,
tracking, tracking what, whatyou're doing, uh, within all,
all aspects of, of the, youknow, of the farm, right.
So, you know, seeding tospraying to harvest, um, that,
(13:28):
that, that information transfer,uh, to me, like when I was at
Cargill there, right.
It was, you know, we, we weresort of playing around with some
VR stuff and, and honestly, while that program's
now has since shut down so I cankind of speak blatantly, but
like, it's, it was, it was verywell here.
You guys go, uh, go out thereand see if you can sell this VR
(13:48):
stuff.
Right.
And, and, and nowadays, I mean,there's some companies out there
right now that it's, so it's,it's, it's very detailed, very
specific, uh, on the fields and,and, and very, very much, um,
represents the field digitally.
Um, so there's, you know, thatpart of it, uh, but then also,
you know, what, what getsapplied, uh, what gets sprayed,
(14:09):
uh, what gets harvested and nowturning those zones, uh, of the
field, let's say, uh, lookingat, you know, how much is going
in, how much is going out perzone and, and how do you track
that?
And this whole, like, you know,agronomy, well, precision
agronomist seems to be more ofa, a common, you know, either
position I see posted, um, orjust, you know, in general, in
(14:34):
the job descriptions, you know,you're gonna have to be dealing
with a lot of, you know, a lotof this data and how do you, how
do you manage it?
Right.
Yeah.
Um, so I, I would say that'sprobably one of the biggest
things that has evolved here asof, you know, as of late, it's
always been there, but it'sreally seems to be a big push in
that arena right now.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah.
And, and I think to add to that,you know, I know you and I have
talked in the past aboutimporting and exporting, you
know, data to, and from theconsoles that BOGO uses our, the
talk on X 35, um, or othermonitors.
Right.
And I think it's truly becomebig, big part in, uh, an
agronomist daily life isimporting and exporting data
(15:15):
through all the different colorsof monitors out there.
Um, then I know some agronomistshave adapted that and some
agronomists aren't so excitedabout that, but it's certainly
here and it's not going awayanytime soon.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
No, that's, that's a lot of the questions I'm getting
right now, he, in the wintermonths here, right.
Is, you know, how do we do this?
How do we upload boundaries?
How do we, uh, export this up tothis platform?
And, you know, that's, that's,uh, a very common, common
conversation we're having.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
And, and for every color of every color of monitor
out there, there's also a dataplatform that's being used, that
one farmer has or whatever.
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Exactly.
There's a lot, there's a lot outthere.
So how do they jive?
Right.
You know, it's, it's, how do weget the clouds to talk to the
clouds?
And, uh, it heads up inthe clouds, I guess, and
sometimes some of theseconversations.
So,
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah.
And I think something that, youknow, that I have seen in my
time in the industry is that yougo to, uh, maybe an agronomy
seminar or something along thoselines.
Um, and the average age ofagronomists seem to be kind of a
little bit lower, um, that aremore eager to get out there and,
and get that, uh, informationfrom companies such as talk on
(16:25):
or, or anybody like that.
Right.
And, um, you definitely see thatthere is some wisdom in the
room, but it, it does seem to bemore of a, a younger position
right now in the industry.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah.
I don't know.
Uh, you might have got some guysfired up there who are listening
to this right now, but, uh, yeah.
Guys, some trails out there.
I mean, yeah.
It's, uh, it's something whereyeah.
You know, we're kind of borninto it now in, into the
technology of, of everythingright.
Of everyday life and, and, andit's no different on the farm
Speaker 1 (16:57):
And that's just, it it's, it's here and it's not
going anywhere.
So, um, what I guess to, tobuild on that is, do you see any
disruptions coming in theagronomy side of, of the farm
that are going to be, you know,kind of continue to
revolutionize this we're in 10years when the next generation
is sitting here doing a podcast,they're talking about what
(17:18):
they've dealt with over the last10 years?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Well, I mean, there's a few, there's definitely a few
things, um, out there.
Um, there's some things I'd liketo, you know, to see some more
pushing on, um, you know,obviously the whole automation
that, I mean, that's a big one,um, you know, is, you know,
getting, uh, in the field, uh,you send a piece of equipment
(17:41):
out and it does the work withnobody in it.
Right.
There's, there's that aspect ofit for sure.
And there's been a couple comeget released on, on that side.
So I think you, you know, it's,you know, it might just be more
of a tech thing, but of courseyou ought to, you know, how does
that, how does thatautomatically adjust to the
agronomics that's going on thatdata too, right.
How deep is the moisture?
(18:01):
Um, you know, how, how do we,how do we get to that point?
And, and, and that's where, youknow, kind of the other thing is
I'd like to see expanded on hereis, uh, is sensors in general,
right?
And, and everybody quitecringes, you know, everyone
hears about you too many sensorsand, you know, one goes wrong.
Um, but what I've been findingis, you know, when they, when
they work and they're robust,uh, it's, it's pretty cool to
(18:23):
see that, uh, that informationcome in.
Um, so an example of that, youknow, would be, uh, you know,
moisture meter, uh, real time,you know, how, how do we set our
depth, uh, of the drill, let'ssay, right as you're going
through the field.
Um, so I think that might be apotential thing where, you know,
gone are the days of,not, not necessarily going out
(18:45):
and checking, but you know, youhave this, this real time map
showing up of where themoistures is on your, in your
field right down to the, youknow, right.
You know, within an inch or ahalf, an inch or quarter of an
inch.
Um, so I think that, uh, I, Imean, maybe that's what I kind
of hope, or I don't know if Ihope, I think that could be
beneficial to, you know,ensuring that every crop gets up
(19:06):
and get going.
Right.
So that, that's obviouslyimportant.
And, you know, if technology cando it better than humans, then
we're winning and in the pastthat's, I mean, look at GPS.
Right, right.
They always, you know, you gotthe guy that says he can drive
straight.
Well, you're not gonna drivestraight than GPS.
Right.
Um, so I, I think that the, youknow, the cen some of that
sensor technology, uh, it's comea long ways, but there's some,
(19:29):
there's some more stuff we canstill do with it.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah.
And I think that's, you know,that's such a common thing is
that for 10 years at trade shows, guys would say that they
didn't need steering.
And now you don't even hear thatcomment anymore.
Cuz almost everything hassteering on it.
Right.
And yeah, we're kind of goingthrough that phase right now
with, with data management.
Um, guys are still not a hundredpercent convinced about even
(19:52):
variable rating or, you know,collecting data.
A lot of guys do variablerating, but they don't collect
it properly at harvest.
And it just makes it that muchmore challenging for an
agronomist to do proper work.
Right.
But every year, year over yearyou get less and less in that
and more adaptation of properyield data collecting or
variable rate executions on boththe Cedar and the sprayer, um,
(20:15):
that, you know, it's soon we'regonna be talking about whether
it's autonomy or, or whatever itis and, and how that properly
fits in.
And I think that's a valid pointthat you bring that there's so
many variables that, you know,we might have a machine working
out in a quarter and in WesternCanada, if you're running a
20,000 acre farm and you wenthome to get seed because your
(20:35):
machine's running and that's 10miles away, you don't know if
it's raining or not.
So how do we put those stopmeasures on and, and everything
along those lines.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah.
There's so many of those little,those subtle things that just
pop up the human brain can justprocess so easily.
Right.
Well how do you get that?
Yeah.
You know, how, how do you getthe, the sensors and the, and
then the inte you know, theartificial intelligence to get
in there too.
So, um, yeah, no, it's, youknow, no
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Problem.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah.
We've been talking a lot hereabout agronomy and most of it's
all about, you know, the techside of it for sure.
Right.
And, and yeah, that's just kindof an indication of, of what,
what I'm dealing with more and,and you know exactly what we're
seeing more in the industry.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Exactly.
And, and so a question that Iguess I could ask, it's a loaded
question.
I know, but, um, do you believethat the job of agronomist is
easier because of the adaptationof precision ag?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Um, different, I, I don't know about, you know,
harder or easier.
I mean, obviously there's more,there's more information at your
fingertips.
Right.
Um, right.
And it's, it's about gettingthat information then and making
it useful to, you know, your,your farmer, your, your client,
um, you know, so it's adifferent challenge though,
(21:47):
right.
Because now there's just so muchright.
So much information.
So how do you, you know, how doyou pull that out of there and,
and, and really apply it?
Um, so it it's, it's, it's justchanged a little bit, I would
say.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, for sure.
And I guess it's a, it's adifferent view of it now, right.
Where, you know, there's a lotmore probably, is there more
desk work where we're working onvariable rates in the background
, uh, and trying to get readyfor spring rather than actual
consultations out in the field,working with an actual, you
know, with the, with the soiland with the, with the end user
(22:23):
in their fields?
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Well, definitely gives you opportunity to do a
little bit more in the office.
Um, yeah.
Looking at some more screens,but, you know, ultimately,
ultimately I think most peoplewho got into it do enjoy being
out in the field would prefer tobe out for me, included, I love
being out in the field anddigging around.
Right.
And then, yeah.
You know, seeing how the cropgrows, it just, it just gives
that extra layer of, of, um,that you can go back and look at
(22:46):
, uh, later in the winter and,and assess then, right.
Like how did that work?
Um, when I put fertilizer thereat that rate, you know, what,
what happened and, you know,what you would rely on before I
would say is, is pictures.
But now it's, you know, just acamera or something like that.
Now it's digitalized, it's, it'son your computer and you can,
you can really look at it allyear and, and, and kind of
(23:10):
analyze it.
So, um, I, I, yeah.
So to your, to your questionabout, you know, what's has made
it easier while again, there'sjust more information to
process, so
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah, no, you still gotta get out in the field when
it comes down to it.
Right.
Just love playing in the soil.
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
That's right.
And it's always soil never, evercall it anything else other than
soil.
I learned that the hard way.
Um, but yeah, no, it's, uh, it'sbeen an enlightening, you know,
20 minutes here and, and I thankyou very much for your time and,
and shedding some light on, onboth what you do for, uh, for
BOGO and, and how that's kind ofunique to the industry, but then
(23:48):
also, um, giving us a little bitof a outlook between our two
industries of technology andagronomy and, and maybe where
we're going and, and what'shappened in the past and, and
how it's just keeps gettingbetter and better.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yeah, absolutely.
There's uh, no, I, yeah, it'schanged in the last 10 years, so
I don't E you know,exponentially, I think it's
gonna get even crazier movingthe next, you know, from the
past 10 to the next, ten's gonnabe, uh, really exciting.
So, uh, I think there's a lot ofstuff that's coming down the
lines that it is, uh, yeah,it's, it's, it's quite exciting
(24:20):
from both, like you said, uh,agronomic, uh, technological,
uh, a mechanical even,
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah.
It will be quite interesting in,you know, hopefully 20 years
when we're able to retire maybe35 years.
Um, but whichever that, when welook back on our time in the
industry, we'll be crazy tothink what, what we're talking
about today or what we werelearning 10 years ago when we
were first both getting intothis industry and, and realizing
(24:45):
where they are, you know, 20 or30 years from now, I think will
be quite the shock when we, whenwe're sitting there talking
about the adaptation of variablerating and we have machines
doing it all over the place or,or something along those lines.
Yeah.
It's fun to keep an eye on andfun to look back on for sure.
Or,
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Or everyone gets frustrated.
We're all back to the horse andplow here.
We gotta watch too.
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, exactly.
We never know where we're gonnaend up, but, but thank you for
your time today, Curtis, thankyou very much for joining Topcon
.
Talk to agriculture.
I know that I, I trulyappreciated the insight and I'm
sure that our listeners did aswell.
So thank you very much forjoining us.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Well, thank you very much for having me and, uh,
yeah.
Appreciate it.
And look forward to the future.
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Well, we'll catch up soon, Curtis.
Thank you.
Once again, for tuning in toTopcon talks, the agriculture,
uh, we look forward to havingyou next time.
Take care, everyone.
Hello, and welcome to another edition of top on talks
agriculture.
My name is Dave O and I'm theregional sales manager in
Canada.
And today I'm excited to bejoined by Curtis de Goyer.
Curtis is an agronomist by tradeand works at forgo industries as
an agronomy team leader.
Welcome to Topcon.
Talk to Curtis and thanks forjoining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Thanks Dave.
Yeah know, I'm yeah.
Excited to be here and see wherethe conversation goes, I guess
today and see what we, uh, seewhat really comes out.
So it'll be good.
I'm excited to,
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So, Curtis, uh, as I mentioned, you, uh, you
currently are the agronomy teamleader for Borgo industries.
Uh, maybe if you just want totell our listeners what exactly,
uh, your background is kind of,uh, how you got to where you are
today.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Sure.
I, uh, guess, you know, startoff, uh, little farm here in,
uh, Saskatchewan Canada, uh,grew up with about 1100 acres or
so and mixed cattle, cattle andgrain headed off to university
of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon,uh, worked for a couple years at
car gal as an agronomist there.
So scouting acres for guys.
(01:16):
And so getting a lot of, uh,yeah, a little bit of experience
there, I would, I would say, and, you know, seeing a lot of
different crops and then thisopportunity came up in St.
Bruce Saskatchewan, uh, at Borgoand, uh, kind of jumped on it.
There is, uh, there's some talkabout being able to travel
around and, and do my ownresearch and, and play with the
brand new equipment.
So I thought that sounded pretty, uh, pretty sweet to me.
(01:38):
So I kind of jumped on thatopportunity.
And so I've been up here since,uh, 20, 20 14, uh, I've been at,
at, at BOGO industries.
So coming up to eight years now.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Nice.
And now is, is St.
Brew closer to home for you or,or further away,
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Uh, St.
Brew, uh, to little town ofKellerher, uh, is about oh two
and a half hours, 250 kilometersaway there to the south.
So.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Awesome.
And so what exactly is your roleat BOGO now?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Sure.
Yeah, it's a good question.
I get that one, uh, a few timeswhat's an agronomist doing at
equipment manufacturing and, uh,you know, basically what it
comes down to is, you know, webuild equipment here to put, put
seed and fertilizer in theground.
Uh, we better know how thatinteraction works.
And so what my role is, uh, isto kind of take in kind of
combined actually that wholeagronomy world with, uh, with
(02:25):
the equipment manufacturingworld kind of be that bit of a
bridge, right.
What's happening in both ofthose, uh, areas.
Uh, and then being able to let'ssay, bring in information from
agronomy from the agronomicworld to say, Hey, you know
what, we need equipment to dothis.
And then, you know, talk withour engineers kind of, I guess,
bring'em up to speed on what'shappening in the industry.
(02:46):
Um, and then the other part ofit too, is, uh, these trials.
Uh, we do a lot of, uh,equipment trials where we're
playing with fertilizer and seedplacement and different rates,
uh, using different types ofequipment.
Uh, so that kind of helps us,you know, in the design of
different equipment, uh, comingdown the line, whether it's a
whole new strategy or a wholenew way of doing something or
(03:08):
just proving some things out.
Uh, and then once we have theseresults, actually the extension
work going and givingpresentations, uh, taking
questions from, you know,producers, our customers are not
our customers.
You know, we've got a lot ofresearch here that guys are
finding.
Interesting.
Um, and then just, again, justbeing that liaison between the
two, the two industries, theagronomic world and the
(03:30):
manufacturing world
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Now is, is that something that's common that
maybe, um, end users orproducers don't recognize ABO
equipment manufacturing is thatit's common to have an
agronomist on staff that'shelping drive research and, and
helping understand how their ownequipment can be better in the
application that they're workingin.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Right.
Um, I would say that there'sgetting to be more and more kind
of agronomists on staff at, uh,at different different
manufacturer.
I'm thinking of some of our, youknow, close competitors.
They've had agronomists onstaff, some of'em were actually
even created by agronomists.
Um, so yeah, you know, there isthat link, but I would say what
(04:09):
kind of sets, uh, Borgo apart iswe've got, we've got a 2300 acre
farm here and we're running itlike a commercial farm.
So we're, we're understandingsome of just the, you know,
logistics and, and differentthings that guys would be going
through.
Uh, and then we take a lot of,or some of that land and we
actually divvied up into thesesmaller trials and, and do you
(04:30):
know, hundreds of these largerscale field replicated trials?
So I would say that no othermanufacturer is doing quite to
the extent, uh, you know, inour, in our, I guess, uh,
specific industry, you know, onthe seating side of it.
Um, but I would say that most dohave some kind of agronomic, uh,
(04:52):
advisor on, on, on their teamsomewhere.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Right.
And, and so maybe just for thelisteners, um, you can kind of
give us a quick overview of, ofwhat BOGO industry actually, uh,
what, what that specificindustry is.
It's more of a broad acreseeding than maybe a precision
seating where, um, they areworking with widths of, you
know, 65 or, or bigger feet andwidths at the time of, of
planting and fertilizing in, insingle passes.
(05:16):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
So our kind of bread and butteris, uh, you know, it kind of
started off, you know, in 1974,the very first, uh, cultivator
was kind of introduced and, uh,you know, that that's where
Borgo originated from, wascultivating working up the soil.
And, you know, since then movedmore into our bread and butter
being the, the seeding side ofit, we still make cultivators,
(05:38):
we make heroes, but our drillsare really what, uh, really set
us apart, uh, a no-till drill.
So we putting down seed andfertilizer in a, in a single
pass without having to work upthe soil ahead of time.
Uh, you know, our most commonsize of drill that we sell right
now is 76 feet wide.
And our most common tank that wesell, uh, that gets coupled with
(06:01):
that drill is, uh, 950 bushel.
Now we make up to a hundred footdrills and we also make up to
1300 bushel carts.
And actually those 1300 bushelcarts are getting to be more and
more popular.
Uh, so definitely broader acres,um, is, is what our main target
has been or has been in thepast.
(06:23):
Uh, but we do have smallerdrills.
We're coming online with now two30 and 40 foots with onboard
tanks on there.
And, and, and we just moved intothe simulation world now, uh,
you know, where we havesimulators on board, we can, we
can simulate corn, plant cornand Ize at the same time.
So that's gonna be reallyinteresting moving forward.
That's gonna be able to open upa couple more, uh, industries
(06:45):
or, or areas I would saygeographically speaking, um, you
know, into the future here.
So that's pretty exciting, but,but you're right, David, we're
larger equipment.
We're not gonna
know, in Toronto or, or anywherelike that.
Right.
We're, we're, we're pretty bigequipment.
So
Speaker 1 (07:02):
We're not talking 12 year old box planters right now.
We're talking a lot of acres in,in single days in, in multiple.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
We're hundreds of acres a dayis, you know, the guy's goals.
Right.
And, and a lot of, lot of thefarms now are, are multiple,
multiple units in the field, uh,of this size.
So just to get a, give a bit ofa indication of the sizes of
farms that we're, that we'rekind of working with, for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah.
And, and I've been lucky enoughto, you know, sit in on some of
your extension work.
I've been at different events,uh, whether it's a trade show or
whether it's a, you know, a showthat forgo has put on themselves
, um, at their research farm or,or what would it be.
And I understand the value addedthat a, you know, a position
such as yourself or yourcounterpart, Jeff bring to those
(07:48):
conversations, but what's beenthe feedback from maybe end
users about an agronomist onstaff.
That's actually doing the workplaying in the same soil that
they're playing in and beingable to actually speak to what
this machine can do for them.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah.
You know, actually the other,the other day, literally a
couple days ago, got a call froma guy I'd never met him before.
And he, uh, he was, you know, hehad a couple questions.
We post all of our resultsonline.
And so he just wanted to followup with a few questions.
And he said, you know, it's,it's pretty sweet.
Like I go online, I had thesespecific questions and all of a
(08:22):
sudden, you know, he foundhimself on our website and
there's, there's the questionshe was asking and we've got the
trials for it.
Right.
So, um, exactly to your point,guys are, are, are really liking
that ability to, to get thatinformation that really pertains
to their, to their farm.
And, uh, and, and honestlythat's where these trials and,
(08:43):
you know, a lot of the work thatwe do and questions that we ask
ourselves are, are stemmingfrom, is, you know, from talking
with producers.
Right.
And, and what's happening outthere, then we put it into the
trials.
Right.
So, uh, you know, overall, I, I,I think it's been, I think it's
been good, you know, of courseyou'll have, you'll have some
other guys out there, you know,ah, you're doing the trial.
(09:04):
So, you know, how much can wereally believe about, you know,
what you're doing, right.
If you're trying to sell ussomething and, you know, okay.
I, I got a guess I can respectthat, uh, to a certain degree,
but, you know, we're definitelydoesn't help us to, to, to not
find the true answers, thequickest, right.
So, uh, overall it's been, it'sbeen really, I think it's been
really good.
(09:24):
So,
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And I, and I, I would have to imagine, uh, being,
working in the sales industry,myself, that the salesman for,
for BOGO and probably thedealership salesman really enjoy
being able to talk to an enduser.
And when they want to know moreinformation, they have a
resource such as yourself whereit's a, where you've used the
same tools that they've used and, and been able to get the
(09:45):
results that they desire.
So
appreciate having a, a residentknowledge such as a, an
agronomist or agronomy team ontheir side.
For sure.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, I I'd like to think so, but you never know
these, you know, these salesmenout there.
Hey, all of a sudden if I tellthe, the customer something,
maybe they don't want to hear, I, I don't know if they really
appreciate us at that point, but
it's for the, for the, the, thegood of, for the customer and
the company.
So,
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah.
And one thing that, uh, youknow, you kind of hit on here
today that I guess I haven'treally put together as, as you
guys, aren't just going out andtesting, you know, what the best
formula of rate to fertilizeror, or spacing or any of that is
, um, you know, between seeds inthe same row, but you guys are
also doing testing on your ownequipment to see if, you know,
(10:33):
maybe 10 inch spacing is bettercompared to 12 inch facing.
If that's a design that you guysshould go with or vice versa, or
maybe the air delivery system tothe openers of the, of the
fertilizer or velocity of airand stuff like that.
So it sounds like you're doing alot more than just, you know,
what, what, what probably a lotof people stereotypically would
say an agronomist is doing whenit comes to looking at test
(10:55):
plots, you're, you're actuallytesting the machine itself too,
correct?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
With, you know, we've got a, youknow, we've got a new drill
every other, every couple years,and we're always testing out,
you know, the, the, the latestand greatest coming down the
pipeline, you know, uh, yeah.
Whether it be, yeah, like yousaid, mechanical or, or on the
tech side of it, um, which canmake for some, you know, some
frustrating times, but, youknow, it's better that we kind
of go through this first andthen, you know, we can test it
(11:20):
out.
And before it gets into thehands of the producers who, you
know, when it's time to go, theygotta go, they can't be
monkeying around.
So for sure, we're, we're tryingto do as much of that as we can,
and then provide that feedback,uh, back to the engineers here.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And there must, there must be some validation between
what maybe the salesman arehearing from the field about
what they, what end users wouldlike in the future and kind of
what engineering things they cando and whether or not it's a
viable thing, you know, for themarketplace probably is, is a
probably combination between alot of different sources inside
the walls of, of any OEM, notjust, just specifically BOGO.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Well, for sure.
There's a lot of, there's a lotof good ideas.
There's a lot of ideas I canfloat it across.
Right.
And, you know, you gotta kind ofpick through some of them, uh,
some of'em might seem like areal good idea.
And, uh, you know, when it getsput into practice, it's all of a
sudden, eh, maybe that didn'twork out way, a guy thought it
would.
And so, yeah, you gotta pickthrough it and, and, uh, yeah,
(12:14):
but OB obviously come from thefield.
Right.
and they're the ones that applythe best too.
Right.
So,
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Well, yeah.
Um, today we're joined on talkPokemon talks, agriculture by
Curtis de Goyer from, uh, BOGOindustries, agronomy team
leader.
Um, thanks for filling us in, onkind of what you do at forgo and
what BOGO does for, uh, orwithin the industry.
Um, but just a couple ofquestions, uh, since we got you
on the line here, maybe turningtowards agronomy as a whole, um,
(12:43):
you said that you've beenworking at BOGO since 2014.
So in those seven years or eightyears, I guess it is.
Um, and then even your time atcardio after university, what
are some of the trends you'veseen develop or, or change, um,
in your industry specificallythat that kind of have
revolutionized farming specificto agronomy?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Well, that's a pretty , uh, yeah, that's a pretty big
question.
Um, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Putting you on the hot seat today, Curtis.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, the one thing thatcomes to mind right away, right,
is just, uh, just on thetechnology side and, you know,
tracking, tracking what, whatyou're doing, uh, within all,
all aspects of, of the, youknow, of the farm, right.
So, you know, seeding tospraying to harvest, um, that,
(13:28):
that, that information transfer,uh, to me, like when I was at
Cargill there, right.
It was, you know, we, we weresort of playing around with some
VR stuff and, and honestly
now has since shut down so I cankind of speak blatantly, but
like, it's, it was, it was verywell here.
You guys go, uh, go out thereand see if you can sell this VR
(13:48):
stuff.
Right.
And, and, and nowadays, I mean,there's some companies out there
right now that it's, so it's,it's, it's very detailed, very
specific, uh, on the fields and,and, and very, very much, um,
represents the field digitally.
Um, so there's, you know, thatpart of it, uh, but then also,
you know, what, what getsapplied, uh, what gets sprayed,
(14:09):
uh, what gets harvested and nowturning those zones, uh, of the
field, let's say, uh, lookingat, you know, how much is going
in, how much is going out perzone and, and how do you track
that?
And this whole, like, you know,agronomy, well, precision
agronomist seems to be more ofa, a common, you know, either
position I see posted, um, orjust, you know, in general, in
(14:34):
the job descriptions, you know,you're gonna have to be dealing
with a lot of, you know, a lotof this data and how do you, how
do you manage it?
Right.
Yeah.
Um, so I, I would say that'sprobably one of the biggest
things that has evolved here asof, you know, as of late, it's
always been there, but it'sreally seems to be a big push in
that arena right now.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah.
And, and I think to add to that,you know, I know you and I have
talked in the past aboutimporting and exporting, you
know, data to, and from theconsoles that BOGO uses our, the
talk on X 35, um, or othermonitors.
Right.
And I think it's truly becomebig, big part in, uh, an
agronomist daily life isimporting and exporting data
(15:15):
through all the different colorsof monitors out there.
Um, then I know some agronomistshave adapted that and some
agronomists aren't so excitedabout that, but it's certainly
here and it's not going awayanytime soon.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
No, that's, that's a lot of the questions I'm getting
right now, he, in the wintermonths here, right.
Is, you know, how do we do this?
How do we upload boundaries?
How do we, uh, export this up tothis platform?
And, you know, that's, that's,uh, a very common, common
conversation we're having.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
And, and for every color of every color of monitor
out there, there's also a dataplatform that's being used, that
one farmer has or whatever.
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Exactly.
There's a lot, there's a lot outthere.
So how do they jive?
Right.
You know, it's, it's, how do weget the clouds to talk to the
clouds?
And, uh,
sometimes some of theseconversations.
So,
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah.
And I think something that, youknow, that I have seen in my
time in the industry is that yougo to, uh, maybe an agronomy
seminar or something along thoselines.
Um, and the average age ofagronomists seem to be kind of a
little bit lower, um, that aremore eager to get out there and,
and get that, uh, informationfrom companies such as talk on
(16:25):
or, or anybody like that.
Right.
And, um, you definitely see thatthere is some wisdom in the
room, but it, it does seem to bemore of a, a younger position
right now in the industry.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah.
I don't know.
Uh, you might have got some guysfired up there who are listening
to this right now, but, uh, yeah.
Guys, some trails out there.
I mean, yeah.
It's, uh, it's something whereyeah.
You know, we're kind of borninto it now in, into the
technology of, of everythingright.
Of everyday life and, and, andit's no different on the farm
Speaker 1 (16:57):
And that's just, it it's, it's here and it's not
going anywhere.
So, um, what I guess to, tobuild on that is, do you see any
disruptions coming in theagronomy side of, of the farm
that are going to be, you know,kind of continue to
revolutionize this we're in 10years when the next generation
is sitting here doing a podcast,they're talking about what
(17:18):
they've dealt with over the last10 years?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Well, I mean, there's a few, there's definitely a few
things, um, out there.
Um, there's some things I'd liketo, you know, to see some more
pushing on, um, you know,obviously the whole automation
that, I mean, that's a big one,um, you know, is, you know,
getting, uh, in the field, uh,you send a piece of equipment
(17:41):
out and it does the work withnobody in it.
Right.
There's, there's that aspect ofit for sure.
And there's been a couple comeget released on, on that side.
So I think you, you know, it's,you know, it might just be more
of a tech thing, but of courseyou ought to, you know, how does
that, how does thatautomatically adjust to the
agronomics that's going on thatdata too, right.
How deep is the moisture?
(18:01):
Um, you know, how, how do we,how do we get to that point?
And, and, and that's where, youknow, kind of the other thing is
I'd like to see expanded on hereis, uh, is sensors in general,
right?
And, and everybody quitecringes, you know, everyone
hears about you too many sensorsand, you know, one goes wrong.
Um, but what I've been findingis, you know, when they, when
they work and they're robust,uh, it's, it's pretty cool to
(18:23):
see that, uh, that informationcome in.
Um, so an example of that, youknow, would be, uh, you know,
moisture meter, uh, real time,you know, how, how do we set our
depth, uh, of the drill, let'ssay, right as you're going
through the field.
Um, so I think that might be apotential thing where, you know,
gone are the days of,
(18:45):
and checking, but you know, youhave this, this real time map
showing up of where themoistures is on your, in your
field right down to the, youknow, right.
You know, within an inch or ahalf, an inch or quarter of an
inch.
Um, so I think that, uh, I, Imean, maybe that's what I kind
of hope, or I don't know if Ihope, I think that could be
beneficial to, you know,ensuring that every crop gets up
(19:06):
and get going.
Right.
So that, that's obviouslyimportant.
And, you know, if technology cando it better than humans, then
we're winning and in the pastthat's, I mean, look at GPS.
Right, right.
They always, you know, you gotthe guy that says he can drive
straight.
Well, you're not gonna drivestraight than GPS.
Right.
Um, so I, I think that the, youknow, the cen some of that
sensor technology, uh, it's comea long ways, but there's some,
(19:29):
there's some more stuff we canstill do with it.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah.
And I think that's, you know,that's such a common thing is
that for 10 years at trade shows, guys would say that they
didn't need steering.
And now you don't even hear thatcomment anymore.
Cuz almost everything hassteering on it.
Right.
And yeah, we're kind of goingthrough that phase right now
with, with data management.
Um, guys are still not a hundredpercent convinced about even
(19:52):
variable rating or, you know,collecting data.
A lot of guys do variablerating, but they don't collect
it properly at harvest.
And it just makes it that muchmore challenging for an
agronomist to do proper work.
Right.
But every year, year over yearyou get less and less in that
and more adaptation of properyield data collecting or
variable rate executions on boththe Cedar and the sprayer, um,
(20:15):
that, you know, it's soon we'regonna be talking about whether
it's autonomy or, or whatever itis and, and how that properly
fits in.
And I think that's a valid pointthat you bring that there's so
many variables that, you know,we might have a machine working
out in a quarter and in WesternCanada, if you're running a
20,000 acre farm and you wenthome to get seed because your
(20:35):
machine's running and that's 10miles away, you don't know if
it's raining or not.
So how do we put those stopmeasures on and, and everything
along those lines.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah.
There's so many of those little,those subtle things that just
pop up the human brain can justprocess so easily.
Right.
Well
Yeah.
You know, how, how do you getthe, the sensors and the, and
then the inte you know, theartificial intelligence to get
in there too.
So, um, yeah, no, it's, youknow, no
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Problem.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah.
We've been talking a lot hereabout agronomy and most of it's
all about, you know, the techside of it for sure.
Right.
And, and yeah, that's just kindof an indication of, of what,
what I'm dealing with more and,and you know exactly what we're
seeing more in the industry.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Exactly.
And, and so a question that Iguess I could ask, it's a loaded
question.
I know, but, um, do you believethat the job of agronomist is
easier because of the adaptationof precision ag?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Um, different, I, I don't know about, you know,
harder or easier.
I mean, obviously there's more,there's more information at your
fingertips.
Right.
Um, right.
And it's, it's about gettingthat information then and making
it useful to, you know, your,your farmer, your, your client,
um, you know, so it's adifferent challenge though,
(21:47):
right.
Because now there's just so muchright.
So much information.
So how do you, you know, how doyou pull that out of there and,
and, and really apply it?
Um, so it it's, it's, it's justchanged a little bit, I would
say.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, for sure.
And I guess it's a, it's adifferent view of it now, right.
Where, you know, there's a lotmore probably, is there more
desk work where we're working onvariable rates in the background
, uh, and trying to get readyfor spring rather than actual
consultations out in the field,working with an actual, you
know, with the, with the soiland with the, with the end user
(22:23):
in their fields?
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Well, definitely gives you opportunity to do a
little bit more in the office.
Um, yeah.
Looking at some more screens,but, you know, ultimately,
ultimately I think most peoplewho got into it do enjoy being
out in the field would prefer tobe out for me, included, I love
being out in the field anddigging around.
Right.
And then, yeah.
You know, seeing how the cropgrows, it just, it just gives
that extra layer of, of, um,that you can go back and look at
(22:46):
, uh, later in the winter and,and assess then, right.
Like how did that work?
Um, when I put fertilizer thereat that rate, you know, what,
what happened and, you know,what you would rely on before I
would say is, is pictures.
But now it's, you know, just acamera or something like that.
Now it's digitalized, it's, it'son your computer and you can,
you can really look at it allyear and, and, and kind of
(23:10):
analyze it.
So, um, I, I, yeah.
So to your, to your questionabout, you know, what's has made
it easier while again, there'sjust more information to
process, so
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah, no, you still gotta get out in the field when
it comes down to it.
Right.
Just love playing in the soil.
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
That's right.
And it's always soil never, evercall it anything else other than
soil.
I learned that the hard way.
Um, but yeah, no, it's, uh, it'sbeen an enlightening, you know,
20 minutes here and, and I thankyou very much for your time and,
and shedding some light on, onboth what you do for, uh, for
BOGO and, and how that's kind ofunique to the industry, but then
(23:48):
also, um, giving us a little bitof a outlook between our two
industries of technology andagronomy and, and maybe where
we're going and, and what'shappened in the past and, and
how it's just keeps gettingbetter and better.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yeah, absolutely.
There's uh, no, I, yeah, it'schanged in the last 10 years, so
I don't E you know,exponentially, I think it's
gonna get even crazier movingthe next, you know, from the
past 10 to the next, ten's gonnabe, uh, really exciting.
So, uh, I think there's a lot ofstuff that's coming down the
lines that it is, uh, yeah,it's, it's, it's quite exciting
(24:20):
from both, like you said, uh,agronomic, uh, technological,
uh, a mechanical even,
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah.
It will be quite interesting in,you know, hopefully 20 years
when we're able to retire maybe35 years.
Um, but whichever that, when welook back on our time in the
industry, we'll be crazy tothink what, what we're talking
about today or what we werelearning 10 years ago when we
were first both getting intothis industry and, and realizing
(24:45):
where they are, you know, 20 or30 years from now, I think will
be quite the shock when we, whenwe're sitting there talking
about the adaptation of variablerating and we have machines
doing it all over the place or,or something along those lines.
Yeah.
It's fun to keep an eye on andfun to look back on for sure.
Or,
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Or everyone gets frustrated.
We're all back to the horse andplow here.
We gotta watch too.
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, exactly.
We never know where we're gonnaend up, but, but thank you for
your time today, Curtis, thankyou very much for joining Topcon
.
Talk to agriculture.
I know that I, I trulyappreciated the insight and I'm
sure that our listeners did aswell.
So thank you very much forjoining us.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Well, thank you very much for having me and, uh,
yeah.
Appreciate it.
And look forward to the future.
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Well, we'll catch up soon, Curtis.
Thank you.
Once again, for tuning in toTopcon talks, the agriculture,
uh, we look forward to havingyou next time.
Take care, everyone.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com