North American Ag’s Chrissy Wozniak Featured on the Ag Sales Professionals Podcast

Season 5: Episode 209

This special episode of the Ag Sales Professionals Podcast is being featured on North American Ag as Chrissy Wozniak was recently invited by host Greg Martinelli to join him for a conversation about ag marketing, media, and the rapidly evolving world of ag technology. We're excited to offer this episode to our listeners, as Chrissy shares her perspective on how to effectively communicate in the ag space, the importance of cutting through buzzwords, and what producers really want from the companies that serve them. From her work with North American Ag to her role at Ecorobotix and American Agri-Women, Chrissy opens up about her journey and her mission to help tell the real story of agriculture. We're proud to bring this important conversation to our audience. 

Agritechnica in Hannover, Germany is held every other year, this year long-time tech writer & ag journalist Willie Vogt has put together for ag enthusiasts! The Agritechnica tour includes three days at the huge equipment and farm technology event. Learn more - https://agtoursusa.com/agritechnica.html

Subscribe to North American Ag at https://northamericanag.com

Transcript

00:00:03:00 - 00:00:24:14
Greg Martinelli
Well. Hey, welcome. I am joined today. I'm very excited. I'm joined by Chrissy Wozniak who, runs or has run North American AG for the last 7 or 8 years and I'm excited to have her on. We did a, podcast years ago. Today. We are going to be talking about AI and robotics and all those kind of technical aspects.

00:00:24:14 - 00:00:44:17
Greg Martinelli
But she runs a great business, and her and I met through virtual connections. And then we saw each other at some trade shows. And, she just has a great a couple of podcasts. One is called North American Action or North. We're going to spotlight. And then the other one is what color is your parachute? If you haven't listened to them yet, you should go find them.

00:00:44:19 - 00:01:04:00
Greg Martinelli
After you listen to this one and go find them on Spotify or wherever. And her website would be great. We'll have links to all those in the show notes, where she speaks on a great set of subjects. She's been involved in sales and marketing, currently, involved in American agro women and, eco robotics, which is what we're going to have her talk about.

00:01:04:00 - 00:01:27:17
Greg Martinelli
But enough about me saying things. Let's let Chrissy introduce herself and tell us a little bit about her journey in the ag world and how that's been going. And, I see you posting on LinkedIn. You're at a lot of trade shows, all the big trade shows. We're excited to have. You tell us a little bit about what's been going on in your in your agribusiness world.

00:01:27:19 - 00:01:46:19
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. So I guess I started out, wanting to be a farmer when I was a kid. For some reason, we lived in town. I don't know why I wanted to be a farmer, so I went to school for agriculture and had no farming background other than horses. And I know that doesn't count to most of the agriculture community, but I did hay when I was a kid.

00:01:46:21 - 00:02:07:17
Chrissy Wozniak
So yeah. So that's where where I started. I took, ended up, not becoming a farmer because you had to marry a farmer, and that just didn't didn't pan out like that. So I worked in agribusiness my, my whole career, and, and now, like you said, I wear a bunch of different hats. I do have, the two podcasts.

00:02:07:23 - 00:02:28:11
Chrissy Wozniak
One is bi weekly North American Tech Spotlight, and then the other one is, is more relaxed when I have a good story. What color is your tractor? And it is, stories of the ag brands you love and the brands you love to hate. So that's all part of North American Egg, which is kind of like the, kind of the my hobby part of my life.

00:02:28:13 - 00:02:56:18
Chrissy Wozniak
Also involved with American agro women. I'm the VP of communications currently, until, my position, my position is up until November and, and it's an excellent organization. When I, I actually immigrated from Canada back in 2021. And when I came to the U.S, I decided that, I'm, you know, tired of complaining about how things should be different in agriculture.

00:02:56:20 - 00:03:18:22
Chrissy Wozniak
And I found, with the help of Warren Clark. Actually, a lot of people know Warren Clark, and he guided me to American agro women, where, we are the, force for truth in agriculture. So we do a lot of, advocating for agriculture at the local, state and national levels. And so I am highly involved in that.

00:03:18:24 - 00:03:31:24
Chrissy Wozniak
And, that takes me, on a lot of travels. There's three, three meetings a year that you get to go to. And I would encourage any women involved in agriculture. It's a great place to become a member, for sure.

00:03:32:01 - 00:03:34:17
Greg Martinelli
That's right. Then.

00:03:34:19 - 00:03:35:04
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah.

00:03:35:04 - 00:03:35:19
Greg Martinelli
And one of the.

00:03:35:19 - 00:03:37:02
Chrissy Wozniak
Things you.

00:03:37:04 - 00:03:54:04
Greg Martinelli
Got, I wanted to back on that subject, I wanted to ask you one of your taglines, and I don't if I don't call it a tagline, it was kind of in your beliefs is changing the way Ed communicates and markets to consumers. And I think that's something important for people to know that you're a fairly big advocate of.

00:03:54:06 - 00:04:25:10
Greg Martinelli
You've had guests that focus on that subject of getting the word out. And I think that's that's part of, your campaign, of your media campaign too, is marketing and communicating. Not just on traditional media, but maybe non-mainstream is maybe what the term can be can be considered. So I think that's important as well for people to understand that there's a there's been a great deal of effort for you around that subject of communicating the story and getting it out there and making.

00:04:25:11 - 00:04:58:14
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, absolute. That's one of my main, main passions is, you know, the 2% that grow our food are underrepresented. And when they are represented, it's often in this, you know, you know, over idealistic farm world way. And, and it misses out on the, the precision and the technology and, the things that really drive drive. It's I, I often say it's, you know, there's three things that that every producer has to deal with every single day.

00:04:58:16 - 00:05:31:13
Chrissy Wozniak
And, that's technology policy and faith, right. With those three things drive, farming and. Sure. Yeah. And so yeah, and that's kind of where my heart lies is that how can we create the message that that gives them those three touch points? And not only brands, agriculture to the end user, but then also brands companies so that they can they can relate better to the producer.

00:05:31:15 - 00:05:49:19
Chrissy Wozniak
There's a lot of people enter agriculture without any background. So it's important to me that every company has a good understanding of who farmers are and what they need and what drives them. So I guess, and that's on all of those those three things, right, with technology, policy and faith. Sure.

00:05:49:21 - 00:06:18:17
Greg Martinelli
And that's and you're you're also talking to somebody who didn't grow up on a farm and spent my whole life in agriculture. Is yeah, I do the same thing. I grew up in the suburbs of Saint Louis, as far as remote as you could get from farming and, but decided that I wanted to do that as well. And, but I've got family members who still say stuff and, and I'm like, no, I don't it's not really like that, you know, and it most of it's because they hear popular press say something and, and I think the importance of it is the difficulty.

00:06:18:17 - 00:06:39:03
Greg Martinelli
It's, it is to produce the crops that, that, that have to be to feed us. And I think that's the importance of that is people that make the decisions, pass the laws, sometimes don't know, hey, that sounds great in theory, but when you actually implement it, your eggs might be $8 a dozen or maybe $12 a dozen. I think they're $8 now.

00:06:39:03 - 00:07:00:24
Greg Martinelli
But, you know, and that's that's what I always tell people saying. Yeah, that's that's good. I, I understand what you're saying, and, but that's not how it really works. When you get behind agric business and how it actually happens. And I think that's a great I never get into that subject, but I appreciate the people like yourself that do because it's it's definitely needed.

00:07:01:04 - 00:07:21:12
Greg Martinelli
So. Well, kind of jump over and then, you know, in your journey, somewhere in your journey, you jumped on board with, a company called Eco Robotics and that's, we're we're excited to talk to you about today, but tell us a little bit about, well, let me ask you this before we get into eco robotics, because it's pretty self-explanatory what the company does.

00:07:21:12 - 00:07:51:15
Greg Martinelli
It's robotics and it's eco. So it's related to ag. What give us if you could. This is one of those areas like regenerative ag or I and I hear every day in not just agribusiness or eg, but in other businesses on LinkedIn you hear this companies doing great things with I become a professional speaker using AI. Could you give in the ag world just a in your viewpoint because you, you go to a lot of trade shows.

00:07:51:15 - 00:08:15:08
Greg Martinelli
You've been to a lot of specifically around technology trade shows. Could you give our listeners maybe a big picture view, 10,000ft view of robotics and AI and, and and regenerative and, I don't know what other words we want to throw in there, but, Colonel, it's hard for people to say, okay, here's what we need to do.

00:08:15:08 - 00:08:44:17
Greg Martinelli
It seems like there's platforms everywhere. There's programs everywhere. I've even heard the word digitize, which I get the idea. But what does the term mean? And everybody's got digital platforms that they're putting in for grain operations or feeding operations or crop inputs. And so if you have an opinion on that to give a, a big picture view, and then we'll get into kind of how micro robotics fits into that.

00:08:44:19 - 00:09:25:23
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah for sure. So I like I said, technology is one of those pillars that, that every producer needs so that they can they can find more profit by streamlining their processes and making their operations more efficient. And I love ag tech and we live in such an incredible time in history where it's moving so fast. And something I actually noticed throughout last year, you know, I've been following this and I've had a lot of these companies on my podcasts and, told their stories and something, you know, ten years ago it was you'd go to a show and you'd go, wow, look at that technology.

00:09:25:23 - 00:10:08:01
Chrissy Wozniak
That's so cool. And it was just over and over. Oh that's amazing. Oh, look what that can do. Look at what this machine can do. And but there was always a sense of yeah, but does it really benefit the farm. The bottom line there was a lot of really cool, wild, neat stuff that you could never imagine. But I would say in the last 18 months, I feel like the the entire space has matured and as it reached, as it's reaching this maturity level where it's like, okay, well, I can show you on paper where this will take your bottom line and reduce those expenses, reduce those inputs.

00:10:08:05 - 00:10:29:22
Chrissy Wozniak
And it's real now. And I really feel like something's really clicked in the last 18 months where now these companies are not just brand new, they're not just shiny little things. They are really affecting how farms are run and how they're run more efficiently and can and really the bottom a lot of it is, you know, inputs and labor.

00:10:29:23 - 00:10:37:05
Chrissy Wozniak
Right. So how can you get more labor and how can you reduce your inputs. So it's been it's been really exciting to watch.

00:10:37:07 - 00:10:57:09
Greg Martinelli
Is it do you feel like it's becoming more I mean, we've all seen that thing where, you know, this is the house of the future. And you look and you're like, well, yeah, I mean, we could do something like that, but that way. But the average middle class homeowner couldn't do that. Or in this case, it's the 500 acre grower couldn't have that kind of technology.

00:10:57:09 - 00:11:19:14
Greg Martinelli
Is it that in the last two years or 18 months, it started to become a applicable to the everyday farmer? If there is such a thing, is that is that kind of like you're saying, hey, we used to say, wow, that's great. Someday they'll have that at my level. But now it is at the level where it's affordable and achievable.

00:11:19:14 - 00:11:23:22
Greg Martinelli
At a middle class, so to speak.

00:11:23:22 - 00:11:48:07
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It used to be that it was, you know, you've got to have a few thousand acres that you're farming before you could ever see a return on these investments. But now, because there's so much effort being put put into this technology and because it's moving so fast, like even just I in the last year, just regular catching has come so far in just a year.

00:11:48:09 - 00:12:10:22
Chrissy Wozniak
All of all of this technology is growing leaps and bounds so quickly that it really is. There is a solution for a small farmer, just as there is for, you know, the Taylor Farms and duties of the world, right? These, these big, huge growers that, you know, we can right. There is a solution that is more efficient and more precise for everyone.

00:12:10:22 - 00:12:11:20
Chrissy Wozniak
Now I would say.

00:12:11:22 - 00:12:29:10
Greg Martinelli
Yeah, yeah. And I think that's when it takes off. You know we saw it I mean those you can look back over the course of your life and say, I remember when this came out and there'll be four different versions of it and you buy it, I think one and that as a point, you know, I bought a cassette player because it was a step up from an eight track player.

00:12:29:10 - 00:12:48:14
Greg Martinelli
I bought a, Walkman because it played CDs and, and then I and then I was old school and so I had to buy, an iPod, whatever the different sizes were. And now we went to buy an iPod not long ago because we still run with them. Me and my wife and the kids like you want you to listen to it on your phone.

00:12:48:14 - 00:13:11:13
Greg Martinelli
Nobody buys an iPod anymore. And I'm like, yeah, I guess so. I don't have a I don't have a subscription for that. I guess that's one more. And and I think sometimes people get worried and maybe that's something we can address during our discussion with like robotics is am I buying, you know, the, the version that's going to be outdated and how fast is it going to be outdated?

00:13:11:19 - 00:13:36:06
Greg Martinelli
Computers that happen frequently. You can't buy a computer for more than a few years now. I mean, you can, but it starts to get pretty slow and old as it is. If you don't buy one every 2 or 3 years. How do you kind of look at that aspect of, of the different components of, of what you've seen in the technology world?

00:13:36:08 - 00:13:58:18
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, that's a great point. And I would I would say if we think about just our computers, we used to have discs and CDs where we had to load all the programs on. And then when that one was obsolete, we'd have to go buy another. The next version, the next version, the next version. Well, now even on our computers, we have with web based software and it is always updating and you pay a subscription.

00:13:58:20 - 00:14:24:09
Chrissy Wozniak
So that's that's also happening on on equipment. So if you just buy equipment with this technology the way it is today, tomorrow it's going to be out of date. So you definitely need to have machinery that is, is able to update. And you're not just buying because everything's just changing like so quickly. So and I think most of the the equipment is doing that now.

00:14:24:11 - 00:14:49:02
Greg Martinelli
I think that's a good point is it's a question to ask at the point of purchase to say today. I mean, like I get a tax software every year and I buy it. It doesn't even it's just a code number that every week when I start the program up, when I'm doing my taxes, as the months begin to come closer, it updates every week because there's new changes coming out.

00:14:49:02 - 00:15:14:08
Greg Martinelli
And I think that's something that people need with technology. You need to ask what's what's going to be the process of servicing it and updating it as things if it's a huge investment. I mean, I know what people invested with ERP programs, software programs for their their company software. And it's it's a huge you mean do 1 or 2 of those in the course of your career with a company because it's so expensive.

00:15:14:10 - 00:15:32:10
Greg Martinelli
But those require absolutely are going to require updates and and integrating with other systems. That's I think the other thing is all of a sudden Venmo and that popped out. You couldn't have thought of those before they were invented to have your ERP system accept payment from PayPal or Venmo.

00:15:32:10 - 00:15:33:14
Chrissy Wozniak
Right. Exactly.

00:15:33:16 - 00:15:46:09
Greg Martinelli
You know, so so absolutely. What how does tell us a little bit about eco robotics and how that fits into the whole picture and what's involved with with that and and all that you get involved with?

00:15:46:11 - 00:16:15:15
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah for sure. So I was at show an excellent show. Highly recommend it. Out in Sacramento outside of Sacramento, California. This would be the fourth year of the show. It's called Fiora USA, and it's a show that brings together the best and the brightest, companies that are involved in Agtech. So you're going to see like that the very, you know, the very first prototypes, and then you're going to see, you know, like the John Deere see and spray.

00:16:15:21 - 00:16:38:24
Chrissy Wozniak
So you're going to see all of that, all of this, all condensed into I think it's 3 or 4 days in September this year. So I was there last year. And I, I've known about this company, Eco Robotics, for a few years, have had them on the podcast a few times, just a really cool company. And they're actually based in Switzerland and that's where the company originated.

00:16:39:01 - 00:17:03:20
Chrissy Wozniak
They started, back in 2011. So they've been working on, on this, this for a long time. And I was at this show and the marketing manager, she approached me at that show and said, you know, we're looking for us, marketing and communications manager, would you be interested? And I was like, that sounds so fun.

00:17:03:22 - 00:17:04:12
Greg Martinelli
That's great.

00:17:04:14 - 00:17:25:21
Chrissy Wozniak
And yeah, and I'll tell you, I've always worked with companies, whether consulting or being employed by companies in agriculture. You know, a lot of these companies have been around forever. And so it's always, you know, tight. There's not a ton of freedom. It's all always the, you know, the same, same, same. And, which is also fun.

00:17:25:21 - 00:17:53:13
Chrissy Wozniak
But the thought of working for a startup that is involved in such cool things just, you know, lit me on fire. I was just so excited. And, Yeah. So I the next week, I think it was. Yeah, it was the next week I flew out to Pasco, Washington, where the head offices for the US spent a week there, just kind of getting to know the product and know the people and by the week I had accepted the position and, yeah.

00:17:53:13 - 00:17:54:08
Chrissy Wozniak
So yeah.

00:17:54:08 - 00:17:57:07
Greg Martinelli
So I have a and you've been on the road ever since you met.

00:17:57:09 - 00:17:58:20
Chrissy Wozniak
Yes.

00:17:58:22 - 00:18:11:11
Greg Martinelli
You were at the world of Travel world there. The World Egg show. I think that's what it's called out. Larry and I saw you at, several the other ones here. I just was looking at your travel time show.

00:18:11:13 - 00:18:18:24
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Oh, yeah. New York farm show, Michigan Schirra, and then all the American women events, too, and tour.

00:18:19:01 - 00:18:29:01
Greg Martinelli
So I saw you're complaining about snow in New York after you came from Ontario. I was like, I think you forgot. I live in Florida. You forget the cold really quick. So.

00:18:29:04 - 00:18:35:18
Chrissy Wozniak
Oh, yeah, I definitely do. But I get my one week at New York Farm Show and I get my fill of snow every year.

00:18:35:20 - 00:18:54:03
Greg Martinelli
That's great. New Rover, what I call robotics. Pasco, Washington makes me think of specialty crop produce. Vineyards. Vegetables. Tell us a little bit about the business of what they what they do and what they provide. What what all that they have.

00:18:54:05 - 00:19:24:08
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. So eco robotics, the flagship product is the Ara Ultra High precision sprayer, and it's a tractor, tractor pull behind sprayer that is for high value specialty crops. So onions, cabbage, lettuce. Yeah. Pretty much, you know, the the menu is growing all of the time. So each crop kind of has its own algorithm. And I guess I'll explain how the machine works as it's being pulled across the beds.

00:19:24:10 - 00:19:59:18
Chrissy Wozniak
It's, it has, three cameras. Well, three camera areas, and it's taking about 60 pictures, a second on each camera. And there is a, sends it all to, like, the, the brain and which is, I and it is identifying whether it's looking at each plant and whether it's crop or if it's a weed. So say we're, we're spraying herbicide and it's going across and it's identifying the crop and it will, it will there are 156 nozzles across spray nozzles.

00:19:59:20 - 00:20:18:04
Chrissy Wozniak
And it will just spray the weed. So you're you can reduce, herbicide by up to 95% because you're not broadcasting it anymore. You're just targeting it, to 2.4 by 2.4in square size. So you're just targeting those weeds. And if you point.

00:20:18:04 - 00:20:22:06
Greg Martinelli
Four feet, 2.4 is would feed yards inch.

00:20:22:08 - 00:20:26:15
Chrissy Wozniak
Inch. Okay. So yep yep. So very targeted. Yeah.

00:20:26:16 - 00:20:44:18
Greg Martinelli
Spot I gotcha okay. Yes. And and so it's going across there. A pull behind not on its own. It's robotically looking for the, the weeds, spraying the weeds. You're you have a driver pulling the vehicle or the, the.

00:20:44:18 - 00:21:03:16
Chrissy Wozniak
Oh yeah. So it's not autonomous. I know a lot of them are. And actually, the very first product that Eco Robotics made was autonomous. And then they, they decided, you know what? We're going to focus on spraying. We're going to let the tractor do what the tractor does. Okay, okay. And then really just focus on this precision spraying.

00:21:03:18 - 00:21:23:06
Chrissy Wozniak
And and then it also like if you're using foliar fertilizer it'll just you it'll identify just the plant and go spray the plant not the weeds because you don't want to feed the weeds. And and it, like I said, the precision is just, just phenomenal watching this machine go and you see each of those nozzle spraying as it's.

00:21:23:10 - 00:21:28:02
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, taking those pictures, processing, spraying and a quarter of a second.

00:21:28:04 - 00:21:55:20
Greg Martinelli
And is the is the data going up to a UCA robotics. The pictures, are they going to, a burning unit inside of, the cloud, let's just call it or is it manager right on the piece of equipment and then so the AI for your field, is it the eye of John Smith's onion field acre? You know, the home farm is that, how does that work?

00:21:55:20 - 00:22:21:22
Chrissy Wozniak
That's kind of both. There is that the sprayer does have its own Wi-Fi. And so it's making those decisions in real time on the machine. And then it's also sending it up because the machine has to learn all I has to learn. Right. So that's why there's crop specific algorithms. And there's kind of three stages of algorithm. There's an alpha algorithm when it's like right now, we're working on lettuce thinning.

00:22:21:24 - 00:22:43:13
Chrissy Wozniak
So you know, keep one lettuce and then spray two. Right. And then keep one and spray two all the way down the field. So that's in alpha stage. And then and then so at at the alpha stage producer can use it. And what that's doing is gathering all of those pictures and those pictures go back back to Switzerland.

00:22:43:15 - 00:23:07:06
Chrissy Wozniak
And the computer is taught more precisely what the lettuce looks like, what that pattern is. So it's learning and learning. And then when it moves from an alpha to a beta, now any producer can try it in the, in the beta stage. And and then at that point it's, it's learned enough, but now it's still gathering all, all of those pictures and learning and learning.

00:23:07:08 - 00:23:25:02
Chrissy Wozniak
And then it moves to a paid algorithm. So then you can purchase the algorithm. And then as we talked about before, it's subscription based. So you if you want carrots and you want lettuce, you would pay for those algorithms. But you know if you want lettuce thinning you would pay for that one. Sure. Once it becomes yeah.

00:23:25:04 - 00:23:44:05
Greg Martinelli
Okay. That's that's I mean, and, you know, that's a good point that you pointed out with I, you know, I first got into this, I'll be guilty. I looked at Google and I looked at I don't like what's the difference or ChatGPT, I should say I but I was looking at ChatGPT what the difference is that it, it will manipulate the information that you give it.

00:23:44:07 - 00:24:08:10
Greg Martinelli
If you ask it to. It does it does learn. You like me specifically. I don't use it tremendously to write content, but I use it to tweak a title or give me a better way of saying this particular sentence, because a lot of times my my, editing software doesn't like the phrase of the wording I use because I just, I use words that that aren't English syntax.

00:24:08:10 - 00:24:20:17
Greg Martinelli
Good, good English. And it will flag them. And then I pull it out and I put an AI and it rewards them sometimes. But the difference between just internet and AI is the AI learns.

00:24:20:19 - 00:24:21:20
Chrissy Wozniak
Yes.

00:24:21:22 - 00:24:50:07
Greg Martinelli
As it gets smarter and smarter, learns from the broadcast world and then applies it. It's like a human brain thinking, reasoning not quite that much as a human, but it's reasoning about what's happening, what they should do. And and I think that's I watched somebody take an Excel spreadsheet of their data. A sales person who didn't have sales data didn't have a CRM program.

00:24:50:07 - 00:25:16:08
Greg Martinelli
You took ChatGPT and used, and imported Excel spreadsheets and turn it into a model, I mean, a basic CRM program, which was pretty darn good for what people need to have out here as a sales person, as Islam, that don't have any data manipulation tool on the ChatGPT just manipulated to prefer to be you. As you mentioned, that happened within the last year.

00:25:16:10 - 00:25:42:02
Greg Martinelli
I think it's I just signed up for the paid version, but the the there's one level higher. I believe it's 3.4 or 4.0. It's amazing. I watch somebody use it and I'm like, I don't use it that often that I need to pump up to that level. But it's it's going to continue. And these are just the very first thing we'll laugh someday about chat, you know, GPA 3.4 and 4.0 just like we do.

00:25:42:04 - 00:25:53:12
Greg Martinelli
You know, three 84 hours and 484 some. 284 286 computers, you know, now we're way beyond those, but it's that's amazing.

00:25:53:14 - 00:26:24:22
Chrissy Wozniak
Oh, yeah. Definitely. And you bring up some really good points there too. You know, with learning, I know there's often some hesitancy to use, use it as a tool. And, I, I would say especially in agriculture, especially in our political environment, being farmers and, you know, always fighting against we're killing the earth, you know, that kind of narrative, if we're not contributing and helping it learn who's going to.

00:26:24:24 - 00:26:25:10
Greg Martinelli
That's right.

00:26:25:14 - 00:26:47:13
Chrissy Wozniak
So yeah. So it need we need to use it and there are so many ways to use it. I think a lot of people think, oh it's just plagiarism or it's going to do my work for me, but you can make your even your daily life more efficient by using AI in that. What, what I often do because I use so many different in marketing.

00:26:47:13 - 00:27:05:19
Chrissy Wozniak
We use a lot of different types of software and a lot of integrations. So a lot of time I'll have an idea and then I'll just ask it, did it. Here's what I'm thinking about doing. Is this the most efficient way to do it? Well, no, I my learning curve has now gotten a lot shorter because, it can tell me what it thinks about that.

00:27:05:23 - 00:27:24:08
Chrissy Wozniak
So there's a lot of ways that you can use it where you're not creating content. I know for marketers, we think about creating content, which it's awesome for, but also we have to you can't just use it straight out of the box because it is going to use the word sustainable too much. It's going to use a lot of those, like over marketed terms.

00:27:24:10 - 00:27:38:19
Chrissy Wozniak
Yes, way too much. So we can't just use it out of the box like that. We need to train it that that sustainable is an over marketed term. What does that really mean? So it is important that we are giving that content so that that it's learning from us too.

00:27:39:00 - 00:27:58:00
Greg Martinelli
Right. And and I think you're exactly right. You'll get us, it'll get spit out to you and you're like, and I think the same thing would happen with data that comes from the field. You get the data. It's doing a lot more than it used to be. You know, when when, drones first were starting out here ten years ago.

00:27:58:02 - 00:28:15:15
Greg Martinelli
You know, I started working with some startups that they were trying to market their product. And here's our strategy. And I was like, well, who is going to look at those pictures? You're going to fly this drone over a thousand acre, and you're going to be at 140 off the ground or whatever it is, and they're going to take the cameras were always great.

00:28:15:17 - 00:28:41:06
Greg Martinelli
And I said, somebody has to take those pictures and look at them. Now, if you're doing that and you're you're not going to have to have scouts. Well, now they're to the point where, as you mentioned, it's identifying it. Well, so good question for you. Big on weeds I never hear too much about insecticides. Does it work bugs and and the like is is robotics picked up now?

00:28:41:08 - 00:28:51:13
Greg Martinelli
Hey, I see this this problem in the field in this part of the world, and it's got this many kind of bugs going in involved and picks up on that. Or how does that look?

00:28:51:15 - 00:29:08:22
Chrissy Wozniak
Yes, there are some. So eco robotics is more about the plant. It's identifying the plant, not a particular, insect at this time. You would pretty much scout, see the insect and then you would choose what, whatever chemical that you are going to use. And then it would just put it, you know, where you need it, whether you just need it.

00:29:08:22 - 00:29:26:16
Chrissy Wozniak
Sometimes you just want on the soil and not the plant. So it would it would only spray the soil, but not and not the plant. Sometimes you only want the plant sprayed, sometimes you want the weed and the plant sprayed. If it's something that is, you know, you don't want it eating the weeds either. So yeah. So you can use it.

00:29:26:16 - 00:29:47:09
Chrissy Wozniak
But there are other companies that are especially in the, the greenhouse industry as well, things that are other not drones, but I've seen ones that go on cables across the, across the tables and benches and and identify different things that it sees and sends it back to the computer. And those are really cool. A greenhouse industry is just.

00:29:47:11 - 00:30:08:18
Greg Martinelli
Sure when you're talking of high critical, high cost items that they need, they need to put a stop to start quickly. What do you see is the biggest challenge to, to going from beta to mainstream products that are out there? What what has been your biggest challenges in that field?

00:30:08:20 - 00:30:12:19
Chrissy Wozniak
Do you mean in like in developing market share and acceptance?

00:30:12:21 - 00:30:29:17
Greg Martinelli
Yeah. Yeah. Adoption rates, getting out and actually selling the product when you meet. I mean, you're well we can talk about that. Your, your go to market strategy is you work with dealers you were mentioning before, but you actually got to talk to the producers that that are going to buy the product from your dealer, your equipment dealer.

00:30:29:17 - 00:30:45:00
Greg Martinelli
So adoption rate has to be a bigger challenge. But what do you see as being the difficulty of producers to to jump on board or to, to take on the products that you're the technology that you're working with?

00:30:45:02 - 00:31:09:21
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, I would say a lot of the apprehension would be, data overload. Number one is I'm going to get all of this data, but what do I do with it? And that's across the board. All all machinery in this space has the same kind of issue. And then the other one is also, you know, what if it doesn't work on my farm and or you know, what's what's real and not real?

00:31:09:23 - 00:31:35:19
Chrissy Wozniak
And I think for me as a marketer, that's exciting because I like to be able to quell those fears. Right? And try to okay, here are some real reasons, in real cases why this is true. What it does. And then also, you know, you can also point to, you know, another solution for a farmer if, if your solution isn't, isn't the one for them.

00:31:35:19 - 00:32:00:23
Chrissy Wozniak
Right. So right. So I think, I think trust number one, that the company has to, has to overcome that trust so that the that producer does, you know, believe you know what I understand. Believe you what you're saying. Right. And the way that, eco robotics that we, we kind of smash that head on is that we have a really good demo strategy.

00:32:01:00 - 00:32:23:24
Chrissy Wozniak
So we pretty much learned quickly before I even started that if a producer sees this machine in the field working there, they're likely going to buy one because it is. It is amazing how much and you would think that chemicals would be the greatest savings. It's actually labor in high value specialty crops. A lot of, it's a lot of H-2a work.

00:32:24:01 - 00:32:46:14
Chrissy Wozniak
So this is actually replacing labor. And then also for, you know, reasons for being a good steward of the Earth, you know, you it has skirts on it. So it's reducing the, the drift as well. So there are a lot of reasons when you see this machine going across the ground and, and you're seeing how small the, the chemical tank is, a lot of producers are like, oh, I'm going to need a bigger tank than that, right?

00:32:46:14 - 00:33:06:23
Chrissy Wozniak
And they're like, oh, you're not, because you're only spraying the tiny little, little piece. Right. So I think one once I'm marketing strategy is how do we get people to sign up for a demo? And then how do we get that tractor and that team out there to their farm, or to a local farm, or to an extension, and then that way people can see it.

00:33:07:00 - 00:33:39:13
Greg Martinelli
Yeah. And you bring up a really a good word and it jumps out at me because I speak on it. And that's trust. I wrote some recently about biologicals. There's obviously a slew of biological. That's probably a bad word because I call it hundreds of biologicals on the market. Yeah, it's very complicated. And one of the questions I always ask salespeople and teams company, whoever wants to listen is where is the center of excellence for the products that you're marketing?

00:33:39:13 - 00:34:01:19
Greg Martinelli
In other words. And I use the examples of dairy nutrition. There's three universities that, most people kind of see them as the the center of excellence. In other words, you say, hey, feed more bypass fat. They're going to say, well, let me go check with what, you know, UW Wisconsin, or Cornell or Cal Davis, you know, what are those folks say about it?

00:34:01:19 - 00:34:36:16
Greg Martinelli
Or they're going to go to somebody. And I always try to ask, you know, where would a producer if if I said, you know, my robotics is the best and is worth the ROI, is there a, hey, this country or this region of the world or this industry is kind of the. Benchmark of truth, if that makes any sense at the trust or is there nobody really kind of grabbing that title?

00:34:36:18 - 00:34:39:11
Chrissy Wozniak
You mean like in ag tech world, do you think.

00:34:39:11 - 00:35:04:19
Greg Martinelli
In AG tech? Yeah. For for tech specifically, is there somebody that's saying, hey, here's kind of the world of robotics and, and we'd like to use universities, even though universities a lot of times because of their they're trailing the market there. Sometimes I don't want say behind the latest latest technologies because industry getting paid from customers is what is where a lot of technology actually comes from.

00:35:04:21 - 00:35:22:23
Greg Martinelli
But the universities are kind of ones who say, yeah, this is the professors, because a lot of customers, a lot of farmers think, well, they don't have a a dog in the field, so to speak. They're just going to tell the truth. So they are if they say it's good to feed bypass fat, then I'll buy it and feed it because they wouldn't just promote a product.

00:35:22:23 - 00:35:26:17
Greg Martinelli
Is there is there anybody taking over that role in the.

00:35:26:19 - 00:35:56:10
Chrissy Wozniak
I would say that it it's still the there's a few a few areas actually the the university extensions are great. We work with them a lot. Not only because they're doing research, but then they, they are also presenting the research to the producers in that local area. So what we found is that that is a great place to support those extensions and then have them see and test and, you know, tweak the product and then when they're like, yeah, this is solid.

00:35:56:12 - 00:36:18:08
Chrissy Wozniak
They will also, you know, share it with with their communities. And I found to but we didn't really have this too much in Canada having we don't have this extension thing. And since I've moved to the US and I've seen, you know, just our local extension here, they do have a, they do hold trust and, and I think it is because they are not representing a product.

00:36:18:14 - 00:36:37:21
Chrissy Wozniak
So I do really like that. And, and then also I would have to say Western growers does a great job. Western growers puts out a lot of content and support for AI tech and and you know, some other people that's just they live and breathe ag tech. So I really like the content that comes from them.

00:36:37:21 - 00:36:56:19
Chrissy Wozniak
And they're, they're fair and balanced. But yeah. And, and I think a lot of the media, because it's interesting, a lot of the media is attracted to what these big tech companies are doing. And I can see that just with my own podcast, I'm always just interested. I want to know what's going on. So, so it is, is very interesting.

00:36:56:19 - 00:37:20:18
Chrissy Wozniak
And I think with the media, people can learn, especially if it's interview style, even what we're doing right now, just talk freely and openly about about the products. And that's a good way to get a more balanced view before you you go and look at the product yourself. So I think that and then there's some shows that are that are really, really focused on ag technology.

00:37:20:20 - 00:37:29:22
Chrissy Wozniak
And I think you just being able to go to one of these shows and look around and be able to kick tires and watch demos, I think that's really important to.

00:37:29:24 - 00:37:54:00
Greg Martinelli
Yeah, the one, the one thing that happens when you do go to these shows and it happened to me, is that, Saint Louis had a, a it was more of ag software than it was tech. It was a sophomore show, and I think it's changed names and it's moved around a little bit. But when I went there, I looked across the show and all I could think of was the different platforms.

00:37:54:01 - 00:38:10:14
Greg Martinelli
I was like, and they're all for produced predominantly for produce. There was a few that were for agribusiness, but most of them were for producers. And I thought to myself, if if I was a producer, I would look at it, well, there's a platform that does my crops, or there's a platform that does my, my accounting for my crops.

00:38:10:14 - 00:38:39:15
Greg Martinelli
But then I've got animals and I've got different operations and do they all and then equipment of courses become platforms. So John Deere has their own and case and everybody, do you find people wanting to know or is any person on the farm trying to word this question the right way? Is anybody taken up the reins of saying, okay, this plugs into this and this plugs into that.

00:38:39:15 - 00:39:02:04
Greg Martinelli
It'll work with other systems. Is that a factor? Meaning a lot of technology seems like a standalone. And so the struggle that people will have when they, the salesperson goes out to try to sell it, it's like, okay, now I've got all half my stuff over here. And CRM programs run into this. We had all my CRM data is for the sales data.

00:39:02:04 - 00:39:31:12
Greg Martinelli
It's over here. It's not connected to my ERP. And so if I want my ERP to talk to my, my sales, CRM program, I've got to pay to interface those or they're kind of like, I got to learn that and I got to learn this. And how do you, as that happened with what you've seen and in your talking to different companies and what you see out of the California show and, and, maybe even with eco robotics, if you can speak to that as well.

00:39:31:14 - 00:40:00:18
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. For sure. So, there is, an organization called a m, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, and they really deal with this head on. And they, they are they hold, you know, working sessions, ISO bus sessions. I can't remember what each of the ISO bus means, but they get together heads of these companies with all of their crazy computer parts, and they sit in a room and and try to make standards.

00:40:00:23 - 00:40:27:21
Chrissy Wozniak
And I really like that. I've covered that a few times, and I just think that that is necessary going forward is for these equipment manufacturers to work together and say, okay, how can we, complement each other? You know, especially with tractors, great tractors are where a lot of this kind of the hub of, of everything, is and everything needs to feed into it.

00:40:27:23 - 00:40:53:05
Chrissy Wozniak
I would say that even if it's if it's not in one system, just like with your CRM, just like with your ERP system, that even now there are ways to bring in that information together and marry it. And it's not so bad if you know, you're sitting in the machine looking at one, one tablet over here that's giving you this information, and one over here that's giving you this information, I don't see too many, people complaining about that.

00:40:53:10 - 00:41:09:04
Chrissy Wozniak
I think we're going to get to a place where everything is in one screen. But as you know from sales and marketing, it is not. There is in marketing, there is no one system that's going to do all of it. I get people saying to me, well, just use the ERP. No. And not using the same ones.

00:41:09:04 - 00:41:30:05
Greg Martinelli
Share and be like, we yeah, we've got, accounting software. I'm like, that's not designed for your sales intelligence market reports. If you really good at manipulate them maybe. And, and I think, as with any ebb and flow of change in technology like TV right now, it was very simple. You had three channels, but you didn't have a lot of choices.

00:41:30:11 - 00:41:50:05
Greg Martinelli
30 whatever, 40 years ago. Then we got cable was still easy because you bought one company's cable. Well, now, if you want to watch American football, I don't know about Canadian football, but if you want to watch American football, you've got to have about four subscriptions and you got to be really talented. I always tell people, if you can find football on any given Sunday, you know how to run most software, any business you're in.

00:41:50:05 - 00:42:09:16
Greg Martinelli
So if you're afraid of your CRM program, just try to figure out which channel is playing that week and which which ones has it. And there's every other Thursdays on ESPN. And then one time it's on this channel and, and it really has become spread out. And, and then it always kind of spreads out, gets too complicated. And then people are like, hey, you know what?

00:42:09:18 - 00:42:30:05
Greg Martinelli
Maybe if we just put all this together and up, people would pay for that bundling of somehow to make it simpler. And I and I think that's, that's what I typically see with some technology advances. It's like all the little pieces are separate. They kind of kept together and and a lot of them don't make profits. So they all get bought out by somebody merged into one.

00:42:30:07 - 00:42:52:17
Greg Martinelli
One kind of, manageable system. And I think that's what I look for in the, in the, in when somebody's trying to sell something and especially with apps, you know, somebody will say, I got this great app, I want you to help me go out and sell this to farmers. Like what? What should I do for farmers? This is the first thing a person with an app is going to look at and say is, how does that kind of fit in with what I'm currently?

00:42:52:17 - 00:43:20:09
Greg Martinelli
Because they're solving the problem somehow right now. And so what's going to happen with that? I you've got a great story because yours reduces. But let's talk about it reduces, input costs, reduces labor. I know on the website it had reducing replace and regenerate I think was the reduce re replace and regenerate any of the other R's that you want to maybe talk about what it what it does and, and how that works.

00:43:20:11 - 00:43:41:05
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Yeah. And it's all really I always say, well because working in marketing, you get irritated by marketing, overused marketing things. I already touched on that. But really, when it comes down to it, every producer wants to be a good steward of what the land that they owned on. Right. And I think there's a lot of greenwashing that goes on.

00:43:41:07 - 00:44:02:07
Chrissy Wozniak
And especially now, marketing marketers go crazy using all the catchphrases and trying to say that this is it. So when when I get to work with a product that actually helps you become a better steward of the earth, that is so exciting to me. So I try very hard not to use any of the catchphrases, and I try to say, you know what?

00:44:02:07 - 00:44:25:08
Chrissy Wozniak
This is what it actually does, you know, do you want to use less chemical? Of course we do. Number one, it's better for my soil and it's cost less is better for my bottom line. Do you want to have less drift? Yeah, absolutely. Who wouldn't want less spray drift for? Who wants less labor? You know, it's very hard to keep labor on a farm these days, right?

00:44:25:09 - 00:44:49:09
Chrissy Wozniak
Of course, you're going to want so I you know, my advice to other companies when I'm talking or speaking about marketing is stop with all the catchphrases. Nobody cares. What does this ability actually mean, right? Yeah. Just stop it. Yeah. Explain it. It's actually mean. And sometimes when people ask me or say, oh, well, it's sustainable. And I just say, what does that mean?

00:44:49:11 - 00:44:49:24
Greg Martinelli
All right.

00:44:50:01 - 00:45:16:03
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. And then I just quiet. What does it mean. Right. Does it mean that you're using less chemical on your ground. Awesome. Okay, good. That's something you can market just saying. Right. Yeah. So, yeah. So to me it's exciting to be able to have a, have an option that is better for the world and better especially for a producer, because it is tough out there, you know, with right.

00:45:16:05 - 00:45:19:15
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. So that that's that's what I would say.

00:45:19:17 - 00:45:43:01
Greg Martinelli
Excellent. Well that's right, I and I had many, many years ago I had an argument with somebody about holistic oats. I was selling oats, I had oats in my lineup for horse feed and whatever feed. And, she said she only holistic oats. And I immediately key in on one. That same way, as soon as somebody says a term, I'm like, I know there's vague definitions for that and it's not regulated.

00:45:43:03 - 00:46:03:00
Greg Martinelli
The reason it's not regulated is because it's hard to name. And at that time, organic was actually wasn't regulated. It was wild wild west of organic. Now it's it's regulated. You have to get certified. But I don't think holistic. And some of the other things are actually you can say I'm and there's a lot of I you know, in the food world, I walk through the grocery store and see it all the time.

00:46:03:00 - 00:46:10:16
Greg Martinelli
And my family will be like, don't bring it up. Just don't ask about free range, free roam free. You just don't.

00:46:10:18 - 00:46:12:07
Chrissy Wozniak
Sounds like my family.

00:46:12:09 - 00:46:12:23
Greg Martinelli
Yeah, they.

00:46:12:23 - 00:46:15:16
Chrissy Wozniak
Don't want to deal with the waitress over cage free chickens.

00:46:15:18 - 00:46:33:15
Greg Martinelli
Yeah, they're like the they're going to prepare food. Don't argue with them about what BSG is. And I always ask, you know, give the milk with a lot of BSG in it because I feel like it makes me run faster and all that stuff. And, but, well, hey, I appreciate it. We could, we could go into, I mean, all this stuff.

00:46:33:21 - 00:46:55:07
Greg Martinelli
It's great. I love maybe you're one of the voices of, this this the focus point of the industry of of who's, who's preaching the the the truth about some of this stuff. I think you do have that that reputation and trust with people that you're you're bringing truth to the mark. And I appreciate that. And and maybe you're the center of excellence on on robotics.

00:46:55:07 - 00:47:09:12
Greg Martinelli
So, if people want to get Ahold of you and, and, communicate with you or have you talk with their team, their company, or their trade association, what's the best way to to find you in the internet world?

00:47:09:14 - 00:47:33:02
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. So eco robotics.com is, is where you find me by day. Yeah. You can also find me at North American Edgecomb. I'm on all social media, LinkedIn x, Twitter or whatever. This book, all of them, Chrissy Wozniak, pretty much everywhere. So I'm very easy to find. Just Google me. Oh, excellent.

00:47:33:04 - 00:47:51:24
Greg Martinelli
Yeah. You'll find if you can't find it, then technology may be slipping from you. So. Yeah. No. It's great. And we'll have them in the show notes, and they podcast notes. So I appreciate it. Chrissy, thank you for everything you do in your broadcasts and your, your business and and what you're doing to to help, help produce some food for for everybody.

00:47:52:03 - 00:47:54:21
Greg Martinelli
Appreciate it. Thanks for being on.

00:47:54:23 - 00:47:56:23
Chrissy Wozniak
Thank you. Always a pleasure.

00:47:57:00 - 00:47:57:09
Greg Martinelli
You bet.