Ag Geek Speak

23.5 Tiny Bytes: AGS Year in Review

• A Podcast for Precision Agriculture Geeks • Season 1 • Episode 23

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Join us as we celebrate a year of the Ag Geek Speak podcast. Journey with us through the highlights of our first year, from the launch of the Tiny Bytes segment and launch of the GK Field Mapper app. We extend our heartfelt thanks and holiday wishes, and are eagerly looking forward to bringing you more insightful conversations and fresh content ideas in the new year.

Google/YouTube Ag Geek Speak Podcast Feed:  https://www.youtube.com/@geektechforag

Episodes Mentioned: 

  • Digging Deep into Soil Science with Professor Emeritus R. Jay Goos: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15610053
  • Digging Deep into Soil Science Part 2 with Professor Emeritus R. Jay Goos: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15691382
  • Darin Johnson and Kelly Sharpe - Pioneering Precision Agriculture https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/14357348
  • Darin Johnson and Kelly Sharpe Part 2 - Starting an Ag Software Company https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/14452267
  • The Art of Crop Planning with Josh Stutrud Part 1 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/14915489 
  • The Art of Crop Planning with Josh Stutrud Part 2 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/14986112
  • Making Water Flow with Paul Fuller Part 1 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15071861
  • Making Water Flow with Paul Fuller Part 2 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15155876
  • From Wilderness to Sky: Clint Streeter's Path to Aerial Imagery Excellence https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15390373
  • Geeking Out About Aerial and Satellite Imagery with Clint Streeter https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15543372
  • The Man Behind the Curtain: Travis Yeik pt. 1 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/16174248
  • Talking AI with The Man Behind the Curtain: Travis Yeik pt. 2 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/16191185
  • Tiny Bytes: Introducing GK Field Mapper: We Have an App for That! https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15580930
  • Accounting for Field Variability with Dr. Dave Franzen https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15206650
  • Making Zones Happen with Dr. Dave Franzen https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15314565
  • Reading the Landscape with Dr. Tom DeSutter pt. 1 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/16097130
  • The Science of the Landscape with Dr. Tom DeSutter pt. 2 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/16131402
  • What's in a Soil Test? Getting the Answers with John Breker Pt. 1 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15772532
  • Potassium, pH, and Precision Soil Sampling: John Breker Pt. 2 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15854748
  • Tiny Bytes: GNSS? GPS? What's the Difference? https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/16178935
  • Tiny Bytes: Raster Monster! https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15509080

GK Field Mapper App:
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gkmobile.droid&hl=en_US&pli=1
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gk-field-mapper/id6448194019

We will be back with new episodes in the New Year!

Jodi:

And now it's time for a tiny bite of knowledge. Hello Ag Geek Speak listeners. Believe it or not, it's been a full year since Sarah and myself have started this podcast with GK Technology.

Jodi:

Well, it hasn't been a full year yet, but it will be in January, which is unbelievable but also super fun, and we wanted to take some time today and a first thank you guys. All of our listeners that keep up with us download us in your feed, listen here and there. Thank you so much for your time and your attention listen here and there.

Sarah:

Thank you so much for your time and your attention. We appreciate you so much and sending us ideas and feedback.

Jodi:

We really appreciate that too, and so what we wanted to do today is just kind of go over where we've been this year, talk about some highlights of Ag Geek Speak and Tiny Bites and maybe think a little bit about what season two in the future of Ag Geek Speak might look like?

Sarah:

Absolutely. I think that's great and, along with the thank you, I want to wish everybody out there a very happy holiday season. It's time to kind of take a little bit of a break, and Ag Geek Speak is going to take a little bit of a break here over the holiday season as well, so stay tuned If you don't catch an episode upload over the holiday season as well. So stay tuned. If you don't catch an episode upload over the holiday season, don't worry, we're going to be coming back. But can you believe it After GK Technology has been in the precision agriculture world for how many years now? I don't even remember. Math is hard, math is really hard. But after GK Technology has been a pioneering company in precision agriculture for a number of years, we are very excited that we launched our podcast in January, starting with Ag Geek Speak, and we had just a pile of fun guests on the main Ag Geek Speak. You know everything from internal guests to external guests and different ideas. So lots of great conversations happened on Ag Geek Speak.

Jodi:

Starting in January, of course, we started with Ag Geek Speak, and about May of the year we launched our in-between segment called Tiny Bites, with the goal of providing technical information about precision agriculture, presented in a way that's fun and short and really bite sized, and we have only scratched the surface of things to discuss on Tiny Bites, and so we are really excited to bring you more of that in the future. Even though we're going to take a break here, we'll have one more podcast here at the end of the year. It's a very special one, so keep an eye out for it. This last week it is going to be a session where all of us from GK Technologies sit around at a retreat in person together and talk about precision agriculture. I know we throw that term around a lot just precision agriculture but it's really special to be in a room full of that many people with so much experience in this industry, and so please take a listen to it, and then we'll be taking a break for a couple of weeks and coming back after the holiday season.

Sarah:

Yeah, so every summer, gk Technology, we all get together and we go on a retreat. It's a company retreat. It's where we do our company meetings every year, and it's a great time. We actually get to bring our families with us, so it's just really fun because we get to know each other a little bit better. Of course, we do the business that we need to do as a company, but we get to know each other a little bit better as well, and I am just always amazed at the talent that I get to work with every day at GK Technology. We really have very talented people here that are specialists in what they do, and so it's really fun to sit down and have those conversations, and that's what our special episode is going to be. It was actually recorded in July, but it really is an opportunity to basically listen to just a bit of a BS session, actually, of all of us sitting around doing our thing.

Jodi:

The meeting after the meeting is really what took place.

Sarah:

That's a good way to put it. The meeting after the meeting yeah.

Jodi:

Keep in mind too, as we're referencing episodes, all of our episodes are out there. We started by just launching on Apple and Spotify and some of the other podcast players and through the year, towards the end of this year, we've also branched out into the Google players. So if you are somebody I don't know how you'll be listening, if you're a Google podcast listener and haven't found us already, but just know that we are on YouTube and the Google player as well. That's been a really big update for us this first year of podcasting too. But again, just know that all these, all these episodes that we're referencing, these guests that we're referencing, please go back. Those episodes are in your feed and you're more than welcome to listen to those.

Sarah:

Once again, and I don't know if you do that at all, jodi, but I actually there's a number of guests that we've had on that. You know those conversations were so much fun. You know, I think back to visiting with Dr Goose, of course, about a lot of the different things that we chatted with him about, and it's, you know, when I'm working on the computer or doing mapping sometimes I actually like to just put it on, even though I've been part of the conversation. I like to review some of the things that he had to say and it's interesting to go back to the very beginning and listen to Darren and Kelly talk about our company from the very beginning at the get-go, and where those two guys came from and how GK came to be.

Jodi:

It's so easy to forget how quickly technology has evolved when you really think about it right. This whole involving computers in farmer's tractors has only been around for 30-ish years. That's relatively new, and so listening and interviewing Darren and Kelly talk about the beginning was so insightful, and I'm really glad they took the brunt of being at the front of the evolution so that I can enjoy the easier part of the technology now you know it's interesting because how many precision agriculture companies are out there that have actually written programs to go on an IPAC?

Jodi:

An IPAC and now we're writing prescriptions to iPads and Topcons. Exactly an ipad. And now we're writing prescriptions to ipads and top cons. Exactly does anybody?

Sarah:

know what an ipad is. If not, we actually have a museum in our office here in halstead. You can come and check it out. We've got it in our on our museum of of good stuff, along with the original computer that darren used to start writing the software.

Jodi:

So I, I think we should have it. So we kind of we, we do have a museum of items up front and I, I love museums. I'm a geek, I'm a true geek. I can just imagine like a museum layout from like from iPack to iPad and like having a timeline of innovation.

Sarah:

We should get that set up that way.

Jodi:

Yeah, that'd be so fun, that'd be so fun.

Sarah:

Don't nobody tell Darren and Kelly, but we're just going to kind of make that happen.

Jodi:

If anybody has any background in museum design, please let me know. Or like display design, I'd appreciate it.

Sarah:

Put it in the comments with a five-star rating. That was good, I know right. But you know we had some other conversations this year that were really fun. I really enjoyed the conversation with Josh Stutrude as well. You know talking about that protein sensor and the nitrogen use efficiency for barley, for the malt content. You know making sure we're getting that yield dialed in and the protein dialed in and by variety. That was a fun conversation dialed in and the protein dialed in and by variety.

Jodi:

That was a fun conversation. It's so great to talk to farmers that are using precision agriculture and really being reminded you know what kind of questions are they asking on the field and being reminded. Okay, how can I take what I'm mapping and put it in the package of it being answered that a farmer is looking to have answered, or like having an answer to a question that a farmer has, and so I agree. That was a fantastic episode, and I'm sure that Josh will be still working on new precision technologies in the future and we'll probably have him back someday to talk about something even more fun than protein analysis, even though I can't really think of anything that's more fun than precision protein analysis even though I can't really think of anything that's more fun than precision protein analysis, but I can be challenged.

Sarah:

Oh, I can think of. I don't think it's unfun, but there's just so much out there. I mean, seriously, is that more fun than trying to figure out where the geographical distribution of various soil pHs are?

Jodi:

I don't know. Oh, you can't tempt me with a good pH time, Sarah, I know right.

Sarah:

I know everybody listening out there listen just for that sentence, Just for that sentiment about soil pH.

Jodi:

We are fun with a pH. We are P-H-U-N.

Sarah:

P-H-U-N fun.

Jodi:

We should have like a seminar, like fun with Sarah and Jodi, and it just P-H-u-n, and then it would be like oh my gosh, I actually got a place for us to do that too.

Sarah:

I have a customer out montana asking for that. I'll sign you up. That's awesome, that'd be super fun.

Jodi:

If you're wondering where we get the ideas for titles of presentations and podcasts, welcome, welcome. This is where that happens.

Sarah:

This is where the magic happens. So I've mentioned definitely some people that we've interviewed, but there was a whole bunch of them. You know, internally we've had a chance to visit we. You know we mentioned Darren and Kelly, but we also had a chance to talk with Paul about drainage, clint about imagery, which was very fun, and then of course, travis and how. How he thinks about computer programming and his background was so interesting too.

Jodi:

When speaking about Travis and his background and the things that he's taught himself how to do. Gk technology even launched a new app this year in the form of GK field mapper and we had the chance to talk about that on the podcast this year and talk about it during trainings and also talk about it with Montana Mafia and actually get out and test that in the field and really put it to the test and figure out what we need to work on in the future. But that was a really huge part.

Sarah:

That was a super fun part of the 2024 year. It was so fun.

Jodi:

Yes. So if you haven't, if you're somebody that wants to look at either zone maps you've made yourself or somebody that just wants to mark things in the field, do check out GK Field Mapper. It is in the App Store and the Google Play Store and if you've got questions on it, give our office a call. Absolutely.

Sarah:

We also had a number of other external guests, including some professors like Dr Franzen from NDSU and also Dr DeSutter from NDSU. It was super fun to visit with both of those guys. About soils Franzen has a history working in precision agriculture, so that was a really great conversation and landscapes with DeSutter.

Jodi:

It was so much fun to talk to Dr Franzen and talk about just the beginning of zone management in North Dakota, like really again, like we mentioned, we're still a young facet of agriculture and it was so fun listening to what were the ideas that culminated and what were the technologies that came together to make zone management actually happen in North Dakota and it it really has revolutionized how we manage nutrients and crops in the state and there's still places to adopt it across the landscape and there's still more innovations to find. So it's that was really fun to have that conversation with him.

Sarah:

It really was and it was. It was really fun to talk with Dr DeSutter about landscape and land position and where things fall into place and yeah, that was a. That was a fun conversation too.

Jodi:

And I I love the second episode with him, with DeSutter, because we get into more of like the little science-y details, like the fun fact part of the podcast, like it still blows my mind there's volcanic ash deposits near linton, north dakota, that I had no idea existed before. Dissenter, or dr dissenter, talked about his research in that area isn't that fun.

Sarah:

I just think it's so fun. Yeah, a little bit geeky, but hey, the podcast is called Egg Geek Speak. You were warned, you were warned. And then, of course, our good buddy, john Brecker from Egg Vice. He is well, he's kind of God's gift of potassium, honestly, but have we?

Jodi:

made him a shirt for that yet he needs a shirt. We'll say God's gift to potassium. And then the back will be what is it if it's not, if there's not data behind it? It's just a fun fact. Is that what it was?

Sarah:

he had a bumper sticker, something like that hmm, I thought that the front might be like a k with like an angel halo over it. We could put wings on the k. God's gift to potassium. I don know. I really hope you listen to this, john, yeah, and then we'll put his motto on the back, something about you need to have data, heavenly potassium.

Jodi:

I'm just imagining a whole product line right now, like ball caps with a little logo of the halo over the k and wings.

Sarah:

There is a. There is a market in there for somebody to sell some special potash. You can brand your potash it's really.

Jodi:

It is really fantastic to have folks like john on the podcast, because our probably most interacted with episodes are episodes about nutrients and figuring out you know what soil test is right for what area, how do you choose, how do you think about these things. It's really great when we can bring folks in like John that really bring awesome clarity to the clarity and knowledge to those subjects.

Sarah:

Absolutely. I will say I am very excited about our branch out into Tiny Bites. I have really enjoyed doing those podcasts. It's interesting because, from our perspective, at times it can be a little bit challenging to make sure that we're explaining concepts in a manner that we believe that the audience can understand just from a verbal description. So it's always interesting to do that, but it's really fun. I don't know. I've always enjoyed explaining how things work to people and, jodi, you've always been good at doing that, so it's been really fun to venture in down that pathway.

Jodi:

It's been really helpful. As a person that farms on the side, just learning about some of the precision ag basics, it has been invaluable. As someone that is GNSS illiterate or GPS illiterate acronym illiterate it's been so fun to learn more about those things and get down to the bare bones of it so that people like me that are not very GNSS literate can make decisions, and that's what we really hope to get to at the end of the day is put things in a way that are true and in a way that are easy to understand. And so if you have a topic that you'd like more clarity on whether it relates to soil fertility or to precision agriculture or anything adjacent to the content that we put out please let us know. We want to make sure that we're putting out content that is helping you, your business or just having fun in your soil sampling truck. In the fall, let us know what kind of content you'd like to see more of so that we can help you do business better.

Sarah:

Absolutely so. What was your favorite Tiny Byte episode, your favorite topics that we talked about? From Tiny Bytes Can I say Raster Monster.

Jodi:

Are you going to say Raster Monster too?

Sarah:

I'm really proud of that episode.

Jodi:

actually, I'm really proud of that episode too, and I'll say my reasoning that I'll ask you the same thing, but I'm really proud of us because rasters themselves are. They're not easy, and you guys didn't see it on the front end, but sarah and I spent some time digging into rasters and really getting a hold of what a raster is, so that we could bring you a valuable piece of information, and so it took some. It took some almost blood, sweat and tears to get there, but I think we made an episode that I'm really proud of.

Sarah:

I agree with you on that. Um I, everything that you said is actually probably my number one reason why I'm proud of that episode. But my number two reason is that ADMS, the software that we use all the time, we are a raster based software, and so many other softwares out there are more based in vector files, which is lines and points and everything else, whereas when you're taking a look at a picture on a field, to me working with rasters granted, this is my background, but to me working with rasters just makes more sense because you're more easily able to capture the variability with a picture rather than a line.

Jodi:

It makes it easier to do math when you're laying squares of similar size over the top of one another.

Sarah:

Absolutely, and that's the other thing. You can do math with rasters. You could. You can add, subtract, multiply, divide your whole map and, yeah, do math to it. It's, it's a lot of fun. So yeah, but that that was actually my favorite episode too, so go check out the raster monster episode I thought you were going to say it was your favorite because of the monster voices, but I did actually have a lot of fun with that.

Sarah:

And the second one is probably vector files, because it explains what a vector is, and so, when we think about raster-based software versus vector-based software, it can really help people understand what the difference is between those things, and so those are probably my two most favorite episodes.

Jodi:

Yeah, we had a lot of fun. We've had a lot of fun this year. We've put together, I think, content that we're both very proud of, and hopefully they've been valuable to you guys as well. So thank you so much for coming with us on this first year of adventure, and please join us as we move into season two and beyond. We can't wait.

Sarah:

We already have content ideas coming out of our minds and so we're just excited. You know, now that we kind of have the podcast up and running and it's going forward and we've figured out a lot of things, we're excited to keep learning and putting out good content.

Jodi:

Speaking of that, thank you for the feedback when things sounded weird on the podcast, like this is Jodi speaking. I didn't know how to edit a podcast, so it sounded weird. Yes, I'm sorry. I've learned some things over the past year, so continue that feedback. It is much appreciated and hopefully it will sound more consistent and better moving forward. Absolutely.

Sarah:

We appreciate all of that advice. Keep in mind. Jodi has a master's degree in weed science. I've got a master's degree in soil science, not sound technology.

Jodi:

No, I've got a master's degree in soil science, not sound technology.

Sarah:

No, I did not make any podcasts spraying fields, unfortunately, when I was learning grad school stuff, so people don't realize this, probably, but Darren actually asked me to start a podcast before Jodi was here Good year or so, a couple of years before Jodi was even here. And honestly, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't, I don't know, I don't know, but here Jodi has a hobby of birding, so she's recorded bird sounds and edited them.

Jodi:

That's the beautiful thing, right? I mean, every observation of birds is important, and so part of helping citizen science and helping the field of ornithology is collecting bird sounds and then, of course, editing them to help with the clarification and clarity of that sound and, of course, cutting out chunks of me walking through the forest when the phone is still on in my pocket recording. So with that knowledge of editing bird sounds to upload to citizen science sites, I was oddly equipped to start editing a podcast. That was not on my 2024 bingo card, but I'm glad that it was there and I'm glad it was there, probably even more so.

Jodi:

So you never know and this is for all of you with hobbies continue your hobbies, because you've got no idea when they're gonna come in really handy absolutely so that's. That's a fun story for everybody to know how this podcast actually came to be and and enter the clip now of uh, I do have some audio, I think, of Darren, from when he first got the Rodecaster, which was what 2023, which is our sound mixer and Darren does say he's like we're going to make a podcast.

Jodi:

Yeah, so this, this is a new toy here that we just picked up and we're going to start doing podcasts, and it's got all kinds of stuff built into it. And then, like in mid 20242024, he's like hey, we're going to have Sarah Lovis make a podcast and so I've got that audio and we'll see if I can get that into this as well.

Sarah:

On the back end, which the person who actually made the podcast, just so you guys all know it really is Jodi. If it wouldn't be for her, I'm just a voice.

Jodi:

And thank God, sarah is a voice, because I would just be rounding off about birds. So you guys have been saved, thanks to Sarah.

Sarah:

It's a lot of fun. We have fun doing this. We appreciate our audience. Thank you so much. We hope you have a great holiday season. We will see you on the backside in the new year. Great holiday season.

Jodi:

We will see you on the backside in the new year. Tune in next time for a tiny bite of knowledge from GK Technology, where we have a map and an app for that.