Topcon Talks Agriculture

Ag on the Mall | S05E08

March 17, 2022 Topcon Positioning Systems Season 5 Episode 8
Topcon Talks Agriculture
Ag on the Mall | S05E08
Show Notes Transcript

Get ready for National Ag Day with AEM's Nick Tindall and host Dave Orr.  They will discuss a new and exciting event, promoting the impact of precision agriculture on the environment and on the Capital Mall in Washington, D.C. March 21-22.

Register at www.agday.org/2022events

Speaker 1:

Hello, and welcome to another podcast with top con talks egg. My name is Dave or, and I am the regional sales manager for Canada. Today. We have a very special guest to talk to us about the upcoming event in Washington, DC, which is in celebration of national egg day in America today. Nick Tindel the senior director of regulatory affairs for the association of equipment manufacturers joins us. Thanks a lot for being here today, Nick,

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me pleasure to be here.

Speaker 1:

So Nick, as mentioned, uh, you, you worked for the association of, uh, equipment manufacturers, uh, probably commonly knowing more in the industry as AEM. Um, you're the senior director of regulatory affairs. Can you just give us a brief overline of what that is?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, my role as senior director of regulatory affairs is really interfacing between the tremendous amount of intellectual and engineering knowledge. Our member companies have on a host whole variety of issues from agriculture, EPA worker safety, um, and then taking all that knowledge and making sure that the folks in the regulatory agencies have access to all that information to help guide a productive, uh, regulatory process that comes out with a result that's workable for both, uh, users, the manufacturing industry and improves worker safety and environmental stewardship.

Speaker 1:

Okay. Uh, and so, you know, a, uh, AEM is, uh, American based corporation, correct. Uh, are you working directly with United States officials or are you

Speaker 2:

Well, we like, we like to be north American based.

Speaker 1:

Um, so a association of equipment manufacturers is a north American, uh, company. And so you're working with all levels of government across north America then on regulatory affairs.

Speaker 2:

Yes. Uh, they a us federal Canadian federal out of Ottawa, uh, the promises and the state governments.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. And so do you have a, you know, a, maybe a example of something that you were able to work on and walk through maybe specifically in the egg industry?

Speaker 2:

Uh, yeah. And it was an issue we dealt with both in the United States and in O Ottawa, it, it dealt with, uh, cor fugitive dust from corn planters when planted treated seeds. You know, there's a tendency sometimes for some of the seed treatment, which contains Neo OIDs to shake off during the planting process. And some of that can be exhausted, uh, through the planter. Um, you know, and this was something that E the EPA and pan Canada's pest management regulatory agency took notice of. And we would worked with our industry to come up with a solution to mitigate the amount of that fugitive dust. And as part of that, you know, years long conversation with both regulatory bodies, uh, we came up with an ISO standard that redesigned a couple of our planter models to minimize that effect.

Speaker 1:

Wow. And so then you take that planter model back and you, you show your, uh, members how it can be, you know, effective in, in their industry and in their manufacturing to be able to meet these regulatory standards then.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yes. Uh, absolutely. You know, when we push, uh, for, as a regulation that is, um, descriptive and not prescriptive, you know, give us a performance metric you want us to meet and our engineers will meet it. We just prefer you not to tell us how to design equipment.

Speaker 1:

Fair enough. Fair enough. And so you probably work with both the agriculture and other industries, or are you strictly just agriculture yourself?

Speaker 2:

Uh, well, AEM covers, uh, the, the, at entirety of the offroad sector. So agriculture construction, forestry, utility mining, um, and I covered the regulatory issues along with the great team as part of our safety and product leadership group, uh, to advocate for all of those sectors.

Speaker 1:

Well, it sounds like, uh, I bet you, you you're certainly kept busy and have lots on your plate at any given time.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. So upcoming, um, next week, as I, as I mentioned is, uh, egg national ag day, um, in America, uh, up here in Canada, we have ours back in February, and I know that you, uh, you, you're working on a unique opportunity here coming up, uh, over the 21st and 22nd of March to maybe exhibit exactly, you know, what egg means to America. And that's by hosting basically a, a show on Capitol hill and at the mall, correct?

Speaker 2:

Yes. The celebration of modern ag on the national mall.

Speaker 1:

Wow. Wonderful. And what, uh, you know, what is that, and what does that mean to, um, the farmer that's listening today?

Speaker 2:

Uh, well, it's an opportunity for the entirety of the agricultural sector, not just equipment manufacturers, but also inputs and grower groups, uh, to really show the, the folks in Washington DC in the media that modern agriculture is a good thing, technology and our food production and food that helps feed the world, uh, using sustainable practices.

Speaker 1:

And now is this event, um, this is event produced and hosted by AEM yourselves and your partners.

Speaker 2:

Uh, yes, uh, AEM is the, the lead organizer of the event. Uh, but we are happy to partner with a great number of agricultural associations in addition to the 15 AEM member companies participating.

Speaker 1:

And now you said that, uh, you know, this is kind of geared towards the people of, of Washington and, and the media. Um, I assume that farmers are still welcome if they're able to come out and, and take in the events of the day.

Speaker 2:

Uh, certainly, uh, you know, a lot of folks don't realize, but agriculture is a pretty big part of the local economy here in, in the greater DC area. And a number of our, uh, ag partners are having farmers as part of their exhibits.

Speaker 1:

That's interesting. And so are you, you're actually hoping that, uh, maybe some lawmakers are coming down walking through, uh, this area that I believe is just outside the Smithsonian Metro, correct. Um, and coming and taking in exactly what the ag industry means.

Speaker 2:

Uh, yes. You know, we're targeting folks at both the, uh, agency level, you know, those working at the us department of agriculture, environmental protection agency, as well as the, the house I Senate and their staffs. We have a number of great tours set up for a number of VIPs and folks that work in the agencies at the career level. Um, but it's, you know, no RSVP required come one come.

Speaker 1:

And so exactly. How does this work? Is it, uh, is it similar to a trade show or is it a little bit more formal? Um, what I guess would be the expectations of a farmer, uh, that's going to maybe come into this and, and see it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean, if you really wanted to boil it down to, to, to just the fewest lines possible, it, it's a farm show, uh, in the heart of Washington DC, between the Washington monument and the capital building. Um, so a great lineup of equipment from our member companies that is being staffed, uh, by their, their, their trade show crews and their engineering experts to have in depth conversations.

Speaker 1:

Right. And I know that, uh, talk con certainly has a booth there. They, they, they believe that this initiative is a great initiative. Is this something that this is the first time this is happening?

Speaker 2:

Um, well, you know, if COVID had given us seven more days back in 2020, it would've been awesome and this would be the second time we're doing it. Um, so I'm calling this our third annual attempt to hold our inaugural celebration of modern ag on the national mall.

Speaker 1:

And, uh, is this, you know, is this your project? Is this your baby? Was this your concept to, to try and get our agricultural industry at the forefront in Washington?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it it's been a, a, a long term vision and goal of mine to do something like this. Uh, for a number of years, we've had a very successful field demonstration day, uh, for both actually the United States and Canadian regulators, where we bust people out to fields in the, those metropolitan areas to see equipment work in fields and have really great conversations, but I'd always wanted to do this right here, uh, in the heart of DC.

Speaker 3:

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Speaker 1:

Well, you know, all things considered, you know, we're seven days away, and last time you, you were seven days short of it, but hopefully it continues on the path and, and it really comes to fruition for you. It's obviously been a, a long stretch of, uh, of a vision, which is awesome to see come to fruition. So I guess the question question that I have about this, um, being a Canadian myself, uh, and knowing what the agricultural industry means to Canada and how it integrates into, you know, local politics, but then also the nation's politics. What is a successful day on the mall gonna look like, um, for, for you and your clients and, and your, your partners,

Speaker 2:

I guess you could really judge success by not just the, the number of senators and staff and, you know, secretaries and under secretaries that we get there, but what kind of conversations are we having on those one-on-one bases are the policy makers and influencers. We are talking to really trying to dive in and understand, you know, how is technology innovation and science in our agricultural production practices? How is that enabling sustainability? You know, that's the theme this year, innovation enables sustainability,

Speaker 1:

Right? And, and, and so how, you know, what, what message are you hoping to say is that the, the continued success of, of implementing new practices into farming or the new inventions of technology along those lines are really changing the way that we should view farming and understand how it's actually, um, changed the actual industry?

Speaker 2:

Uh, yeah. You know, there's this, you know, common misconception people have that. We did things back in the good old days. Um, but you know, O oddly enough, no one Pines for the days when surgeons operated without anesthesia, but yet there's a lot of folks that think we should farm. Like it's the 1940s, but, you know, facts of the matter are, we're simply not gonna be able to sustainably feed a world of 9 billion people, uh, without science and technology.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And that's something that's definitely come up a lot more and more. And I think as we go through world events over the last two years and looking forward, we understand that, you know, feeding the world is becoming a very daunting task and, and it's gonna, you, I, I think there's a statistic out a couple of weeks ago that I read that in 10 years, we're gonna almost have to triple what we are doing in the late 1990s to be able to feed the world. Um, and so, you know, I guess things like this and, and processes like this of trying to help people in Washington DC make educated decisions on, on what can be allowed and not allowed for regulatory standards is certainly welcomed to anybody in the industry. I certainly imagine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. A absolutely.

Speaker 1:

And so H how, what would your week next week look like? Are you, you're gonna be on the grounds, I imagine, and you're gonna be working directly with some of these, um, people in, from Washington DC that you have a relationship with, um, trying to gain some exposure for them exactly. On what this industry is doing and, and where we're proceeding.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So, you know, to next week, you know, it's gonna be cheek cherry blossom season is what the reports are saying. So we'll have a great turnout from just the general public during a lot of school spring break. And we, uh, expect really good attendance, both from guided tours and just folks showing up to have these types of conversations to, to understand just how much science and technology really goes into our modern food. You know, some of the equipment we have coming down from the John Deere X nine combine to a Jaguar forge harvester, uh, to a ACO Fent track tractor, I think we're really awe a lot of people with just the, the scale of what modern agricultural equipment is. And also the number of computers and lines of computer code that are in them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. You know, for somebody that might be, you know, a little bit removed from the agricultural industry, like you said, if they believe that it's just a tractor and a plow going through a field, they might certainly have their eyes opened up a little bit when they see some of these machines, not only the breadth of size of'em, but also, you know, the technology, hopefully they have a chance to get inside and understand exactly that, uh, what a farmer is going through on a daily basis, trying to be able to be responsible from variable rating, into precision agriculture and all of those things, uh, and how they're actually trying to protect the environment and take care of the land that they're working.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I always like to tell folks, uh, that, you know, outside of the defense industry, there isn't a sector that's more technologically intensive than north American production agriculture. And the inside of your average tractor has a lot more in common with an F 35 fighter than it does a Buick.

Speaker 1:

It that's so true. And it's, it's hard to believe, um, you know, thinking that these go, go and watch an F 35 and see what it can do and maneuver it. You think that it's basically the, you know, astronaut running it, but then you look at a guy trying to run a combine with a couple of monitors, one driving it one, sorry, one steering it, one doing yield data collection and all of that, and understanding the ability, what you can do with that data is, is absolutely amazing. And it's a great comparison that you've made there. Um, moving forward. Is this something that you think the lawmakers in DC, or, or, or anybody in DC has been asking for, or is it just a need that you saw to be able to address, um, some of these things and help help the agriculture industry get that recognition? Like it's a very unique way of doing it. You're basically saying, uh, don't come to the local farm show. We're gonna bring the local farm show to you guys.

Speaker 2:

You it's a little bit of both, you know, there are, uh, a lot of folks on Capitol hill, both, uh, elected officials and career, uh, staffers and at the agency levels too, that have agriculture in their blood. Like, you know, folks like me, you know, I'm an Iowa farm boy. I grew up on a family farm. So, you know, I get it. And, you know, they generally get it as well, but, you know, you know, the story more and more people are moving, uh, from rural areas to the suburbs and urban areas, or even if they live in the rural areas. They're, they're not, they're, they're not their economic life. Isn't dependent on agriculture. You know, they're teleworking to a job that's in New York or San Francisco. So that disconnect between, you know, the modern life and where people's food comes from is increasingly a big problem. And I think to get the message out of just how great all doing is we need to bring it to them, uh, because they just don't live in areas, or they're just not interested if they do live in the areas and this type of stuff.

Speaker 1:

Right. And I think, uh, you know, there's a lot of people that come from farming backgrounds that still like to hold onto the fact that they come from a farm background, but might have actually lived in the city for their whole life, you know, the generation before'em, or they went back to the family farm. And it's, I think it's in everybody, you know, in, in my neck of the woods in Western Canada, farming is truly in everybody. Um, everybody's, you know, life does have something to do with farming in some way down the line. Um, but a lot of people might be, you know, a little bit removed from what that actually means. And so that's why I think this is just a phenomenal, um, event that you have lined up here. Do you have anything, any other events similar to this one lined up, uh, in other jurisdictions, or even just maybe on a more local level for state governments or anything along those lines?

Speaker 2:

Uh, you know, nothing in the works right now, uh, you know, with COVID everything just throwing our long term plans completely out the window. We're just trying to get through this one. Although we are starting a demo day program off for construction site of equipment to, to bring folks from OSHA out to a work site, to see how we engineer worker safety into our products.

Speaker 1:

Got you. And, and so, you know, AEM, I believe, uh, I, earlier this year, I had a chance to, uh, do a podcast with another fellow who's in charge of your trade shows. Um, you guys obviously have a lot of trade shows going on. Um, and this one is first one. Is this the first one since COVID?

Speaker 2:

Uh, well, we had utility expo in September of, uh, last year.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay. Sounds good. So, so this will kind of get everybody from, from the office back into the, the grind of things and getting the ideas or trade shows back on the front of their mind.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a great way to, to kind of kick off the, hopefully return to the new normal,

Speaker 1:

Right. Cuz it's certainly been a long, uh, long time. What do your, uh, what are your members saying about the ability of bringing back for shows and trade shows in general? Are they excited about the opportunity to get back out to these yearly shows?

Speaker 2:

Oh, I, I think so. Uh, last week, uh, there was the commodity classic, which is, uh, a trade show and annual conferences for a lot of grower groups that our members exhibit at. And I was fortunate enough to attend and newer Orleans. And you could just really fill this sort of vibe in the audience of just folks happy to be in person. Again, I, I think we all discovered there's a whole lot. We can do via teams meetings, but at the end of the day, you just really want to get that face to face, uh, opportunities now. And again,

Speaker 1:

Interesting in, uh, I guess one last question I have for you about, uh, ag on the mall, which runs on March 21st and 22nd in Washington, DC. Um, a farmer that's going, uh, that might be listening to our podcast here today. Um, is there anything he can expect to see out of the governments? Is there an opportunity to see, you know, some form of grants or, or groups that are going to be there that are gonna be prevalent, that that might be interesting to them going the opposite direction? Um, the show seems like it's geared towards agriculture showing, uh, DC, what agriculture is all about. Is there anything that might be showing, uh, the farming and agriculture industry, what DC has to offer them back?

Speaker 2:

Uh, you know, nothing comes to mind, but you know, when a farmer, any farmers that, you know, make the trip down to, to DC for this event, uh, you know, if you do come, I encourage you to do, you know, please kind of keep an eye out in the audience of when you're attending exhibits. Uh, you know, federal employees tend to really stick out like sores, you know, they, they should be pretty distinguishable between the tourists, uh, and, and other folks try to engage them in a conversation, uh, about what you do, why you do it, you know, let them know that your family farm has been in your, uh, family for, for generations. And no one cares about the quality of that land, uh, more than you do. No one cares about the water quality of that land more than you do, because that's the water, your family drinks, and you hope it's the, the water, your great grandchildren are gonna drink when they take over the farm.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And so what we're really looking for here is that unified message that we are steward to the land and we are, um, trying to do everything that's best for our ourselves, our families, our local communities, our state, and, and most likely our country and the world. Right. And we're doing that through farming and every time we can get into the year of, of anybody elected or civilian officials, um, I think it is definitely a worthwhile cause. Correct?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Well, thank you very much for this Nick. Uh, very, very interesting. I'm very, uh, excited to see how this event runs and hopefully in the, in the future, I'll be able to slip down and see it myself because it seems like a very, um, intuitive platform that, uh, will hopefully garner a lot of, uh, interest from, from everybody that the intended audience in DC and will maybe allow you to make some of these regulatory affairs and, and, and issues a little bit easier to communicate and, and work through with them.

Speaker 2:

Oh, absolutely. No, I hope you can make it. And, you know, hopefully we can kick off our, you know, restart of our, uh, Canadian demo days here next year as well. And just really happy to have the opportunity to, to help show folks in DC that at the end of the day, uh, there is no greater threat to the environment than hunger because hungry people do desperate things. And what will be on display on the national mall is gonna show how we plan to feed that world of 9 billion people sustainably because they're gonna fight to feed their kids one way or the other.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Well, Nick, on behalf of, uh, the people I know in the culture industry, I think, uh, we can all say thank you for this work that you're doing and, and helping us, uh, work with these with the lawmakers and everybody in Washington, DC. And we look forward to seeing what this event does and, and continue it on for years to come. So thank you very much, Nick.

Speaker 2:

Uh, thank you for the, having the opportunity to talk about it.

Speaker 1:

An egg on the mall is something that you can attend virtually. If you're interested, you can go and register@wwwdotaday.org slash 22 events. That's ag D a Y dot O org G slash 2 2 2 E V E N T S. And register today. You can also learn more about this topic at top com positioning.com/a/sustainability. So once again, thank you very much, Nick, for having us on Topcon talks, agriculture, we look forward to having all of our listeners back for our next episode. Take care.