8 minute read
Interview
West Coast Companies Interview: Andrew and Merrissa Burleigh, West Coast Companies
Two worlds have been steadily colliding for a long time. Agriculture and Technology.
In our region, companies like West Coast Companies stand in the middle of this collision. They have worked with farmers, manufacturers, engineers, and technology developers to help the ag industry become more efficient and prosperous.
We sat down with the managers of West Coast Companies, Andrew and Merrissa Burleigh, to talk about the past, present, and future of technology in ag.
Enterprise:
Andrew Burleigh:
In the last 20 years, how does tech make business better for those in ag?
Efficiencies. To be able to understand what is occurring at a higher level of accuracy. For example, in-load cells have been around forever, but more and more companies are starting to take action towards identity protection. Say the farmer brought me their product and says “It didn’t weigh this much” we can track the path of that product through separation of all the bad stuff and
then the path of the good stuff. Or, say for some reason there’s a recall, you can track that system back down to the field and you can say this is where the problem occurred.
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Enterprise:
Andrew Burleigh:
Accuracy as well. For example, seed treating. They can now get a seed treater and they can save several different types of chemical recipes depending on what kind of product they’re running. They don’t have to say, “Okay, we need to program all of this into this specific piece of equipment.” We can just go say, “We need bluegrass ran today.” And they just push the exact recipe and the seed treater will take the product and they’ll blend the chemicals together at the right quantities and put on each individual seed and make sure it’s accurate every single time.
What about in the next twenty years?
Robotic palletizing systems are becoming very popular for several different reasons. You’ve got OSHA regulations. [Robots] are safer than having someone on there, breaking their back, trying to put these bags onto pallets. And so, the long-time workers that have the knowledge, you could retain
Merrissa Burleigh: Continued on next page them longer because you’re not breaking their bodies down. I’m also observing as more automated analysis in the field to provide farmers with as much data and information as they can to make informed decision on-the-spot. We have the spectral analysis of the plants themselves trying to understand where the nutrition deficiencies are or the watering deficiencies are within a given field. All these drones that are coming out with the ability to compile that information and to demonstrate it to informed individuals to then decide, “Well, I don’t really need to put something on over here, but I’ll put it over here.” That’s where I see where we’re going in the next 20 years; you have more information at your fingertips to make more informed decisions. I think that’s the direction ag is trying to make it sexy again to get those younger workers back again. It’s so much more techie than people realize. There are so much more technological advances that these kids can be playing with that I think they just don’t know about.
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Enterprise: What do you see on the software side of agricultural technology?
Andrew Burleigh: Well, I think there’s going be limitations there. Because at a certain point in, in agriculture, you leave the realm of science for a moment and it does become a touch of art. For instance, when it comes to the purification of the product. Getting into that customer-ready point you can set up a vision system. You can run bulk density tests. You can do all of these observations of physical characteristics. But at a certain point, some of these things are just so alike that only a human eye and human judgment is required. So, it may not have a limitless ceiling.
Enterprise: How has it changed since you guys started and how do you guys see it continuing to change?
Merrissa Burleigh: I think the biggest thing you’re going to hear is you’re losing a lot of tribal knowledge, a lot of terminology where the human element is super important. You’ve got these guys who have been working for decades, they can take a quick look at that grass and say it wasn’t ran right or that it needs to be adjusted. We’re not having as many guys coming up with that tribal knowledge. It’s Continued from page 15
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Enterprise:
Andrew Burleigh:
Merrissa Burleigh:
Enterprise:
Andrew Burleigh:
Merrissa Burleigh:
Enterprise:
Andrew Burleigh:
Merrissa Burleigh:
not getting passed down from the older generation to the newer generation. So, I think technology is going to help fill a void to a certain extent, but we’re going to have to continue to train the guys on the ground to, to know what they’re looking at.
How has the “farm job” changed since you started?
The farm job is fundamentally the same. You know, they’re trying to achieve as much as they can by consuming as little as possible- -time, money, fuel. I think, you know, limits on how the farm job evolves comes down to how we can make it more profitable for the farmer, making those informed decisions. They’re all still out there sweating their tails off in the field, working hard, you know, feeding the rest of us. There’s just a couple more tools at their disposal.
So, what kind of challenges does technology introduce?
If you can start integrating all these wireless objects like drones, seed treaters, robots, you know, there’s going to be an internet pipesize issue. And so, suddenly when it does break down, generation Z’s will say “Oh no, what do I do? I haven’t had to fix things with bailing wire and duct tape.” It might hamper their ability to be as creative on the fly. In theory, technology should breed more efficiencies. They should be able to be more accurate. It depends on what the next generations does with it. I think it’ll be interesting to see because I think we’re at such a point in technology with ag that no one’s ever been here before, so it’s hard to say what our challenges are going to be. Kids are learning at such an increased rate at this point that they may just be able to keep up with the technology and what was such a hardship 30 years ago is going to be just be a blip on the map.
What’s exciting for you guys?
I like seeing individuals and companies succeed when they’re developing new revenue streams or trying to diversify Or, not giving away as much free product and so the bottom line is more efficient. I’m finding it super-exciting seeing all the succession planning with the farms. You’re seeing sometimes two or three generations with different ideas and they’re all working together.
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