Ep. 46: Getting the Most Out of Your Equipment
Here’s a glance at this episode:
[4:26] The launch of Trimble’s Virtual Farm
[7:31] Getting the most out of your current equipment
[9:35] Managing the challenges of 2022
[11:18] Trimble’s outlook on autonomy
Knowing where and how to get started is often the hardest part of making your first, or next, precision ag decision. In episode 46 of Precision Points, Jesse Chisholm, Director of Sales for North America with Trimble Agriculture, walks us through what Trimble is doing to help growers make those decisions. We then discuss the challenges we’re seeing in the 2022 markets and how we can better navigate these using precision ag.
When working to get the most out of your equipment precision ag technologies Jesse first shares with us that farmers should really assess what they are doing currently, if they are involved in precision technologies and see if they can enable that equipment to do more. Precision technology can help from the simplest things like operator fatigue, being able to host different operators in machines, and being able to achieve the same results as they would if they were there doing it themselves daily. Trimble has recently launched Virtual Farm, an interactive online experience for farmers to be able to immerse themselves in precision ag.
“One [resource] that I'm super excited about and Trimble's super excited about… is we'll be launching what we call the Virtual Farm,” shared Jesse. “This will contain over 30+ videos of different information on applications of Trimble technologies that they can watch at their own convenience. And they can do that by bouncing around the Virtual Farm, from tillage operations to planting to water management. So super excited about that.”
As we think about the 2022 growing season and as we continue to hear issues of supply and logistics, Trimble continues to be customer-centric in their approach. They are working hard to ensure growers can get the most out of their current equipment with digital upgrades on their current devices.
“Being able to increase accuracies, increase their steering solution performance. Again, being able to unlock what we call or refer to as licenses on a device. A grower will be able to take advantage of the equipment they already have and not necessarily source a new device for this upcoming growing season,” Jesse said.
In addition to leveraging current equipment, the team at Trimble is constantly working to level-up the next generation of products. This includes a strong investment in autonomy, company-wide. To learn more about this and to hear our full conversation, tune in here. You can also visit Trimble’s Website for more information.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Bios
Jesse Chisholm
Director of Sales, North America
As the Director of Sales for North America with Trimble Agriculture, Jesse Chisholm drives business growth through customer-centric sales strategies for the company’s extensive distribution network. He takes an active role in guiding the company’s sales leaders and teams through strategic planning, forecasting and customer insights. Jesse assists with the process to commercialize the applicability of Trimble Agriculture’s products and solutions to each unique region in North America. He works alongside Trimble’s leadership and innovation teams to optimize agricultural production through an ecosystem that enables farmers to overcome complex challenges.
Jesse received his degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and has worked in sales and management roles at Trimble Agriculture for more than 10 years. Prior to his current role, Jesse was a Regional Sales Manager serving the commercial and precision ag technical sales divisions.
Transcription
Welcome to Precision Points, an Ag Tech podcast where we plant seeds of innovation to inspire informed decisions about precision technology and its impact for growers like you. We explore precision ag tools and technology, from the soil to the sky, with your host, Morgan Seger.
Morgan Seger (00:22):
Welcome back to Precision Points, an Ag Tech podcast from precisionagreviews.com. I'm your host, Morgan Seger, and in each episode, we strive to bring you unbiased ag tech information and ideas. Today on the show, I'm joined by Jesse Chisholm, the Director of Sales for North America with Trimble Agriculture.
Morgan Seger (00:40):
As Jesse and I talk about Trimble agriculture, he does a great job addressing some of the challenges he thinks growers might face in 2022, and what some of the solutions to those challenges could be. They've put a lot of work into creating new resources to help growers get the most out of the equipment that they already have and educate you on options that you could have in the future.
Morgan Seger (01:03):
We'll be sure to link out to those in our show notes at precisionagreviews.com. But for now, here is my interview with Jesse Chisholm from Trimble Agriculture.
Morgan Seger (01:11):
Welcome back to Precision Points. Today on the show, I'm joined by Jesse Chisholm, the Director of Sales for North America with Trimble Agriculture. Welcome to the show, Jesse.
Jesse Chisholm (01:21):
Yes, thank you. Thank you for having me, Morgan.
Morgan Seger (01:23):
Well, I'm excited to dive into our conversation about the work that Trimble is doing today. First, could you kick us off with your background and introduce yourself to our audience?
Jesse Chisholm (01:33):
Yes, certainly. My name's Jesse Chisholm. I'm Sales Director for North American Trimble Agriculture. My background is that I've spent about 15 years in the precision ag industry, and all that while working within the commercial side of the business, helping farmers and growers integrate technologies into their farm. And doing that through a host of distribution methods, from Trimble's Vantage Precision Ag Channel. That's a agnostic provider of precision technologies to farmers.
Morgan Seger (02:08):
Gotcha. Yeah, I actually recently read a piece on trying to be agnostics and the benefits of that. It makes a lot of sense. If someone was interested in starting with Trimble or new to Trimble, how would they start in precision ag?
Jesse Chisholm (02:24):
That's a great question. Obviously, with any technologies that can be as comprehensive as precision ag, but really, to get started with Trimble, the first place I would start is on our website. So just go to www.agricultural.trimble.com. That'll lead you into a host of resources that you can read about Trimble, our legacy in many different industries across the world, and how we've adopted a lot of the same standards, as far as being able to automate machinery, analyze data, and be able to help whoever the operator or owner is to make quick, informed decisions.
Jesse Chisholm (03:07):
Another thing that somebody that's interested in Trimble Precision Ag Technologies can do is you can go to your app store, whether that be Google or IOS, and download our FAST app. So the FAST app is a solution or a platform that allows someone to build out their own solution online by quickly answering some decisions about their farming operation or their production, through just being able to ... How big a farm are you? What do you primarily farm? Those sorts of quick-answer questions that you can input.
Morgan Seger (03:46):
Okay, and then that would direct them towards the resources that might be most pertinent for their farm?
Jesse Chisholm (03:51):
Yeah, what that'll actually do is it'll give you a quick snapshot of all the technologies that we at Trimble feel are applicable to your operation. And be able to give you a nice, basically PDF of, "Here's the technology solution. Here's the features and benefits." And from there, you are able to engage with our dealer channel or directly with Trimble, by calling in and reaching one of our general sales managers to better understand those solutions.
Morgan Seger (04:23):
Awesome. That sounds like a great resource.
Jesse Chisholm (04:26):
Yeah, and one that I'm super excited about and Trimble's super excited about here in February, is we'll actually be launching what we call the Virtual Farm. And so this will contain over 30-plus videos of different information on app applications of Trimble technologies that they can watch at their own convenience. And they can do that by bouncing around the Virtual Farm, from tillage operations to planting to water management. So super excited about that to come online here in February 2022.
Morgan Seger (04:58):
Yeah, that's awesome. We'll be sure to link out to that, also, so everyone can just get the whole scope of Trimble and how it fits in. I know my husband and I farm, and getting started and knowing where to start is the hardest part, I think, sometimes. So that's great. When we are thinking about Trimble Precision Ag products, what are some of the benefits that growers can capture?
Jesse Chisholm (05:22):
Yeah, so just like we're seeing this year, with all the news around the increases in the vital inputs that a grower may use, Trimble Ag, this is the type of environment our technologies are designed to assist a grower with. Basically, being able to apply those resources at the right time, in the right place, to produce the best yields in the growing season that they're basically managing that year.
Jesse Chisholm (05:53):
So our technologies can help, from the simplest things of operator fatigue, being able to put a host of different operators in machines, and be able to achieve the same results as they were if they were there doing it themselves daily. So the automation that we bring to a farm can basically directly input their efficiency gains, lower their production cost over all. And at the end of the day, it all affects their bottom line to the betterment.
Morgan Seger (06:21):
Yeah, for sure. When we think about these markets that have been a little bit crazy, lots of times, our gut reaction is to pull things in. But when it comes to precision ag, I think that's where these investments really pay off. So you're exactly right. A good time to try to capitalize on this.
Jesse Chisholm (06:37):
Yes, exactly. And as people make investments in technologies, they need to first maybe assess what they're already doing, if they already are involved with precision technologies, and see if they can enable that equipment to do more. And able to be able to access advanced feature sets that might actually be able to better utilize the equipment throughout the entire growing season, just not the one application they bought the technology for.
Morgan Seger (07:09):
Yeah, sure, and that actually leads into my next question. Along with the markets being an issue, we've also been hearing a lot of chatter around the supply chain, and people are worried about getting parts and services. And from what I've been reading, it sounds like Trimble's working hard to make sure that growers can get the most out of their equipment. So can you tell me more about that?
Jesse Chisholm (07:31):
Yeah, exactly. So Trimble, one of our cultural beliefs is we keep the customer at the center of everything we do. And for us, that means that we are doing everything we can, as far as being able to manage during this turmoil of supply chain, and continue to produce the products. And not only that, but increase the features and benefits that people can access on their current devices they have. Being able to increase accuracies, increase their steering solution performance. Again, being able to unlock what we call or refer to as licenses on a device. A grower will be able to take advantage of the equipment they already have and not necessarily source a new device for this upcoming growing season.
Morgan Seger (08:23):
Okay, so it's like a digital upgrade, without having to replace a hardware?
Jesse Chisholm (08:27):
Yes, exactly, yep.
Morgan Seger (08:29):
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. We're going to take a quick break from our conversation to talk about the Nav-900 Guidance Controller from Trimble.
Morgan Seger (08:39):
So the Nav-900 Guidance Controller is one of Trimble's most advanced receivers to date. It's built for maximum up-time, a wide range of accuracy options, from basic to high precision. And it's designed to mount on the roof of most ag vehicles, to provide positioning and guidance, including auto-steer. Some of the features include a full range of correction signals, built-in Bluetooth for tethering and device connections, simplified setup with fewer components. Can combine with one of the GFX series displays for auto-guidance and precision farming functions.
Morgan Seger (09:12):
Now, if you're interested in hearing what real users of this product have to say, go to precisionagreviews.com and type in Trimble in the search bar. And from there, search for Nav-900. Now back to our conversation.
Morgan Seger (09:26):
So we've talked a little bit about some of the challenges. Do you have a feel on what you think will be the biggest challenge for growers going into 2022?
Jesse Chisholm (09:35):
That's a great question. For me, I think that the biggest challenge is being able to manage the farm in such a way that deals with the rise in input costs. To do that, they're going to have to invest time into understanding their precision technology. So being able to move that around as a priority and say, "Using my technology, how can we change the farm plan or change this upcoming growing season's plan to make the most out of our resources that we have this year?"
Jesse Chisholm (10:11):
So utilizing the trusted advisors that a farmer has today, such as a Vantage reseller. Making sure that they bring that Vantage reseller out or a Trimble authorized reseller. And make sure their equipment is ready for the growing season. And any technologies that could benefit the farm, such as rate and section control on production zones. So as these farm plans, they look at the rise in input cost and how they're going to allocate inputs to the farm. Really, how do we allow the technology to automate those, to be able to really apply those fertilizer chemicals or seed that make the most benefit for the farm? And how we do that automatically, with technology?
Jesse Chisholm (10:56):
So I think the biggest challenge is that everybody's just going to have to become that much sharper with the technology in the tractor, to be able to execute a better plan this year.
Morgan Seger (11:06):
I like that, though, because the solution is there. We just have to be able to make the time, and it sounds like you guys are putting forth the effort to make sure the resources are there, so they can get this stuff figured out.
Morgan Seger (11:18):
One thing I've noticed are some partnerships that have been announced around autonomy. I didn't know if you could shed a little light on where Trimble's going with autonomy.
Jesse Chisholm (11:29):
Yeah, so Trimble's view on autonomy is we are heavily invested, and we're continuing to make inroads into autonomy. We're doing that through just building up our own division within Trimble that's specifically dedicated to looking at autonomy. And again, like I said, Trimble is not only a provider of precision technologies, but we're a provider of technologies through various industries throughout the globe. Everything from construction to logistical solutions, and even into the geospatial space.
Jesse Chisholm (12:08):
So for that, we think about autonomy in a much greater picture than just precision ag. And so for Trimble, we are making investments that allow us to be able to scale autonomy solutions over a period of years, for Trimble over all.
Morgan Seger (12:26):
Okay, that makes sense. As you can imagine, that's been a hot topic on this podcast, and I was actually reading an unrelated article online, and a Trimble ad about autonomy popped up, but it didn't necessarily look ag-based. So it makes sense that you guys are covering a lot of ground.
Jesse Chisholm (12:41):
Yes, yes we are. I think one that you've probably seen is our collaboration with GM.
Morgan Seger (12:50):
Yep.
Jesse Chisholm (12:50):
Yeah, exactly, right? So for Trimble, that really plays on the depth and breadth of Trimble technologies and providing satellite-based correction sources, which we utilize those same various sources in precision agriculture. Which is one of those digital enhancements that we talked about earlier. So somebody that's using the base system of WAS technology can quickly subscribe to Trimble and get an advanced-level RTK accuracy on the farm by simply connecting to a satellite correction source.
Morgan Seger (13:26):
Very cool. This is interesting. What else should our listeners know about Trimble?
Jesse Chisholm (13:31):
That's a great question. Where do I begin? So I would say that one of the big things for a grower this year, and what to know about Trimble, is we have, I would call it, the premier agnostic channel that has a global presence for a grower to leverage as a trusted advisor on their farm. Again, I give all the credit into the world to our channel, for being able to integrate our technologies into farmers.
Jesse Chisholm (14:00):
And so I think if I had to express one thing that people should know, is the top-notch technologists that are in our channel, that are supplying these technologies to farms and how they can enable farms to become more productive. So if a grower is not in contact with their local Vantage dealer, that's one thing I really want them to do, is look online. Use our dealer locator. Source a Vantage Trimble partner, and get to know them. Reach out to them. They are experts in the field of precision ag, and they can help a grower what I call navigate through the noise that they may read in their local publications, about all these great things that they can do with technology. The question is, can they can actually make it all work, at the end of the day?
Morgan Seger (14:45):
Nope, you got to be able to bring it all together. So one question that we like to ask all of our guests is what is one technology you are most excited about? And it can be in or out of agriculture.
Jesse Chisholm (14:55):
Well, I'll tell you. One technology that I'm excited about is autonomy, and I think too many times, when we say autonomy, we think about driverless tractors and sprayers and combines and those sorts of things. And I'm really excited about the next one to three years and the advancements that we'll see that will be phases of autonomy. And I think today, many growers, the reason they're farmers is because they want to interact with the land. They want to interact with these vehicles. And for Trimble, I think aspirations of being able to work into autonomy, that's going to be real excitement, as we see workflow optimization happen. Where somebody will be able to get into that cab, and that machine be able to recognize them and be able to know that they're in a certain field, automatically. And just reducing the amount of effort that a farmer has to put into technology. That's what's super exciting.
Morgan Seger (15:59):
Yeah, and it also probably improves the quality of the data that they're getting back, because there's just that many less steps that they have to manually execute on?
Jesse Chisholm (16:09):
You're exactly right, Morgan. That's a great way to look at it.
Morgan Seger (16:13):
And we're all about clean data here, because we know that that drives decisions.
Jesse Chisholm (16:17):
That's right. I think you hit on a great point. Autonomy's exciting, but without the clean data set, I think it's going to be extremely difficult to pull that off in a farm application. So that's the excitement for me, is actually seeing a farm digitally into the future, and the technologies that are going to do that are super exciting.
Morgan Seger (16:38):
Yep, I totally agree. It feels like we're at a time where a lot of things are coming together at the right time, around autonomy and sustainability. And all of these different things are all hitting at the same spot, where I feel like we're actually going to see a lot of forward progress on it. So I'm actually really excited about the next one to three years, also.
Jesse Chisholm (16:58):
Yeah, yep.
Morgan Seger (17:00):
So where can people go if they would like to learn more about Trimble and the work that you're doing?
Jesse Chisholm (17:05):
Yeah, so like I mentioned early in the interview, they can source www.agricultural.trimble.com. That's a great source of information for them. And then we will be out in the community, attending farm shows. So I believe National Farm Machinery's coming up, so they'll be able to interact with Trimble there. Super excited about that. I know everybody is anxious to get back, after the last two years, I'll say. And we'll just leave that to that, right?
Jesse Chisholm (17:36):
So being able to work with the dealer channel. I like to think that all of our resellers are partners of Trimble, and so accessing one of them is like accessing Trimble, in many ways. They can learn a lot about Trimble and the great technologies that we provide to the farm today.
Morgan Seger (17:55):
Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time today.
Jesse Chisholm (17:58):
Yeah, certainly. No, thank you for having me again. I really appreciate it.
Morgan Seger (18:01):
I want to thank Jesse for joining me on the podcast and spending time walking us through Trimble's business, products, and ideas. And I want to thank you for listening. We are so grateful that you choose to spend this time with us.
Morgan Seger (18:13):
If you like what you're hearing on the podcast, please leave us a rating or review. Your feedback helps us make sure we're creating good content that helps you in your operation. As always, our show notes for this episode will be available at precisionagreviews.com. While you're there, check out our grower-sourced reviews. We have been working hard to collect real, unbiased feedback about precision ag tools and services that are out on the market today, and we would love to hear what you have to say. Together, this network of ideas will help us make decisions about precision ag purchases and how we can implement these practices on our farms.
Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. To hear more podcasts like this, please rate, review, and subscribe to Precision Points. Visit precisionagreviews.com for show notes from this episode. And read expert advice on the blog. Share your experience with the precision ag products you use, and check out our network of farmer reviews. Let's grow together.
