Latest / No Dirt No Flowers Podcast / Leader Built to Solve Problems / Ft. Scott Haney

Transcript

Leader Built to Solve Problems / Ft. Scott Haney · No Dirt No Flowers Podcast

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Hello everyone and welcome back to episode 21
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of No Dirt, No Flowers. Today Mike and Drew sit
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down with Scott Haney, our Chief Operations Officer,
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and the operational glue that holds Roy Farms
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together. It's a fun, wide -ranging episode that
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starts with operations from an agricultural level
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and dovetails into harvest mustaches, harvest
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boxing, and so much more. It's a fun one and
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I hope you enjoy the episode. get comfortable
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you know yeah i'm sure i'm gonna mess this up
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so just you'll be fine there's nothing be prepared
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to like edit out like a lot of mouth breathing
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because i'm so stuffed out too so here we are
0:46
no dirt no flowers two people are sick so hopefully
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we don't have a bunch of sniffling there we go
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perfect drew you want to kick us off Welcome
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to No Dirt, No Flowers featuring Scott Haney,
1:02
Chief Operating Officers for Roy Farms. I was
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going to say that sounded like a game show host,
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but then it transitioned into like a boxing announcer,
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but they have a name. Ladies and gentlemen. Would
1:17
you be more appropriate for Scott, by the way,
1:18
boxing? Yeah, let's start with the stature of
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the man we're talking to here. Scott Haney. What
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do you go, like 6 '4", 6 '5"? Like 6 '4", yeah.
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Oh, 6 '4". Yep. But yeah, more importantly, I
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wanted to get Scott on here. He has been and
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continues to be an integral part of the Roy Farms
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ecosystem. I'm sure a lot of listeners out there
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have engaged with Scott, and it would be nice
1:47
to learn a little bit more about Scott and what
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he's currently doing here at Roy Farms. Like
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generally speaking, not this very moment. Yeah.
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Generally speaking. Recently promoted to COO.
2:05
Congratulations. Thank you. Has been operating
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in that role for quite some time now. Yeah. Formalized
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now. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about your background.
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You grew up in Sela, Washington. So I grew up
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in Sela, Washington. I've never really left the
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Valley. I think the farthest I moved away from
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Sela was into Yakima, which for any listeners
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is, you know, 25 minutes away. Big move. Yep.
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And it lasted about six months. Back in Sela,
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obviously, again. So my career actually started
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with Shields Bag and Printing. I didn't know
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what I wanted to pursue. I didn't know what my...
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goals were my ambitions at the time and I don't
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want to waste money pursuing something I wasn't
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passionate about and come to find out I became
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passionate about plastics and packaging and I
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was there for 20 years in various roles I worked
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in manufacturing I worked in sales and marketing
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and then in 2018 they sold to a private equity
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company which was still a great experience but
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it just wasn't a great fit And that's eventually
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how I found my way to the farm and moving into
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ag. I moved to Roy Farms. A previous colleague
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I had had actually invited me to come over, and
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I thought it would be a great fit. I was looking
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for a better work -life balance, and at first
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it didn't seem like one, but now five years in,
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I feel pretty good about it. It feels like a
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much better balance and much more fun as well.
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Not to preload any future. topics in this podcast
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but was that uh return to work -life balance
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because roy farms has gotten less chaotic or
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is that just because you understand the system
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better it's a little bit of both it's obviously
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a little bit of both right so we've worked really
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hard to make roy farms less chaotic um that's
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that's one but the other piece is i spent zero
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percent of my career in agriculture i serviced
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agriculture and packaging but i didn't really
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know how it all worked so There's been quite
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the curve into it, obviously. And now that I've
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got it, I'm obviously not going to say mastered.
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I don't think it's something you ever master.
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But now that I kind of have the hang of it, I
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feel good about it and it feels less chaotic.
4:28
So you started in manufacturing at Shields and
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then you went into sales? Correct. And then came
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back into operations, basically. Correct, yeah.
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So I've always had like an operational mind.
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I don't know if that's just a... The way I think
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about it, I think of everything mechanically,
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so I tend to do well in operations, so I find
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a way to think of even sales mechanically, oddly.
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Did you do any lean manufacturing training when
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you were at Shields? I did. We did lean manufacturing
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for quite a few years, and it was good for that
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company as well as I think there's home for it
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here as well in the future. What about manufacturing?
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and or sales did you find really intriguing and
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like what carryovers do you see in ag i mean
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i i think of sales is sales is is generally sales
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anywhere you go right so there's not really much
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difference from manufacturing to ag operations
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is significantly different there's you know you're
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doing something different from Week to week,
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month to month, year to year, there's so much
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change. There's not a lot of consistent pieces
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in ag that make it easy to, you know, plan, do,
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correct. That doesn't really apply well in ag.
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It takes multiple years to do that. Do you like
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the consistent curveballs that are thrown by
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agriculture? I do. I do because I like to think
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that I'm a problem solver. So every time we get
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a new curveball, it becomes a new problem to
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solve, and I enjoy it. That's something that
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our current senior leadership here, I think,
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for the most part, enjoys. Obviously, I don't
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think any of us enjoy it when you're up against
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some highly pressured situation or it's going
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to negatively impact the balance sheet severely.
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But I think all of us like solving problems.
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Yeah, I think it's that little bit of ADHD we
6:30
all have. Do you have ADHD? I think so, yeah.
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My wife would think so. I certainly do. I think
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we've covered that topic. I just popped an Adderall.
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Just only two minutes ago, in fact. Oh, nice.
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What's your favorite part about working in Ag
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and Roy Farms? I think my favorite part with
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Ag is... The ability to do something different
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every day, right? And I don't know if it's just
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the way Roy Farms operates. I mean, this is my
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only ag exposure, but I feel like every day I
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come to work, I can do something totally different.
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I mean, I can be spending hours in front of spreadsheets,
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try to analyze data, or I can be hours in the
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field, you know, watching the crews, working
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with the crews, planning, and every day is different.
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So I don't know. Is that like a Roy Farms thing
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or is that an ag thing? Like what do you guys
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think? Oh, it's a little bit of both. I mean,
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I think, you know, farms that have had the same
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leadership that have put in systems and processes
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over years and years and decades, I think it's
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a lot more predictable. You can never get away
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from the variables that come at you out of the...
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Clear blue, you know, things like, oh, shoot,
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a baler just went down during harvest or we have
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a crew showing up and a rainstorm came in that
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we weren't expecting. And, you know, there's
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always going to be variables. Makes sense. Yeah,
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I think that big or small, there's always some
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degree of needing to wear multiple hats, in my
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opinion, in agriculture. which is one of the
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reasons why I really enjoy it. Once again, I
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don't like highly stressful situations all the
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time, but I do enjoy that piece where, for the
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most part, you can be like, oh, I feel like just
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kind of going out in the field and tackling something
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or being in the office and tackling something.
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Yeah, just a total difference of scenery day
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to day. I mean, I think Roy Farms is maybe a
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little bit different just because... We're trying
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to tackle farming, processing, and sales, and
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that's not every hop grower. And we're trying
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to do it with, you know, obviously we're trying
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to keep our overhead as low as humanly possible
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given all those objectives. So that's going to
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naturally require somebody at your level to wear
9:14
different hats. Oh, yeah. Yeah, 100%. I'd like
9:18
to see people start wearing cowboy hats around
9:20
here. We call it the ranch, but I don't see anybody
9:23
wearing any Stetsons. I don't know if I'm a cowboy
9:27
hat kind of guy. I remember my dad used to wear
9:29
a cowboy hat all the time. Really? Tell me more
9:31
about that. He used to have one of those cowboy
9:33
hat racks in his Chevy Silverado up on the roof.
9:37
It was bolted into the roof, and you'd pull it
9:40
down and put your hat upside down in there so
9:42
it didn't get deformed by the sun sitting on
9:45
the dash or the bench seat. Yeah, it was like
9:48
a wire deal. You pulled down, you put the hat
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in there, and it swung back up. I need to get
9:55
one of those. You do. You think that would bolt
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into the Ford Lightning? It might hit a wire,
10:00
though. I think the center roof might get in
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the way. Ooh, yeah. You could do a sticky deal.
10:05
Yeah. Where there's a will, there's a way. Yeah.
10:08
Yeah, I probably just won't. Do you have a cowboy
10:10
hat? No. Yeah, actually, I do. You know, when
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you're fair -skinned like myself and bald on
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top of that, you've got to protect it, man. I
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know you have a plethora of fedoras. I have many.
10:31
You know, I think for the remainder of the year,
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I think Mike needs a cowboy hat and go back to
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the mustache. I'll do it if people want. I've
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already told you, man. You've got to go back.
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Okay. If nothing else comes out of this podcast.
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Mike is putting in a mustache. Sorry, Sarah.
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She's going to be so mad. And wearing a cowboy
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hat. I've got to get a cowboy hat. I've got to
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go buy a cowboy hat. Wait, what time frame are
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we talking about here? Does this thing have to
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ride through harvest? Oh, definitely. Oh, it
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has to peak at harvest. Oh, man. That would be
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the best time. You with flip -flops and a cowboy
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hat? Like, now we're talking about a brand. Okay?
11:14
All right, you listeners, you've heard it here.
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This might be happening. We could, if it makes
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you feel better, we could do like a company -wide
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vote. I mean, it would. Oh, like if we sent out
11:24
like different outfits, like, or suits or whatever,
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like. This is what Mike to wear this year. He
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votes on whatever it is. I think we're onto something
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here. I will consider this idea. I think it'd
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be fun. Any of our regular listeners, go ahead
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and send a text to me. Or Mike, send in your
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votes. Well, I mean, in our company newsletter,
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we're telling people to listen to No Dirt, No
11:53
Flowers. We might get comments internally as
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well. Oh, I'm sure we will. Guaranteed. Yeah,
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let's do that. Okay, back to you. See, this is
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what happens. We get off topic. That one was
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my fault. That was a fun one, though. We get
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little stickers. What the hell are we going to
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do? With like a mustache and cowboy hat stickers.
12:13
Okay, yeah. No, I like this. I'm willing to bet
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that every employee would put that on their car.
12:19
Andy's going to be so pissed when he can't do
12:21
like his Mad Max deal this year because he's
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got to do something like Tombstone on the cover.
12:26
He wants to do Mad Max this year? He's been saying
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he wants to do Mad Max every year. That's true.
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Yeah, he's measured to me too. So back to you.
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One of the things that I think is really fascinating
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about you. And you even make comments about this
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from time to time. Like it just seems easy to
12:44
you. One of your strongest characteristics is
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you're a phenomenal leader and you have your
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team follows you and you create great structure
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and communication with the team, but you'd never
12:56
force the issue in any way. It's just like part
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of who you are and easy. I'm wondering kind of
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where your people focus came from. and your style
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that you go about it because it's different than
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most leaders that i know that we'll just talk
13:14
over and over about like people culture people
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culture which is great but yours is just more
13:20
subtle and ingrained in how you operate and how
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your team operates i would say emphasis on subtlety
13:26
from my perspective where it's just kind of this
13:28
consistent approach it's not you know it's it's
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not very extreme in terms of getting fired up
13:37
or ignoring. It's just very consistent, which
13:43
is nice. Well, those are great observations.
13:45
Thank you. I appreciate that. Where it came from,
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I have no idea. I obviously had some leadership
13:54
training along the way, but I don't think my
13:56
leadership style really aligns necessarily with
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some of the training I've had. I think it's just...
14:03
It comes more out of treating people and leading
14:06
people the way that I feel like I would want
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to be led. Have you had bad leaders in your past
14:12
that kind of gave you some boundaries on that?
14:16
You know, not really. Maybe early in my career,
14:19
like there was some, maybe one or two, but I
14:22
mean, not hugely impactful. Have you had any
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highly inspiring ones? Oh, definitely. I've had
14:29
some great ones. I've had multiple along the
14:31
way. But I do want to say, when I say the Baylor's
14:35
down, what do you say? Inspiring leadership.
14:42
That was an interesting time, wasn't it? I say
14:45
deep dive. Okay, so you've worked under some
14:47
really great leaders. Yeah, so I've worked under
14:49
some really great leaders and people who care,
14:52
and I think those are qualities, obviously, that
14:54
I respected and want to make sure that I also
14:59
live by those. Those characteristics. Yeah, so,
15:06
I mean, I've worked with good leaders and bad
15:08
ones. And I guess I just cherry pick how I want
15:12
to be and how I want to lead. And that's all
15:16
there is to it. Very mechanical, like you said.
15:19
Very mechanical. No, I literally think of everything
15:22
mechanically. It is interesting. You're quite
15:26
the jack of all trades. Scott and I just got
15:27
back from the United Kingdom together. Oh, yeah.
15:31
Got to explore all kinds of depths of different
15:35
things, words. You tend to know a little bit
15:39
about everything. It's kind of fascinating. Or
15:41
he's got a guy. Oh, yeah. Gosh, your network
15:45
is like, who needs LinkedIn? You just got Scott.
15:49
It's vast. I'll give you one example. Man, I
15:53
need to get some suspension stuff fixed on my
15:56
truck. I got a guy. Random Jeep builder guy out
16:00
in Glead. Take the truck there. This guy is money.
16:05
I've never even heard of you. The guy's like,
16:07
I don't need to advertise. You should always
16:14
have a guy for everything. I 100 % agree. I am
16:17
feeling very inferior because I feel like I should
16:21
be somebody that has these people around me,
16:24
but my network doesn't even touch yours. Just
16:27
start reaching out, man. You're inferior. Speaking
16:36
of inferior, when we were over in the UK, got
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a call from Joe, our sales manager, who was fired
16:42
up. And so I just asked him, who would win in
16:46
a fight between you and Scott? Oh, geez. And
16:50
for those of you that don't know Joe, he's, that
16:53
guy's got to be like 6 '5", huh? He's up there,
16:57
man. He's a big boy. And he said he thinks he
17:01
might be able to take him if he had the right
17:05
anger that day. And I said, no, I think Scott's
17:07
got a deep anger somewhere in there. I do. I
17:10
hide that every day. That would be an interesting
17:15
tussle. I mean, that could be another harvest
17:19
event. Oh, my gosh. Get you guys some big gloves.
17:23
Yeah. This is after we do the Roy Farms Demolition
17:27
Derby. It could be the same night. We could have
17:30
boxing matches. Boxing matches before or after
17:33
the Demolition Derby. Who would we pit against
17:36
who? You've got to start with weight classes,
17:38
right? Yeah. Would Andy be in this? No, Andy
17:44
might be one of those guys that has secret judo
17:47
skills that he learned in school. Okay, so you
17:51
would fight Joe. Or we could do Joe against Greg
17:56
first. Oh, I forgot about Greg. Greg's kind of
18:00
an animal, man. I think he's... He's an athlete
18:02
too, isn't he? Yeah, an animal. Yeah. You know,
18:06
we got to get him on the show. We do. You know
18:09
who I wouldn't want to fight? Who? Nancy. Oh,
18:13
no. I feel like she really does know like...
18:16
Taekwondo. Yeah, something like that. In her
18:20
weight class, I think that would be really nervous.
18:23
I actually think we could put her up against
18:25
Mike. I was wondering if that wasn't a good idea.
18:28
I think that's a great idea. I don't want to
18:30
be involved because I have a dark side that could
18:33
go really bad. What if we pitted you and Andy
18:36
against each other? That's not going to turn
18:39
out well. How the hell did we get on this? I
18:47
don't know. My dad, for a while, speaking of
18:51
this idea. My dad wanted to get one of those
18:54
big inflatable, like, jousting setups for the
18:59
ranch. He joked about getting one to, like, settle
19:01
disputes at the office. Like American gladiators?
19:04
Yeah, mostly between him and I. We could scale
19:07
that up for sure. Oh, yeah. I like all this.
19:12
Okay. Well, I mean, I think it's related because
19:14
as COO of Roy Farms, you would probably be involved
19:17
in executing on this plan to some degree. I can
19:20
make this happen, man. Let's do it. How would
19:22
you build a ring? I mean, I think you'd frame
19:25
it up, need some pads, be pretty easy. Okay.
19:27
I'll bet Beto's guys could do it in probably
19:29
four hours. We're going to have to do it at night
19:32
and have fireworks too, guys. Oh, perfect. If
19:34
we're going to go that far, it's got to have
19:35
fireworks. Love this initiative. What other initiatives
19:39
are you excited about at Roy Farms this year?
19:44
I mean, related to some of the changes that we've
19:45
been making over the past couple of years. Or
19:48
do we rewind a little bit and say... talk about
19:51
just kind of like the trajectory we've been on
19:54
over the past few years like you know changes
19:57
positive challenges yeah we can we can go through
20:00
that yeah yeah in the last kind of you know four
20:04
or five year time span or over your entire time
20:07
here where have you seen improvements what are
20:12
you excited about that we're working on currently
20:14
in terms of uh efficiencies advancements I'm
20:20
going to start with people, right? I mean, obviously
20:22
I'm very people -focused. The farm has empowered
20:28
a lot of people to do what they feel is right.
20:31
You know, there was a significant change in leadership
20:33
structure a couple years ago that allowed us
20:36
to do that, and I think that's been one of the
20:37
biggest drivers of change and improvement is
20:40
we've freed everybody up to, we've allowed everyone
20:45
to do what they feel is right. and empowered
20:48
them and given them the tools they need to do
20:49
it. I would say we've also, correct me if I'm
20:53
wrong, gotten the right people in the right seats
20:56
for the most part. Yeah, I mean, obviously, in
20:57
order for that to work operationally, you have
21:00
to have the right people in the right seat, and
21:02
there's been a lot of changes internally, and
21:07
it's verification of making sure we have the
21:09
right people in the right seat, and everybody's
21:12
done such a great job. I mean, everybody now
21:15
is here. They're willing to fight. for everything
21:17
they're willing to do whatever's necessary to
21:20
be successful and make the right changes and
21:23
process improvements and and whatnot so i think
21:26
you know the biggest piece is obviously just
21:28
focusing on the people and empowering everybody
21:30
and then specifically i mean as just to point
21:35
to one thing you and jeff basically ripped apart
21:39
our entire pelletizer last year and put it back
21:42
together oh yeah yeah so it was Essentially,
21:45
and that was a Jeff thing, right? So Jeff was
21:47
a great hire. Obviously, we found him at the
21:51
right time, and he's a great hire, and he's a
21:54
great member of the team, and he fits, right?
21:56
He's a great personality. He's great to work
22:00
with, and he's very, I'd say, well -educated
22:03
in the industry and the processes. Also loves
22:06
solving problems. Also loves solving problems,
22:09
right? So that goes without saying. I think everyone
22:12
on the team, obviously. Love solving problems.
22:14
But, you know, I had identified some issues that
22:18
we had and some stuff that I challenged for years
22:21
and never really been in a position to make any
22:23
changes to it. I found Jeff working for, you
22:27
know, another company, and we chatted through
22:29
some discoveries I'd made. And, you know, whatever,
22:31
flash forward a year, we hire him, bring him
22:34
in, he identifies the same issues, and we revamped
22:37
the entire facility and, you know, gained. 50
22:41
% more output. With better quality. With significantly
22:45
better quality, right? It's pretty incredible.
22:48
It is incredible. Not to put words in your mouth,
22:52
but another one that you're pretty heavily involved
22:54
in, or I would say very heavily involved in,
22:56
is sifting through all of the software platforms
23:01
that we have and advancing some, cutting others,
23:05
making adjustments. Because we've been in a huge...
23:10
transition yeah no no definitely um you know
23:14
one thing i think we've we've never i don't want
23:17
to say we've never but i don't i don't feel like
23:19
we've been leveraging technology well for the
23:22
last five years i think we've and correct me
23:26
if i'm wrong i mean i want to overstep and i
23:28
don't want to say anything negative about anybody
23:29
but we've never really leveraged technology to
23:33
help move us forward in any way at least okay
23:36
in my time here right so I don't mean that historically.
23:39
I think your dad did a good job historically
23:41
with it. Well, that's what I was going to say,
23:44
not in a defensive sort of way. It's just that
23:47
it's odd sometimes that what maybe was one of
23:52
your core competencies becomes the opposite.
23:56
And I think technology goes very much that way
23:59
for us. I mean, when I came back to the farm,
24:02
my dad had handwritten all these programs, and
24:05
no farms had anything like that. trip station
24:09
automation on a custom platform you could control
24:12
it all from the office and then that kind of
24:15
advanced into i mean we had our own spray wreck
24:19
program everything was very custom because there
24:26
wasn't anything out there at the time and so
24:28
we were like light years ahead of everybody earlier
24:33
on with that type of stuff and then probably
24:37
for a variety of reasons. I think maybe we let
24:40
those platforms stay around too long when other
24:43
platforms were coming online and evolving. And
24:47
on drip station automation, I think we needed
24:51
to let some of that stuff, some of the platforms
24:54
settle out and which ones are going to be around,
24:56
which ones weren't. And there's a huge capital
25:00
need to switch some of that stuff over too. But
25:03
yes. your term here there was definitely a lack
25:09
of focus on that and then also we were yeah we
25:14
were not leveraging it so yeah it would be a
25:17
lack of reinvestment in it during that period
25:19
right I mean I think that's probably the better
25:21
way to put it is we didn't continue to invest
25:24
in technology we had systems that worked for
25:27
a long time and they worked and I think a lot
25:30
of it they worked well for their time but they
25:33
were They required heavy data entry, I think
25:38
was a lot of it, right? And some of the newer
25:40
systems and programs are significantly better
25:42
and require much less physical entry. It's more
25:46
automated. So it was a lack of reinvestment is,
25:50
I guess, the probably best way to put it. And
25:53
what we've seen as far back as I can remember,
25:55
it didn't matter if it was my dad trying to implement
25:58
field scouting or IPM programs on, what were
26:03
the old Mac? Not Palm Pilots, but they're pre
26:08
-iPad. So you'd, like, write on these things,
26:11
and you could, like, use a stylus to, like, code
26:13
into these things. I have to look back at the
26:16
name, but, like, we had an IPM program written
26:18
for the farm on those things, like, back in the
26:20
probably, like, 90s. You know what's wild? Well,
26:26
on that topic, like, even some of the stuff we
26:28
have now that's legacy or dad did, like... if
26:31
i if i talk to him it's like wow it didn't realize
26:34
it even did that we didn't nobody was leveraging
26:37
this piece of that software you know the data's
26:42
there the work's been done but we just never
26:44
leveraged it well in some cases it we talk about
26:48
the people and how important they are sometimes
26:51
they can be a real roadblock for the implementation
26:55
of some of this stuff not good or bad it's just
26:57
it happens and that was the case with that application
27:01
in particular is that the people that were trying
27:04
to train in the field were just nervous about
27:07
making a mistake they didn't want to use it and
27:09
then so we just kind of abandoned the program
27:11
even though the program worked great and and
27:14
we've seen that even recently like in the last
27:17
two three years about we try and implement some
27:19
new systems and the people become the roadblock
27:22
we're actually seeing that still today it's always
27:26
going to be an issue nobody likes change right
27:29
i mean nobody wants to do anything different
27:31
than what they've always done and then to be
27:33
frank i think there's you know what we're looking
27:36
at a an asset management program right now for
27:39
for rolling stock and um it actually really simplifies
27:43
the work order process where you know an operator
27:46
on the equipment can can you know send a report
27:50
in they've got an issue with it it's it's as
27:52
simple as pulling out their smartphone scanning
27:55
a qr code and then given a brief description
27:58
of what's going on right now, we're finding that
28:01
people are not wanting to do that because they're
28:03
scared that they're going to get in trouble for,
28:06
you know, the asset breaking down. So you're
28:11
always going to see that. And it definitely makes
28:13
sense. Yep. Yeah. That's another, I forgot about
28:16
that. You're looking at everything from rolling
28:19
stock management to I guess we're still not fully
28:24
baked on our ERP transition. bringing on field
28:29
management whether that's spray work orders or
28:33
just workflow yeah so incorporating ai or um
28:39
you know robot type assistance yeah and the ai
28:45
is kind of the piece that brings it all together
28:47
right so the idea is that we get all of these
28:50
other platforms working um using them to their
28:54
fullest potential and then we we bring ai in
28:57
to leverage all of the data in an efficient way
28:59
you know you'll obviously find that when you
29:02
have multiple systems it's really difficult to
29:04
leverage the data and find you know make good
29:07
decisions on it when you have multiple platforms
29:09
but um the hope is that ai can can really help
29:13
us making quicker decisions giving access to
29:16
the data with all that I think I just heard you
29:20
say it, but what excites you the most about getting
29:25
those types of things implemented? Efficiencies.
29:30
Out of all of that, I think it all comes down
29:32
to efficiencies. I mean, it's going to be gaining
29:36
efficiencies in the production environment, which
29:39
is any field activity. It's going to be tracking
29:42
those efficiencies. biggest piece the most exciting
29:46
piece is probably going to be having accurate
29:48
data in the moment of the activity and making
29:50
decisions based on the information in a timely
29:54
manner and like what is timely in your mind because
29:57
i think as as i've watched agriculture or roy
30:01
farms over you know my career i think the definition
30:05
of timely has changed quite a bit so i'd be curious
30:09
to hear what your definition of timely is And
30:13
it's different, I'm sure, based off what type
30:16
of data we're looking at. Yeah, I mean, timely
30:19
is obviously a moving target, right? I mean,
30:21
timely can be irrelevant to whatever's going
30:24
on, but I would look at timely as if it's...
30:27
You can make a timely decision as long as that
30:32
decision is in a time that prevents a disaster,
30:34
right? That's what I consider timely. So if we
30:37
can have the right data at the right time and
30:39
prevent... something wrong from occurring that's
30:42
timely so i'll pick one labor right now we're
30:47
out there twining planting roots what is it what
30:49
is what is timely data in those categories so
30:53
timely data in those categories are just for
30:55
me like i would look at it as if um we can identify
31:00
an issue with production rates so maybe daily
31:04
weekly daily daily gets a little bit unless you've
31:10
got good KPIs at different activity levels, which
31:13
we do, but sometimes the daily representation
31:15
isn't super great. So weekly, I would say, is
31:18
more what I would consider that time for labor
31:21
is probably more of a weekly basis. Speaking
31:25
of AI, how long before you think we're going
31:28
to have robots that are out there training? I
31:31
hear this as a thing now. I read about it. Realistically
31:34
training hops. Well, no, I don't know if that's
31:37
a thing yet, but they're like making robots that
31:39
like armies of robots that you can have do your
31:41
thing. The wild thing with AI right now is like
31:44
AI is, is ahead of anything mechanically. So
31:48
as soon as the mechanical piece follows, AI is
31:51
going to just drop right in. You know, once there's
31:54
a mechanical component in place that can do these
31:56
physical activities, AI is taken over. So to
32:01
like design the robot, tell it what to do, tell
32:04
the company how to build it, all that stuff.
32:07
Yeah. Say that again. You think that robots and
32:15
AI are taking over? I'm not saying they're taking
32:18
over. I'm saying they will displace. There'll
32:21
be a large displacement, right? I mean, that's
32:23
how I see it. I think it's already occurring.
32:25
There's already a lot of displacement occurring,
32:27
jobs being replaced by AI. Is it AR or is it
32:31
just robots? Both. Oh, it's both. And as AI moves
32:36
further along, it's going to get even better.
32:38
As mechanical technology gets better, it's going
32:40
to move faster. Because right now you've got
32:42
robots already doing things. You've got robots
32:44
in car manufacturing. You've got robots in distribution
32:47
centers. They have one specific task. It's a
32:51
program task. They do the same thing all day
32:53
over and over. They do the same thing all day
32:54
over and over. And so those already exist, have
32:57
existed. ai and ai is coming in as kind of like
33:02
the potential brains of these robotics and so
33:06
it's like that's i think like the big topic right
33:08
now is like when you combine ai with robotics
33:10
like what do you get you get a computer you get
33:13
a robot that can solve problems yeah which is
33:15
what we are it's gonna be interesting to to watch
33:21
back to your question when are we gonna have
33:25
robots out there training hops that's a great
33:28
question Two years. No way. I don't know. I mean,
33:34
that'd be cool. I would say, I don't know, potentially
33:39
10. I bet they will be in fields in our Valley
33:44
within two to three years, at least on a trail.
33:47
Commercially viable. I would say there's no way
33:49
that they're going to be commercially viable
33:50
and we're going to be buying them in three years.
33:52
I didn't say we're going to be buying them. Try.
33:57
I mean, cause there's already, I mean, like if
33:59
you look at, robots picking apples like they've
34:01
been looking at that for 15 years i don't know
34:03
10 years yeah but now it's it's moving faster
34:06
with ai right um maybe i mean i've heard it's
34:11
around the corner for the last 10. it's valid
34:14
i don't know i mean it's cool like there's definitely
34:17
a big corner it's interesting how i think simple
34:23
tasks are going to get replaced pretty rapidly
34:26
I think like when you start looking at complex
34:28
movements, like wrapping a vine around a piece
34:31
of twine that has like 3D movement combined with
34:36
like how sensitive you need to grab it. I think
34:40
that when you start getting into complex situations
34:42
like that, I think you start running the time
34:44
clock out. But like weeders, like laser weeders,
34:47
yeah, two, three years, commercially viable maybe.
34:52
Well, that's when I say, like, the mechanical
34:55
component has to follow AI, right? So I think
34:57
the entire piece lagging in that sector is just
35:00
the mechanical component of those complex tasks.
35:03
Because I think AI is probably close already
35:06
to being able to handle that. Yeah, deciding,
35:10
like, on, like, which vine do you grab out of
35:12
the 15 on the ground? Like, there's a camera
35:14
analyzing the... The diameter of all of those
35:19
and you can put in like, I only want, you know,
35:21
10 millimeter sized shoots and, you know, ones
35:24
that are like nine inches or higher. Like that
35:28
could be done probably now. Yeah. Like in terms
35:31
of like the recognition and the decision making.
35:33
Yeah. Just have them out there in the middle
35:35
of the night. Yeah. You could have everything
35:37
trained in three days. Your timing would be perfect.
35:41
What I want to see is I want to see a better
35:43
model for making decisions on when to train.
35:46
Oh yeah. I've been thinking about that forever.
35:49
I don't know what the right strategy is, but
35:50
it's like right now, right now we've, it's been
35:53
70 some degrees, you know, and some of those
35:56
shoots I can guarantee you are ahead of where
35:59
we've been. But what does that mean? Should we
36:01
make any adjustments to our training dates? I
36:03
don't know. Growing degree days are higher. Usually
36:07
means big baby year, not so big mature year though.
36:12
I think a lot of that's, is that analyzed or
36:14
anecdotal? I mean, usually warm springs because
36:19
you'd lose so much early growth out of that.
36:22
Like it wastes so much energy popping out of
36:24
the ground. But babies, there's not as much there.
36:28
So all that energy just climbs up. That does
36:32
a lot we don't understand about hop training
36:34
and burn back dates. You only get one chance
36:38
a year. Don't mess it up. What else do you want
36:43
to talk about? You got a baby on the way? I do.
36:48
Building a house? Yeah, this is a pretty rough
36:50
year for Scott. Like, it's pretty high stress,
36:53
actually. Which, going back to my statement about
36:56
consistency, like, you don't show it. Maybe you
36:58
internalize it. I do internalize it, for sure.
37:02
You don't show it. But it's also a high joy year
37:04
for you, too. It is, yes. Yeah, it's definitely
37:07
high joy. These are all things we've worked for,
37:09
right? So it's like you don't want to... beat
37:12
yourself up over things you've worked for that
37:13
are coming to fruition. But it just all happens
37:17
to be coming at the same time. Yeah, all within
37:20
about a two -month period. Everything, all the
37:22
hard stuff. You know what really put the cherry
37:26
on top? If your tires wore out this year, you
37:29
can get rid of those pizza cutters you got on
37:32
your truck. You hate those tires. I just think
37:34
it's funny because you're such a tough guy, but
37:38
those are... Oh, you got a set of blades on there.
37:42
Yeah. Look, those are not farm tires. They are
37:45
not farm tires. But like I told you before, I'll
37:49
run them until they wear out to save some money.
37:51
I 100 % appreciate that and support you. I was
37:56
just saying it'd be nice if you got some new
38:00
all -terrains this year. We'll get there. So
38:04
we've talked a little bit about background and,
38:06
you know, kind of. where things are at, what
38:09
are your goals, ambitions, hopes, uh, in the
38:13
next couple of years? Like what are you, what
38:16
are you shooting for? I mean, I think that I
38:20
just, it's a, it's a goal, something I want,
38:22
right. I think most of my goals become a want,
38:24
but it's not, you know, deeper. The exciting
38:28
is I just, I just really want to buy a boat this
38:30
year. Whoa. That came out of left field. Really?
38:33
Huh? Yeah. Yeah. I definitely want a boat. I
38:35
want to get back into boating again. Like it's.
38:37
That escalated fast. That's something I really
38:39
enjoy. I told you it wasn't like, it wasn't deep
38:42
or anything. It's like, I just really want to
38:43
get a boat. That's a goal. Hey, we had a whole
38:45
discussion about boats on the way home. I was
38:48
just looking at Boat Trader last night. Drew
38:50
was looking at boats too. Like, I don't think
38:52
he even thought about a boat until we talked
38:53
about it. I'm not going to buy a boat. I was
38:55
just looking. I'm not buying one either, but
38:57
every once in a while, I get this idea that.
39:00
Maybe the family should have a boating summer
39:03
up at Rimrock because we have a cabin up there.
39:05
The water is really cold at Rimrock. I know,
39:07
but I have this childhood memory of riding around
39:10
in my grandpa's boat because he used to leave
39:13
one up there and we'd just ride around and fish
39:15
and do things. I'm now picturing your dad putting
39:20
a boat in, or actually better yet, taking it
39:25
out of the water. I was never involved in that.
39:27
It was just there and we walked on the dock and
39:29
he... He drove it, and he did a fantastic job.
39:34
Grandpa or Leslie? My dad. Okay, see. I mean,
39:37
he's still here today, so. Oh, yeah. His directional
39:42
coordinate programs that he used on a boat would
39:44
be quite robust. The nice thing is that you have
39:48
a nice little shoreline boundary that keeps him
39:51
contained. Yeah, you really can't go too far
39:55
up there. Yeah, see, I couldn't have a boat,
39:58
and I'll tell you why. I already shared this
40:01
with Scott when we were talking about it. I get
40:04
in my mind something that I want, like, you know,
40:08
I want a boat or I want to... An electric pickup
40:12
truck. No, that's easier because I'm forced to
40:14
use that. I had a Corvette once. I forgot about
40:18
that. I drove it no more than five times in two
40:21
years. Twice in the first week, and then I was
40:24
like, um... I don't really care about that anymore.
40:28
Did you get that gifted to you or you bought
40:30
it for cheap or something? I bought it pretty
40:32
cheap, yeah. It was a good deal. Then I sold
40:36
it for the same price I bought it for because
40:37
I figured I should pay it forward. But yeah,
40:39
if I got a boat, I'd take it out and just be
40:41
having all the fun for about 25 minutes and then
40:45
I'd be like, okay, well, time to head out of
40:49
here, folks. Does a golf cart fit into this category?
40:55
No, because I golf. I don't know if I'd call
40:58
it golfing. I swing clubs and hit balls. Typically,
41:03
generally in the right direction. He also doesn't
41:06
have to trailer it somewhere to use it. That's
41:08
true. Yeah, just drive it right out the back
41:10
door. Okay, so what are we talking here? What's
41:14
the intended purpose? Is this like for bass competitions?
41:18
No, no, no. It's recreational, man. I just like
41:21
to get out and relax and enjoy the water. It's
41:25
soothing. You just disconnect from everything
41:27
and you float around and don't do anything. Wake
41:29
surfing? Well, yeah, obviously. It's for the
41:32
kids. My son would love that. Wakeboarding, wake
41:36
surfing. What are you going to go for? 2024 Nautique?
41:41
No. Malibu. Cost more than the house you're building?
41:44
Yeah. Let's keep it well under a quarter of a
41:47
million, all right? Well under a quarter of a
41:51
million. Yeah. No, I haven't decided yet. Those
41:54
farming dollar -dollar bills. Yeah, that's definitely
41:57
not happening on this budget. Yeah, when the
41:59
market recovers. One day. One day. One day. I
42:02
just need something that floats for now. You
42:05
know what I was looking at? Have you looked at
42:06
heydays? I have not. So when I went deep into
42:11
this... Chasm. Yes, this chasm of maybe we need
42:16
to have a boating summer. I was like, what's
42:18
the... cheapest, decent boat I could find that
42:21
I could, like, resell and, like, just basically
42:23
not lose very much money. You're looking for,
42:27
like, the Toyota Tacoma boats. Yes, yes. You
42:30
know, you could actually just rent a boat, right?
42:31
We looked into that, too. Okay. That's not as
42:34
easy as one would think. I mean, you could rent
42:36
one for the weekend, but we were looking at,
42:37
like, the whole summer. Or Liz wanted to get
42:41
a pontoon boat. Really? Oh, yeah. Liz wants a
42:44
pontoon boat. See? I didn't know you were a party
42:47
girl. Liz likes to float and drink is what it
42:49
is. Yep. What if we had a Roy Farms pontoon boat?
42:56
We can't do that this year. No. We should probably
43:01
put a bigger pond in for that, too, though. How
43:04
about we'll get you an inner tube and you can
43:07
go out in the old family pond over there? That'd
43:10
be fine, too. Perfect. How about we have some
43:12
just tire tubes laying around? Now we're talking.
43:15
This is what... You know, this is why you are
43:17
what you are, the COO of Roy Farms. I'm looking
43:20
to make things happen, and I'm looking to do
43:22
it inexpensively. Love it. Farmer budget. Have
43:26
we covered enough of Scott? That is more than
43:29
anyone normally gets out of Scott. That was a
43:32
lot. And you opened up saying that you would
43:35
only give one -word statements or answers. No,
43:38
I think the reference I used was like, you know,
43:41
I get on a call and I have to introduce myself.
43:43
I'm like, I'm Scott, and I work at Roy Farms.
43:47
We got a lot more than that. Thanks, Scott. Thanks,
43:49
Scott. My pleasure, gentlemen. No dirt, no flowers.
43:53
Out.