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AI Crop Pest Detection, Virtual Fencing & Christmas Tree Prices | Daily Farm Brief · Farm Tales Unplugged - Daily Farm Brief

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Farm Nation, and hello, Truck City.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is FarmTales Unplugged Daily Farm Brief for Friday, September 25th.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rick Cordonova.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: This morning, Christmas tree growers have some surprisingly good news heading into the holiday season.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Artificial intelligence is now listening for bugs in your crops.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Cattle are being controlled by fences that technically don't exist.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: The old farmer's almanac has given us one of the strangest weather words I've ever heard.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we're also going back to a day when somebody baked a 3,699-pound pumpkin pie.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And a mountain goat in Montana apparently decided the mountains were getting boring and headed to church.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So grab your coffee, fire up whatever you're driving, and let's find out what happened while you were busy actually working.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Very quick market wash this morning.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing new.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: When the USDA gives us fresh numbers, we'll give them to you.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here's an egg story you probably weren't expecting in September.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Christmas tree growers are already looking toward the holidays, and the early word is pretty good.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: A new industry survey says growers expect plenty of real trees and relatively stable wholesale prices this year.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, 91% of growers surveyed said they don't plan to raise wholesale prices, and some may actually lower them.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: So apparently, we finally found something in America that might not cost more this year.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Don't tell anybody, they'll ruin it.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, Christmas trees are farming.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: You plant them, you fertilize them, you fight bugs and weather, you wait years, and then somebody walks up and says, Do you have one that's a little more symmetrical?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's farming.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Time for the technology moment, or as I like to call it, we're science.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Researchers are developing artificial intelligence systems that can identify crop pests by listening to them.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The bugs make noise, the computer listens, and the computer tries to figure out who's eating your crop.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We used to walk the field and look for bugs.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, apparently, the field needs microphones.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: The idea is pretty simple.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Catch pest activity earlier, and growers may be able to deal with a small problem before it becomes a big problem.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Researchers say outdoor noise is one of the challenges because apparently even artificial intelligence has trouble hearing bugs over a tractor.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to farming.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: And while computers are listening to insects, cattle are learning to respect fences that aren't actually there.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Virtual fencing uses GPS collars on cattle.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: The rancher draws a boundary electronically.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: When the cow approaches it, the collar gives an audio warning.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Keep going, depending on the system, the animal can get a brief electrical pulse.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Or shock.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, your cow now has GPS and better navigation than half the people on the freeway.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Recent Nebraska research found virtual fencing kept cattle where they were supposed to be with containment above 99%.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: For ranchers, that can mean less temporary fencing, fewer posts, less wire, and easier pasture rotation.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And somewhere right now, there's an old rancher staring at one of these collars thinking, I've spent 40 years fixing fences, and now you invent this.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Time for the old farmer's almanac.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Today's word, cornskaceous.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, cornscaceous.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds like something your doctor tells you they found on an X-ray.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: The almanac says it's an old term for warm, damp air, the kind of weather once considered good for growing corn.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So today, don't say humans say it's a little cornstaceous out there.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then walk away.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Don't explain yourself.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: You'll immediately sound smarter than anyone else at the coffee shop.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And now, this day in history.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: On this day, September 25th, 2010, somebody in Ohio apparently decided a regular pumpkin pie just wasn't getting the job done.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: At the new Bremen Pumpkin Fest, growers made a pumpkin pie weighing 3,699 pounds.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: 20 feet across.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: It took more than 1,200 pounds of pumpkin, 109 gallons of evaporated milk, and 2,796 eggs.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's not dessert, that's infrastructure.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine being the guy sent to the store.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: What do we need?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Couple thousand eggs.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Anything else?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bring the truck.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's time for you don't hear that every day.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: A young mountain goat wandered into Bozeman, Montana and ended up hanging around a church.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Wildlife officials eventually came out, safely loaded him up, and returned him to the Gallatin Range.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Officials say young male mountain goats sometimes wander while looking for a new home range.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, this one checked Bozeman property prices and went straight back up to the mountain.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Smart goat.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to admit, if a mountain goat walks into church on his own, I'm not asking any questions.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: That goat knows something we don't.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Today, instead of a joke of the day, we're gonna rattle off some funny farmer sayings.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: One, worrying is like a rocking chair.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It gives you something to do, but it don't get you nowhere near the barn.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Two, you can't teach a pig to sing.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Three, never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Four, a fence should be horse high, pig tight, and bull strong, just like a good marriage.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: 6.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Never trust a goat with a clean shirt.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: 7.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've got two speeds now.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Slow and someone fetch the pickup.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: 8.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: The older I get, the more I understand why cows stare into space.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and I get that one.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that'll do it for Friday, September 25th.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Christmas tree growers are heading towards the holidays with plenty of trees and relatively steady wholesale prices.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: AI is listening for crop pests.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Cattle are being managed by fences nobody can see.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: The almanac taught us the word cornscaceous.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Ohio reminded us that mankind apparently needed a 3,699-pound pumpkin.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And a Montana mountain goat went to church before being escorted back to the mountains.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in the field, in the barn, behind the wheel, or hauling the stuff that keeps this country moving, thanks for spending a few minutes with me.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: We'd like to thank World TradeX, the future of food, for making this show possible.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rick Portonova.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is FarmTale's unplugged daily farm brief.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Have a safe Friday.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you tomorrow morning.