The benefits of remote regenerative ag consulting | Reach your goals with Advancing Eco Agriculture

All right, I think we will kick things off. Hi friends, and welcome to this webinar where the topic for our conversation today is how you can work remotely with aea. In other words, how you can work with an AEA consultant without having that consultant actually being within geographical proximity to you within a couple miles away or a driving distance away. How can. In fact, a lot of our work at advancing eco agriculture is with remote consulting, where we work very closely with growers on their operations. But years may go by before we set foot on their farm. And we're able to produce some really awesome crop responses with that when we work closely with growers. And the reality is that in today's world, with the technology and communications technology that we have with video and photo capabilities, there is no reason for us not to be able to exchange really good and high quality information constantly, to be able to look at and understand exactly what's happening and what's going on. So for our webinar today, we wanted to focus a little bit on what does this process look like. We had a really great webinar a little bit ago with Jim Dunlop where we talked about the information collection and the process by which we work with farms locally on the ground. And we wanted to also give some insights into how you can work with the AEA team at a distance. And joining me on the webinar here today is David Miller, who is the Director of Education for AEA and helps to develop and train our agronomy team internally. He's been with the company for, what is it now, David? 10 years? 12 years? 10 years? Something like that?

2010.

2010. So it'll be 12 years pretty quick. And so David has done the majority of his consulting work over the last 10 years remotely and very, very successfully. So I wanted to have him here to share his thoughts and insights and to describe the process that he uses and the successes that he's observed and also perhaps some of the things that haven't worked so well. So with that, I'm going to share my screen, run through a couple of points, pieces that I wanted to touch on, and then I'm going to turn it over to David. So when we think about working remotely, there is this quote that is sometimes used that there is no replacement for the footsteps of the farmer. And that's absolutely true. And so this is sometimes also thought to be true of consultants, that there is no replacement for consultants to be present in the field. And that is certainly ideal. But when the farmers have and the growers take full responsibility for their footsteps and their footprints being present in the field and then communicating very well with consultants and agronomists. That is actually a team effort that can work very, very well. We want to describe some of what we've observed with that. So we have our entire consulting team. And I would say that the numbers have shifted and changed over the years as our team has grown. But at this point I would say it's probably safe for me to guesstimate that roughly 25 to 30% of our total work is with remote consulting. Where we don't, we're not on the farm every couple of weeks or once a month or whatever the appropriate timing might be. We might be on the farm once a year or in some cases for really long distance. We might only be there every couple of years, although that doesn't happen very often anymore as our team has grown. So the scope of our work within AEA is we focus on working with, working on large scale commercial production operations and we want to work with people who desire to make a difference, who want to produce healthier, higher quality product. And this, this is a bit harsh, may sound a bit harsh. We have become known as a company in the, over the last 10 years as a company that is able to produce some, in some cases very dramatic yield responses. But quite frankly, the things that we care about are much bigger than just focusing on yield. Most important of all, of course, is farmer profitability. And sometimes, I would say not sometimes, but in most cases actually profitability and yield do not correlate. They don't track with each other. There's more to that conversation, quality parameters and input costs and so forth. And so we want to work with people who care about more than just yield. If the only parameter for success that you have is yield, then we may not be the right fit for you. Even though we have that reputation of being a high yield producing company because we actually care about producing higher quality, improving soil health and all these other pieces that come along with improved plant health and with the higher yields that happen with our regenerative agriculture approach. So I wanted to provide just a quick overview of how does AEA consulting work? What is the type of information that we collect? What's the type of information and recommendations that we make in return? The key point is that when you begin considering a regenerative agriculture system, the key word in that phrase is a system, it is not possible for us to be able to produce the changes we want to see and the changes that you want to see by focusing only on a Very specific segment of recommendations. So for that reason, we do not make recommendations just for trace minerals or just for biologicals, or just for soil amendments, or just for irrigation water quality or just for cover crops, but in fact for all of those and even more, including cultural management practices and so forth. So the conversations that our consultants have with growers, when we look at this entire system, they begin by assessing where you are now, what are your historical applications, historical disease and insect challenges and this everything of as it is at this moment. And then we will make recommendations for things that need to be added, such as cover crops or biologicals or nutrients. And very importantly, we will also make recommendations for things to be subtracted. And we had an interesting conversation just a couple of days ago where we actually, for a period of time decided not to work with a farm. And we are now starting to work with them again. But we decided not to work with a farm because they were unwilling to discontinue doing some things and specifically putting on high applications of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. And we were uncomfortable continuing with that dynamic because we know that we cannot produce high yield responses and quality responses simply by adding more that in some of these cases we actually had to stop or reduce doing some of the things that we had been doing in the past to produce a positive difference. So the scope of the process of taking this entire system into consideration, we look at some of the initial information that we look for is we look at what's the soil's soil profile, chemistry, geology, structure, biology, how do all those pieces look, how well are they working together, if it's appropriate, depending on the context, we look at irrigation water quality, then we look at actual plant absorbed nutrients as measured by plant SAP analysis, where that is appropriate and if the timing is correct. And then we also, and this is very important, we look at what are the historical disease and insect challenges and what are the historical management practices in terms of cultural management, pruning, irrigation management, fertilization practices, pesticide application practices and timing and so forth that could possibly be contributing to those historical disease and insect pressure. Then we also want to make a broad set of observations of what's actually happening and going on in the field. How are the plants expressing themselves? Do they have good vegetative versus reproductive balance? And what is the presence, the current presence of diseases in insects and the soil's physical characteristics and all of these various pieces. And from that, from that set of observations and that initial information, we make a broad set of recommendations that includes all of these different pieces and this is the foundational part, is that any company who wants to present itself as a regenerative agriculture company, you can only have a truly regenerative approach. When you integrate all of these pieces into a complete system, you cannot be, you should not style yourself as a regenerative consultant or as a regenerative company and only be selling one product or only a handful of products. Because the reality is it takes the entire system to work together to produce the results that we want to see and to create the change and improve quality and yields in our crops that we need to produce improved profitability. So that's kind of the very rapid, high level overview of the type of information that we are looking for and the type of information and recommendations that we then give in return. And just for clarification, Advancing Eco Agriculture started originally as a consulting company only. We did not have products when we first began. That shifted in the 2009 through 2012 time period. We started doing a lot of testing in R and D and started developing our own products. And today we have fit into the mainstream agricultural model where we make deep consulting recommendations. And a part of those recommendations include AEA products and that is how we get paid, that's how we pay our bills. But it's worth noting, I'm not aware there might be other companies that do the work similar to what we do. If there are, I don't know of them. But our recommendations are much broader than just for AEA products. We want to, we need to have insights and be able to make recommendations for other fertilizer applications. Only accurate way to consistently produce the changes we want to see is to work it works, work with it as an entire system. So with that quick overview I want you to be able to hear from David who actually has the most hands on experience the last decade of actually making remote consulting work. So thanks David for being here. I'm turning it over to you.

All right, thank you John and good afternoon or morning or evening to all of you, depending where you're watching from. I'm David Miller and I think it's in remote consulting. It's valuable for people to know their consultant in more ways than just that they work for this or that company. So I'm going to take just a minute and share with you my story of how I got started with regenerative agriculture and why. 10 or 12 or however many years ago it was that John calculated I am still doing this. So when, when I was growing up, I would say probably in my early teens, my mom suffered from some illness that caused and manifested as an extreme headache and a chronic headache constantly. It was just really affecting our family. Through that and a chain of events, we were introduced to a nutritionist who was able to help us sort through our diet, which at that time we didn't really. Well, I guess we knew that what we eat, you know, affects our ability to stay alive. But there's kind of a dissonance with how food really affects who we are. So through that transition, we, we made significant changes to our diet. We made significant changes to our nutrient nutritional inputs and vitamins and etc. And because of that and seeing what it did for my mom, I became interested in health and I would say probably early 20s. I was at a soil conference where this was gardening based and the presenter made the comment that according to USDA studies, we're getting about a third of the nutrition in our food as compared to what we did a couple a century ago. And he framed it in a way that we need to eat three apples to get the same nutrition our great grandparents got from one apple. And there was something about that statement that made me really stop and consider, you know, how can this be possible? And then why, why is it that the food quality and the nutrient density is degrading at such a steep trajectory and continuing that trajectory. It seems like my great grandchildren would need to eat bushels of apples to get what my great grandfather got from one. So, you know, from my perspective, looking ahead and looking back, there's a huge contrast. And it was that very thing that caused me to try to understand what is happening and through a series of events got connected with John and, and from there, well, we won't go into that story because that's not what we're here today. But it's been a good journey.

So.

Remote consulting and working with growers when we're not able to be there on a weekly basis or even on a monthly basis. When I, when I first started working with, with aea, that was really the only option that we had because it was John and myself and myself and John and those were, that was our consultant team. That's really all that we had. And there were, as the company grew from being a small regional company in Ohio and surrounding Amish communities to national company where John was being recognized and the information was connecting with large commercial growers, we needed to be able to communicate that to those growers as well. So the first mission that I was on was in a blueberry operation in Oregon and there was a weekly phone call set up and we started working with plant SAP analysis at about the same time. And so I was consulting with that operation for four years, five years actually, before I ever set foot on the farm. So the grower would send me emails or text with images and we were able to increase production significantly, improve quality tremendously and, and help him with his goal of harvesting his blueberries or reducing the number of harvest rounds that he needed to do to get his whole crop. In fact, on the one variety, we were able to reduce his number of picks from four down to one. And that one pick yielded 95% of the fruit. So he got pretty much all of the fruit and 90% or more, I think it was like 97 or 98% of that was a great fruit. So that was one of the amazing feats that we accomplished there. And I never got to actually walk that farm. So we can successfully help you reach your goals and increase your profitability and not be there. Now I say that and the ideal scenario is still that we are there. But what we're communicating today is that we, we have had lots of success and we have learned a lot about what it takes to work together with commercial scale growers and help them begin or move along wherever they are on their regenerative journey. We can meet you where you are in and walk with you to the next level. John touched just a bit on the history of the consulting and as he said, the company started as a consulting company and I would suggest that we have kept a very strong consulting part in our way of communicating and our way of interacting with, with customers. And the consulting, the product coming in was really a part of the consulting. Us not being able to consult effectively or all the way with not being able to supply the growers or the growers having difficulty finding the materials and materials that work together to accomplish the results that we felt should be able to be accomplished. And so that's where the products came in. But really we've continued with a very strong consulting emphasis. As John outlined. We look at the information, the data is important, but probably even more important is the observations from the grower. We can look at soil analysis and if you have, if you weren't on the webinar that we had last week, which that was more focused on Florida, but it's, it's a, the information is relevant for wherever you are. We looked at soil samples and we looked at how soil samples don't give you the whole picture. So when we look at soil analysis, when we look at SAP analysis data, you Know, we can look at a whole list of information, but it really takes observation from somebody on the ground, whether that's the grower or a consultant or scout that walks the fields. The observations and input from the grower is very important for us to understand fully the data and make sure that what we're seeing, the data is aligning with what we're seeing on in the field. And then we take those two and we put recommendations together. The farmer goes, makes the applications or puts into practice whatever the recommendations are and then we come back and in our weekly meetings or bi weekly meetings or even monthly meetings, it really depends on what a grower is looking for, the scale of his operation and the intensity of, of the crop that we're working with. We have a regularly scheduled meeting and a remote consultant or consultant team. We've begun working a lot more in teams, which is possible when you have, when you're working remotely because you don't have all of the travel time. So in most of the meetings I am, I'm a part of working with my clients in New Mexico, in Arizona, in California, in Florida. We work as a team. So there's always two people. And we also have other forms of communication like text messages or WhatsApp messages. And there again we have a group where two of the consultants are working together. And that way if one consultant isn't able to respond immediately, the other one knows and understands what's happening. And so by working together like that, it's, it's been, it's been amazing to see what can be accomplished in, and how closely we can work together with the distance, which is just mind boggling how, how we can communicate today compared to even 10 years ago. When we started, you know, Zoom was not a thing. And so we were not, we were not all of the consulting at that time was just via phone. So it's, it's really been empowering to have the ability to do video conferencing. It really brings a closer connection and has worked really well. So we'll look at, we'll look at the soil data, will make recommendations for soil amendments and then throughout the season the grower will collect the SAP analysis and we help the grower with all of the logistics in sending those directly to the lab. The results come back and then we graph them out either by different crop, by different fields or over time so that we're able to, we're able to then have our weekly conversation and we just put a short little clip in here so you can get a little bit of an idea, how the conversations work and how it's very much a back and forth and you know, the grower has observations, I have observations. And then with that we look at what is the goal we want to accomplish, where are we in critical points of influence, what is it that needs to happen in the next two weeks and how do we accomplish that and stay within the budget, et cetera. So listen, in.

Wet block, it's only been watered irrigated four times since it's been planted. So it's kind of an anomalous block to start with. But what I see there is definite trends.

Yeah, and, and the interesting thing here.

Is that Block 8, 9, you know, are trending at the same cycle. So, so none of these at. Well, so this one you had, you had just a constant supply of nitrogen out there. On this one you had, you know, whatever T shield, etc. But your nitrogen spikes are up and down at the same point.

We also had the 3 tons of chicken manure underneath them too. So I would compare that to a slower release fertilizer based on tea.

Yes, good point, good point.

It's only been watered irrigated.

So as you can see, it's very much a dialogue back and forth. I make an observation and it's been very fun and we have a lot of fun on these calls to then take also those data and look year over year. And it's been, we just had that happen again here recently where we were looking at year over year data and trends started showing up that actually pointed back to a cultural practice. And so it was not about us recommending a certain product. We could have applied product to the moon. I mean, it would have been futile to pour on the amount of calcium and we were putting on a significant amount of calcium. But by looking at this data and having consistent data trends so that we can compare one year to the next year, we were able to identify that it's not so much the amount of nutrients or minerals in the soil and or what's in the applications as the soil moisture consistency. And so now this year we're going to be shifting the irrigation pattern and we'll see what happens this year. But theoretically, if our hypothesis is correct, we're going to have much better nutrient availability and we would have never seen it did we not have a consistent data set that we were able to look at year over year. So it's a lot of fun when we start looking at these things. And this is also a lot of fun. You know, just throughout the week we Have a weekly or monthly or a bi weekly meeting depending on, depending on the scenario. But then there's, you know, then there's text communication. It's like, hey, why are the weeds on the outside bigger than you know? Then in the row and you look at where the concentration of the nutrients and the mycorrhizal fungi have been, have been applied and you know, it's, hey, you know, James Johnson has worms in the soil. It's like, I haven't ever seen worms like this. And in one shovel full there's four like, wow. And so there's a lot of back and forth and a lot of even personal things. Like we, it's, it's a, it's a relationship that we built. So these are just a couple examples of how we interact on a day to day basis and how in touch we are with the grower and how much you can seek guidance, direction or just input. And it is never us telling you what you have to do. It is us looking at the scenario and looking at all the other experiences we've had over the 12 years that we've been consulting. And then drawing from that and drawing from the team that works with people from Pacific Northwest to Florida and New York to California and everywhere in between with almost any crop that you could name. We've worked with it to a greater or a lesser degree. And we will do a lot of that drawing together where, you know, what do you all think about this? We have a place where we communicate as a group and there's hardly a day that goes by that one of the consultants on the team doesn't say, hey, have any of you ever seen this? What about this? What's this? And there's immediate feedback from all of that. My pleasure to introduce to you Kish Johnson, Rachelle Robertson and Jason Stoll, who are the three primary remote consultants that work very closely with myself and then with other consultants. So I think probably every consultant on the team does, you know, has some remote consulting, but the majority of the consultants work regionally where they are in the field and that's ideal. We really like that. But by working remotely, we are able to take very good people who have a deep level of passion and interest in what we're doing and work with growers who maybe are the first in their community to step on this regenerative journey. And then we built that out and then we bring people in from that specific region and that's how we, that's how the, you know, how the local areas spring up. So you know, come and let's, let's do some remote consulting and then you'll bring your neighbor and then, you know, after. And since we have. Since we grown and become a larger team, we do a lot more initial farm visits where we'll come. Well, you know, we'll dig the soil, we'll smell the soil, we'll get a good feel for the crops. Well, you know, we'll shake your hand, we'll be there and kind of start that relationship initially in person. And then, you know, then the majority of it will be remote. And then we'll maybe make one farm visit during the season. So. And the way that grows is, you know, you can then invite people and then as an area grows and there's enough product need and consulting need to make sense logistically, and then we just build a warehouse from there and it continues to grow. So just because you're getting remote consultation today doesn't mean that you will always be. Our goal is to be able to provide service and products to our customers as efficiently as possible, wherever you are. So the conversation. If a consultant shows up on your farm, you're most, you know, you will likely stop the tractor, the consultant will ride with you in the tractor. But when we're remote consulting, it's important that you, as the grower are in the field, are digging plants, are, you know, counting earthworms, are making observations that you can pass back to the consultant. So if a grower is not able to engage in that way, the level of success is likely to be lower and it's going to be more difficult in that relationship. So we really encourage that. You, as the grower, are very much engaged in the process, and your level of success depends on your ability and willingness to be out there and bring information back. And I covered that. We work as a team. Another. Another good point that's on this is that, you know, there's. We've had people join our company and start working with us who had worked with other companies, not even specifically nutritional input companies, but companies where they were expected to go on a farm and sell a specific product regardless of if the farmer needed that product or not. And we never have any specific products that. That we get a list and we say, you know, these are overstocked and you guys need to go sell this. That's not at all. We never have that and never will have that because what we are here for is to help you make choices on what's going to be most efficient and most effective to accomplish the goals on your operation. Only serving in North America. We intentionally put this out and there's been a lot of requests for us to serve in other places besides North America. And I just wanted to communicate this, that today we are only consulting in North America. And one of the significant reasons is that when John built the products, he built them in a unique way that the couple of times I've tried consulting with standard chemistry products, it's very, very difficult to put it together because you, the understanding of how the products are put together and also the products really don't embody some of those unique regenerative principles and concepts. And so one of the reasons that we have just stayed here is that very reason is because we can't be in every country, everywhere. And we, we have so much to do here that we're not looking to just put another feather in our hat and say we're, you know, we're a global company, but we want to service every customer where they are and serve them well. Now that does not mean that we'll never be a global company. And not that we don't want to be really, but it is that we are looking to serve our customers that we have today. And if you are here and you are not yet one of those people that's being consulted with by aea, then this message is for you. We're here to serve you where you are. We're looking to grow America and we're looking to grow globally as we, as those growers come up.

David, may I check in on that?

Yeah, go ahead.

David raises a very important point. At this moment in time, and this is now the year 2021, at this moment in time, we are not doing international work. We expect that to change in the future. But the reason we are not doing much international work is because we have developed a reputation as a company for, for delivering results, for being high performing. And this is a reputation that we guard very carefully and very jealously. And that reputation is not just for the consulting by itself, but for the consulting associated with the products. And we have attempted in the past multiple times to do consulting without the products. And we're able to get some responses, but we're not able to get anywhere near the responses that we're able to get with AEA products. And there's any number of reasons for this. But for example, if we're to start working with a grower internationally and then make recommendations to say, okay, you need to make foliar applications of manganese and molybdenum and zinc and boron along with calcium and so forth, they put on a foliar application. And we don't see the crop response that we expect or that we anticipate. And we don't see the SAP analysis respond the way that we anticipate. And so we tried to make the application again, perhaps with a heavier application rate. And after two or three applications, we discover that the manganese product that we're using, even though on the label it looks like it is appropriate, like it should work, is not being effective, it's not being absorbed by the crop. And the same is true of the calcium product or whatever the case might be. And so you end up losing a season, sometimes more simply identifying good products that are effective in the local marketplace. And then by the time, what our experience has been so far is that most of the time we actually can't find any products of a certain category, of a certain type that growers need. So growers might not be able to find molybdenum or cobalt at all, period. And we know that those are imperative to produce some of the crop responses that we're looking for. So having had this experience multiple times makes us very cautious to begin working with growers without our products. With that being said, if there are growers or if there is a large scale local interest in any country around the world, then we're certainly open to considering the possibility going there with our products. But at this point, we're very uncomfortable attempting to have a conversation about consulting only disassociated from products because we know that results are not going to be the same. And that's not a position that we're comfortable being in at this point.

Great, thank you, John. Oh, that's question. So it's your turn.

It's everyone's turn. David wasn't talking to me. He wasn't saying it's my turn. He was saying that it's you as the attendees of the audience, your turn. Thanks for that. Thanks for that review and overview, David. And one piece that I will add to the discussion. David hasn't really gone into the details very much. He's given a very general overview of the process of having standing weekly or monthly calls on video conferences. But it's really there. There is a constant stream of communication that happens between the grower and the AEA team. And what David hasn't really communicated are the successes that he has experienced. And so when you think about, and for those of you who are regular listeners to our work here at aea, you've probably heard of Greg Pennyroyal in California and his work on wine grapes. You've probably heard of James Johnson in New Mexico, and you may or may not have heard of our work with strawberry growers in Florida, and you may or may not have heard of Jason Stahl's work with grain farmers on the Canadian plains. But these are all growers who have experienced really remarkable successes, remarkable turnarounds in improving yields and reducing inputs. All of those have been remote consulting. And today, as our team has grown, as our company has grown, remote consulting doesn't mean that we are never on the farm, but it means we are not on the farm regularly. So, David, how many times have you visited Greg Pennyroyall over the last five years that you've worked with him?

That's actually one of the farms that I have not yet set foot on.

And yet Greg is experiencing amazing successes. How about with James Johnson? You've worked with him now for two years, one year.

This is the. This would be the third onion crop. So, yeah, two, two and a half seasons I have been there. Well, on the initial visit before we were working with him, and then two.

Other times, three times total, roughly one time per year, approximately.

Yeah.

So those are the successes that are really possible. And I think, particularly in the world that we live in now in 2021, where travel is a bit more challenging and a bit more difficult, has been for the last year. This is the point that I would like to make is this is something that is particularly appropriate at this moment in history, but it is something that we have become really good at over the last decade. This is not something that's new for us. It's something that we've done very well for quite some time. So there are several questions that have come in. David, if you can drop the screen share and we'll go through some of the questions that are here. Question from Zach. How do I get a hat? Talk to your AEA rep, Zach. That's a great question. We might even have better swag than just a hat. A couple of questions here about working with. Growers in Europe, and one of them, Sebastian. Hi, Sebastian. I know that it depends on using products at aea. So the key question is, for us as a company, Sebastian, is we need to. We need to have a good understanding of what the local demand is for our products in local country that justify the cost of going through all the regulatory hoops and hurdles that require getting our products into a foreign company, into a foreign country. So that's certainly something that we're open to. But we need to understand what the local market opportunity is before we just dive into that. And an awesome testimonial. Those are always fun. Thank you Eric. From Eric Crawford. The AEA products have completely changed the growth of my small orchard and vegetables. We have fruit set like I have never seen before. I'm amazed by the difference the products have made. Thank you for your advice and products. So Eric, I want to say thank you for the testimonial and also thank you for figuring out how to apply the knowledge and the information that we have shared on a small scale and adapting it for you. That's something that we're unable given the economic constraints of being able to pay employees well, pay consultants well. It's difficult for us to provide the in depth consulting that is really needed to small scale growers because we would quickly go bankrupt if we did that exclusively. And so as a counterpoint to that, we share a lot of information very freely with the podcast, the webinars and so forth and we ask that people kind of figure it out and figure out how to make it work. And you've done that very well. So thank you for being a great customer. We appreciated. There's a question, could you please share your contact information? You can find that on our website@advancingecoag.com you can sign up for our newsletter there. And question from Zach, as a new farmer, how would you advise or guide someone to get started? All Also, is there a size limit in the farm? So Zach, I would suggest if you want to get started working with aea, then reach out to our customer service team. You can just call the 800 number and they're there to answer the phone all the time or send an email to infoancinecoag.com and we would be happy to connect with you and help make that happen for you.

One last yes, David, just your answer. Zach's second question here and maybe Zach can clarify, but I'm wondering if Zach is asking where he can get a hat like you have on today. And not so much.

It's known as an Amish hat and I'm not sure if I can direct you anywhere online. I'm not sure that they're sold online. You, you have to come to Amish country in Middlefield, Ohio or down by David's area in Holmes County, Ohio to find them to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for the clarification David. We've got one last question which is are you able to share the technical details of your products? And we do have product tech sheets and safety data sheets and labels on our website. You have to do a little bit of digging to find them. When you get to the products page, you can click on those products and you should be able to find all of the technical details for those products that you can submit to your organic certifier or to whoever needs that documentation. So I want to.