Autonomous Tractors Revolutionize Specialty Crops With Precision Navigation

Key Quotes

"Tim went off to college started out studying agriculture but switched to computer science and after he graduated he founded a string of companies one of them he sold to Microsoft another he sold to Apple but all along he kept farming on the side and eventually his farming life and his tech life came together as just kind of a weekend side project on the farm he and a few friends built on autonomous tractor that weekend side project has now turned into a company powering autonomous tractors across the western U.S. and parts of Australia."

This quote highlights Tim Bucher's unique journey, bridging his agricultural roots with a successful career in technology. It establishes how his dual passions led to the development of Agtonomy, demonstrating a practical application of tech innovation in farming. The narrative shows a progression from a "weekend side project" to a company with significant operational reach.

"So you go off to college uh study agriculture davis as a California farm kid does right and did I hear you say in another interview that you lost a bet and as a result of losing the bet had to take a computer science class uh yes you heard right what was the bet Let's just say it was out of a fraternity party so it might have involved you know it might have involved beer I don't know I like that it's a drunken fraternity party that leads you into a career as a computer scientist like that is an interesting combination yeah it was the it was the greatest bet I ever lost but it but what was interesting though that I I all my friends growing up their last names were segaccia Fappiano Bacchigalupi Gallo like these are incredible grape growing and winemaking families back in the 70s even and I would always go over to their places to you know help them because that's what play dates were back then is you basically went over to your friend's farm and worked with them and I would learn how to prune grapes and even make wine and I was fascinated by that industry like incredibly fascinated by the growing of grapes so you know I went to UC Davis for agriculture uh and yes I lost a bet um and took a class in a 500 person auditorium now keep in mind I didn't grow up with any technology I mean like tractors that was about it um but the professor started talking and I'm in the last row and the professor started talking and everything he was saying I understood and it just kind of hit me and by the end of that quarter you see davis is on the quarter system I was up front teaching the class and so I knew something happened like I found a passion like the passion I had for agriculture and so I had a decision to make is do I do I go the agriculture route or do I go this computer science route or this you know high tech route and I said you know what I'm going to do both"

Tim Bucher explains how a seemingly trivial event, losing a bet at a fraternity party, led him to discover a profound passion for computer science. This quote illustrates the serendipitous nature of career paths and how unexpected detours can lead to significant discoveries of talent and interest. Bucher's narrative emphasizes that his initial exposure to computer science, despite his agricultural background, resonated deeply, prompting him to pursue both fields.

"There's already lots of autonomous equipment for row crops like corn and wheat and soybeans but as you'll hear specialty crops present a particularly tricky set of challenges Tim and I talked about the big picture about what autonomy will mean for farming and for food but to start I asked him about how he got from farming to computer science in the first place so you go off to college uh study agriculture davis as a California farm kid does right and did I hear you say in another interview that you lost a bet and as a result of losing the bet had to take a computer science class uh yes you heard right"

This quote sets up the core problem that Agtonomy aims to solve: the difficulty of automating specialty crops compared to row crops. It highlights the distinction between broad-acre farming, which has seen significant automation, and the more complex needs of crops like grapes and olives. The speaker, Jacob Goldstein, frames the conversation around this specific challenge, indicating its importance to the episode's narrative.

"So when you think about permanent crops which is a huge percentage value wise of our food supply the permanent crops you're talking about trees and vines that are very very expensive they take many years to develop and so if you hit them it's kind of a big deal it's kind of expensive and you have to get really close to them so you're not talking about being in an open field where you can be you know plus or minus half a meter you're talking about being like one inch away from you know the trunks of these trees and if you accidentally move you know abruptly or or you know don't steer correctly uh you're going to hit it so you can't rely on kind of the things that you can rely on in broad acre farming and the row crop farming so there needed to be more advanced technology and thankfully due to all the attention and investments that were being made in you know the autonomous passenger vehicle world that technology started to become uh available you know call it maybe less than a decade ago"

Tim Bucher explains the critical difference in automation challenges between row crops and permanent crops. He emphasizes the high value and long development time of permanent crops like trees and vines, which necessitates extreme precision in autonomous operations. Bucher points out that unlike broad-acre farming, where a meter of error is acceptable, permanent crop farming requires inch-level accuracy to avoid costly damage, driving the need for more advanced technology.

"The chairman the chairman of our company uh the chairman of the board is Jim Meyer he's the former CEO of Sirius XM aha okay yeah and by the way he's he's brilliant at business and he really helps shape this kind of business model"

This quote introduces Jim Meyer, the former CEO of Sirius XM, as the chairman of Agtonomy's board. The speaker highlights Meyer's business acumen and his significant role in shaping Agtonomy's business model. This suggests that Agtonomy is leveraging experienced leadership from other industries to drive its strategy, particularly in areas like subscription services, drawing parallels to Sirius XM's model.

"I view it as a combination but there is one thing that I will tell you very very clearly and your listeners and I tell my teammates uh probably every day if not every week um you know it's all about show me don't tell me and that particularly applies to these industrial markets the best way to sell industrial equipment and this is what dealers do is you know here Susie Farmer take this piece of equipment and use it for a day and she'll take that piece of equipment use it on her ranch on her farm whatever and inevitably she will buy it because she gets to try you know before so I think I think the show me mentality is really really important in this era um and in agtech in particular because there've been some companies that have been developed by pure tech people and pure tech people you know telling farmers that you know we can farm better than you is not a good recipe for success right and so by focusing on