The agricultural industry has drastically changed over the last 50 years due to advances in technology. From machinery used to harvest crops to monitoring and predicting what plants are going to do and what they need are just a few of the advances that have been made. Although, there have been many technology advancements made in agriculture, many farmers in the cannabis industry still find themselves without a solution to specific needs. We meet up with Shawn Cutter, who is focusing on how to make technologies easier for growers. Listen as Shawn shares with us some of the struggles with technology and solutions that he is working on.
Video Transcription
Harry Brelsford
Hey everybody, I’m with Sean cutter. And Sean, I want to be the first to congratulate you. You appeared on the marijuana venture magazine list of leading Canna tech influencers. So you made the cut. Congratulations.
Shawn Cutter
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Harry Brelsford
So, talk to me. I looked at your LinkedIn profile. Love it, you start about yourself, I am a geek. So let’s pick it up from there. And then we’ll tie it into cannabis.
Shawn Cutter
Well, I like solving problems with technology. But really started, started my started life as a farmer growing up on a farm and also in oil and gas. I’ve spent a great deal of time in the technology industry. And doing that, along with the energy industry. The cannabis industry looks similar in that it’s a value stream and in and so Cedar Valley Farms was built, built and born out of the idea of hemp being a cash crop, a transition crop for farmers. And there’s a heavy technology arm of Cedar Valley Farms that is making it happen. Yeah,
Harry Brelsford
yeah. So what what what’s, what’s next in the in the cannabis technology area for you? Seems like you’re you’re always kind of doing something just looking over your resume. Yeah,
Shawn Cutter
we’re focused on right now how do we make technology easier for growers? And that’s primarily in the automation and control space within cultivation. So how do you measure, monitor and predict what plants are going to do what they need in in ultimately, even when you know what they need? A lot of times farmers are without a solution to go find those things. How do you make that easier? If we make farmers and growers more successful? You know, that’s a it’s a good thing for planning.
Harry Brelsford
Yeah. Do you serve adjacent industries, you know, out on the West Coast, a lot of people who are involved in the wine industry is a very easy transition to get into cannabis.
Shawn Cutter
No, actually, we we’ve moved from the other end of the spectrum, family is traditional agriculture. My younger brother and has really been spearheading a transition over the last decade, modernizing the the farm operation. So traditional corn, soybeans, this HAMP is a way of transitioning the farm to organic practices provides a different different revenue stream for farmers that may feel stuck with the traditional agricultural approach.
Harry Brelsford
Yeah, that’s interesting, because my first career if you will, Microsoft Windows servers and traditional infrastructure. A really good friend of mine who’s a thought leader in that space is actually a farmer in Iowa. Right? So he’s kind of got a couple things going on. And he was talking about and he is a pretty conservative guy, you know, says it’s fun to have this conversation with, like, wow, I didn’t expect that conversation. But he’s very matter of fact that a lot of the farmers in his area and I work cutting over to him.
Shawn Cutter
Yeah, it Yeah, it has opportunity, but there are still headwinds, you you still are not able to feed hemp fiber to an animal that’s eaten by a person you know, these are like regulations that need to be solved. So you’re not just harvesting the hemp for one thing. You have alternatives for the you know, the the the waste that that is currently thrown away.
Harry Brelsford
All right. Well, good. Congratulations. And feel free to put that on your your LinkedIn profile your resume. My I
Shawn Cutter
will. I will. I appreciate it.
Harry Brelsford
Thanks a lot. Take care. Have a great day.
Shawn Cutter
All right.
