Unleashing Creativity: Navigating AI in Farming and Beyond

Emily: [00:00:00] How can this be leveraged to help me move forward faster to help me get, access to farmland faster? That’s what energizes me so much.

 You’re listening to the e a place where we dive deep into the question of accessing land and capital to start a farm You see I’m right alongside my listeners working to start a farm of my own within 

the. next five years. And At the same time I’ve had a huge travel bug since i was in community College back in november of Twenty Twenty three i sold all of my belongings and became a digital nomad working as a remote Consultant in food systems planning with clients mostly en the upper Midwest in the United states and i took my mic with me as i from india Australia costa rica digging into stories around mental health and Wellbeing personal Growth holistic business development and more.

You see, my hunch is that while folks are looking at technical Solutions [00:01:00] to help the next generation access land capital to their farm such as tax incentives and land access databases the change that we’re seeking has a lot more to do with the nonmaterial and in my own experiences my life changed when i started to shift my thoughts.

and therefore my reality That why in this podcast, we dive deep in topic like manifestation energy and spirit there’s no topic off the table and I’m so excited you join me in this Journey as i continue to travel follow my curiosity explore. the parts of farming that are a bit more taboo and tender. 

 This episode of the transcen es sponsored by Compeer Financial a a member-owned farm credit cooperative providing financial products and services to support agriculture and rural communities in Illinois Minnesota and Wisconsin Compeer Financial is the third largest cooperative in the farm credit system. Based in the upper Midwest with 31.9 billion dollars in total assets They take a forward thinking approach to provide innovative [00:02:00] customized financial solutions and expertise to meet the unique needs and dreams. of those they 

serve. 

Emily: Contact Sai Thao, Senior Lending specialist at 6 1 2 5 9 7 4 0 8 6 

or by email at sai.thao that’s S A I dot T H A O at compeer Compeer Financial is an equal opportunity employer and provider and an equal credit opportunity lender

Yo Yoyo Transcendent Farmers. Welcome back to another episode of the Transcendent Farmer Podcast. I hope that you are keeping it real out there. Big shout out to my Minnesota farmers. I know that you make up a large percentage of my audience, so thank you as always for listening.

I know you guys are just getting hyped right now because the temperatures are rising. It’s very exciting. I feel it even on these zoom calls that I’m in when I’m halfway across the world, not really, but further south where it’s, much toastier for most of the year.[00:03:00] 

It’s just so interesting how there’s this like tangible frenzy and excitement once the temperatures start warming up there. It’s just, it’s so evident from everyone that’s out there.

I am currently recording from San Miguel de Allende, still working on this whole finding access to a recording studio. I think that as of this week, I now have a place that I’ll be recording from. You will notice that most of the future recordings are still gonna be things that I had recorded from.

Previous months though, I’ve got about six months of content, lots of interviews I’ve been doing, and I’m just working on getting those in the queue and really trying to up my game in terms of getting the audio quality to the point where this becomes an award winning podcast in which is super exciting.

I just connected to an audio engineer last week who is freelancing and used to work for some of these really big companies doing just that. So I’m hopeful that I’m gonna get some assistance in turning some of these [00:04:00] recordings into some really engaging and dynamic episodes for all of you, because there’s.

A point at which I have reached my limits in terms of my technical capacity. So I’m excited to be able to share some of that with you moving forward.

One of the things that I haven’t necessarily shared with folks is what my own farm dream looks like. It’s funny because I’ve shared a lot of my observations of tons of farms and food systems initiatives that I’ve visited. All over the globe, and I’ve been collecting ideas, but I haven’t necessarily done a great job of painting the picture of what my own farm dream looks like.

So I wanted to give you an update, like what does that look like for me now, especially considering how many different places that I have seen. So I really imagine this being a place where anyone who walks onto my property. Feels the love that has been put into it immediately, right? Like it’s just this feeling within their body that it is a safe place for them to be [00:05:00] themselves and to heal from the inside out.

I imagine this being a multifaceted agritourism operation that caters to both locals and international visitors. With kind of the following buckets so far, this is what I have in mind on herbal medicine slash apothecary where we grow the plants and then we turn them into medicine. I’m currently in an herbal medicine diploma program in Leon.

It’s a six month program and Mexican traditional medicine is the name of this diploma program, and it’s really exciting. I feel like it’s such a cool way to be learning about my own traditions and cultures and something that I wanna be able to pass on to other people. Create space for them to teach each other

and really just kind of grow the number of people who are healing themselves and working to heal others. I also wanna be offering educational classes that are focused on personal growth and wellness studio space for teaching yoga and Latin dance workshops or classes, as well as [00:06:00] a studio for recording the podcast that is open to the public for reservations.

And then I’m considering an onsite cafe or some kind of social space where we grow most of the food prepared and have enough space to host community events. I recognize that this is no small mission, right? But I have seen enough operations that are massive in scale that this feels totally reasonable to me, and I don’t expect to do it all myself.

I do expect to build a team of people around me that believe in the healing power of nature, food, dance, storytelling, and no, I do not yet know where this is going to take place. PS, most folks in Mexico have told me not to buy here because of the corruption of the local government, which is really sad.

And no, I don’t have enough money to put down on a property yet, but what I’m doing now I know, is preparing me for everything to come. So most listeners know by now that I didn’t grow up on a farm. I’m right alongside you trying to fit these different [00:07:00] puzzle pieces together to understand how to make my farming dream a reality, how to build a financial foundation that will support me to start building this vision without so much stress and pressure to get it right the first time.

I’d rather enjoy the process and not be dependent on the revenue for my operation in year one. And I’d also prefer to have my startup funds come from something that I’ve built rather than a huge operating loan, for example, from a local bank. Lastly, no, I don’t have a business plan, but I do know that I have access to the tools that I need to whip something out in a couple of hours.

Which brings me to today’s topic, the conscious use of creativity in an AI-frenzied world. So I’m just curious, does anyone else feel like this whole AI thing is causing a dichotomy between those who are like gung-ho AI users and those who are still deciding if they wanna use Facebook or not? It’s just a, it’s so interesting to me because I feel like we’re in this, this [00:08:00] unique moment in technological history.

That for me at least, it’s way more interesting than any other boom or advent in tech since I was born. So for those nineties babies out there, you remember hit clips, Walkmans to listen to your CDs on the go? Yes. I was one of those people that had practically a saddle bag for my CD player. It was a time when you could lose your shit because the cords to your tech would get caught in stuff, hung up on door handles as you’re walking around the house, armchair in the hallways.

That’s actually how I broke one of my laptops, and there was honestly a level of slowness in that point in history that I can now appreciate as in loading speeds on your computer were so slow that you’d click to open a browser window, then you’d go move your laundry along just in time to start downloading songs from Napster.

Yes. I do remember those days when we searched the internet for the songs we liked, we put them on a CD and we made mixed [00:09:00] tapes for ourselves and friends, or I guess mixed CDs. There was a time when people made tapes too. That kind of passed me by. Now it’s a little less sexy when you’re like, Hey boyfriend, I really like you, so I put together this curated Spotify playlist. You are not handing them a physical thing, you’re just sending them a link. And to me, I honestly think that’s super lame. So in a lot of ways.

We’ve come really far since the days of MP three players, the first Gen I pod, other relics of the early two thousands that feel ancient to others.

And I feel that now more than ever, there’s this question of ethics and creativity that’s coming up over and over again in conversations that I’m having with friends, colleagues, family members about the use of ai. Just as I talk about in the workshops that I’ve been offering to farmers over the last couple months, teaching them how to use AI tools to help streamline their grant search and writing process, business and marketing plan development.

I think that having your own set of ethics and rules when it’s, [00:10:00] most appropriate to use this technology when it’s not thinking through the intended unintended consequences. It is paramount to ensure that we don’t lose what makes creative and brilliant people different and stand out from the crowd and worth paying attention to.

This is such a hot topic and was so eloquently described by my fellow podcaster. Laura Ubate. Shout out to you girl for creating an incredible video podcast. I will link that in the show notes in her final presentation. This past week as part of the Amplify Podcasting Accelerator Fellowship program that we had been involved in for the last couple of months.

So what she really emphasized was this idea of quality over quantity. And it’s such a good point because I feel like I. My assumptions have changed about what kinds of information I have access to, how much information I have, access to, what kinds of resources I can create for myself and for others. And one of the biggest skills that I feel [00:11:00] any AI user is going to need to get really good at is analyzing information and continuing to focus on quality versus quantity.

I also believe that farmers are some of the most creative people out there. They’re scrappy, they build equipment on their farm from scratch in an effort to make more efficient workflows and processes for repetitive tasks. And they aren’t afraid to put in the work to figure things out. So I wanted to think about in the context of AI and sustainable farming land and resource access for aspiring farmers, what are five ways

That you can leverage this technology without losing yourself? Your voice, your ingenuity, your personal brand, and what can often feel like an increasingly fake and AI frenzy world. So here’s my list. Number one, research. Number two, idea generation. Number three, data analysis. Number four, strategy of any kind really.

And then number [00:12:00] five, lifestyle tips and hacks. So as a framing for this, I just wanted to set this up thinking about from my perspective, who are the people who are going to get the best use out of this technology? I think it is, first of all, those that are driven to take initiative. Secondly, those that have strong critical thinking skills because you have to keep looking at stuff and really analyzing, like

does this actually make sense for what I am generating the information? Next those with a design thinking mindset, because you usually don’t settle with the first answer you get, like you keep iterating until you have something that works. So as someone who is using AI on a daily basis, in my business, I feel like these themes are the things that I’ve taken away as just consistently, how am I using this technology to move forward faster in getting the information that I need, creating ideas, whatever, right?

So I wanna give you some [00:13:00] examples of how I’ve been using this to potentially spur some ideas for your own work. So number one. Research, why is this helpful first, i’m gonna go through like, why is this helpful for each category, and then I’ll explain some examples of what that has looked like for me in my business.

So with research, for example, I feel like Google is one thing. ChatGPT is another the way that you can feed in background information and context to chat GPT before you start asking questions can give you some really, really interesting results. And some of the things that I’ve done for my own work on the research front, for example, has been.

Competitor analysis, and I’ve done this both for myself and with my clients of understanding, For example, if I want to be building relationships with other podcasters, I need to know who else is in the podcast space that’s putting out content that is similar [00:14:00] to mine, but not exactly the same, and would be complimentary for me to go on for them to come onto my podcast.

 Maybe to do some kind of, I don’t know, , other collaboration.

So I put in a link to my podcast page and then I said, please generate a list of 15 other podcasts that are similar to this one.

And then I put in the URL to my webpage. I have a podcast description on there. I’ve got all the podcast titles on there. And then basically by putting in the URL, I’m providing context for ChatGPT to then research and pull that data and then start doing its own guidance.

 This episode of 

Emily: the Transcendent Farmer 

Podcast 

Emily: is 

sponsor by Massage Alchemy Botanicals and Turkey Road Farm products based en Cassleton, North Dakota, and owned by Shannon Radcliffe Beach. Shannon is Organic farmer herbalist Massage Therapist

and earth mother. Her mission is to promote health and wellness by connecting people with the healing power of plants. To achieve this, Shannon crafts herbal products and remedies made from

the herbs [00:15:00] and berries she grows on her farm as well as hosting events and classes that teach practical herbal knowledge and how to live more harmoniously with the cycles of nature Find out more about their products and services by visiting their website or following them on Facebook linkin Instagram, youtube. 

Emily: So that’s one example. Let’s move on to number two idea generation. So why can this be helpful? I feel like one of the most helpful things that idea generation or using chat GPT in particular. ’cause that’s the main tool that I’m using these days is in getting unstuck. I feel that there are so many times when there’s some kind of like tech thing that’s come up and I just can’t figure out how to navigate it.

And now I feel like my first thing, instead of just going to Google like I used to, now I’m walking through and trying to find specific examples or information that I can pull from chat GPT in order to figure out, how to work through whatever troubleshooting [00:16:00] thing it is.

Okay, so an example of this was just this morning when I was working with my assistant. Basically, she put together this really awesome spreadsheet because she was trying to wrap her head around all the different things that I do, who the target audience is for that, what specifically the need that I’m addressing with those things.

And then what’s sort of the transformation or benefit that they experience. And I thought it was awesome. And I was showing her how we could use that as context for creating new kinds of things. So what we did is we uploaded a copy of that spreadsheet. We basically downloaded it from Google Sheets, uploaded it into ChatGPT, and then we said using this information as background, as well as some additional files that I had uploaded around like results from my personality test or my human design chart.

To really give ChatGPT

this fuller picture of who I am as a person and how I operate, and also what are my blind spots.

What we asked it to do was generate 15 different newsletter [00:17:00] ideas, and then I think we asked it to generate 15 different podcast episode titles. And while I don’t ever use this tool to come up with the titles, I always come up with the titles after I’ve created the content. What it was coming up with was bomb.

Like it was so much better than anything that I would’ve come up with. And. While I also only publish a newsletter once every three months, so much of the content I think is really relevant for blog posts. I would be very, very excited to read and that would provide a ton of value to the folks that are in this, family. I would say the Mezclada family as I’m calling you all. Okay, so let’s move on to number three, data analysis. Why is this helpful? Well, first of all, I feel like before chat GPT, I think that we were really limited in terms of what tools we had for like coding data and analyzing big data sets. And those were really limited to a few [00:18:00] things that I feel were very industry.

Specific and just like you kind of had to be in your niche in order to understand how to use some of those tools and what I was doing as an experiment. An example of, how have I used this in my consulting contracts? We are currently working on a feasibility study for. Basically finding a secondary outlet for these farmer’s markets in a small town in West Central Minnesota.

And we contracted with a staff member at the University of Minnesota to help us with this. And then I’m helping kinda oversee that work. And so one of the things that I was showing this particular individual. Was the results from a Regionwide survey that we did to create a regional food systems plan.

I basically was like, okay, well what if we try to use this information, this huge data set to find out information that could then be relevant for this feasibility study? And so I showed an example of how I was using it with our intern earlier that morning saying. This was insane.

It blew my [00:19:00] mind. Basically what I wanted to do was make a data informed decision about how we would develop content for a local foods guide that would then be printed and shared among residents as part of this volunteering event that , we will be hosting later this summer. And so we did was we uploaded the spreadsheet.

And then we said, based on the results of this, we’re looking develop a local foods guide that will be a print brochure. Please generate, five different ideas of the content that could fill this based on the needs and the desires that were expressed by residents in the region.

And it was so freaking cool what it generated. And this is one of those things where it’s like you just. You don’t understand the full capacities until you just start playing around with this technology and thinking about, okay, I don’t have to do this work. I can figure out how to use all this information, simplify it in a different way, and leverage it to get answers faster, that then I’m not pulling stuff from out of thin air.

I’m using this data to [00:20:00] inform these decisions or this content that I’m making.

Okay, let’s move on. Number four, strategy. This can be super helpful if you are trying to create structure for yourself in terms of how to outline some next steps, moving forward on something that feels really big insurmountable or that has a lot of substeps.

Emily: So examples of how I have used this for myself and my clients, business and marketing plans, this is something that we covered in the three day financial challenge where I was working with farmers to teach ’em how to be using ai. To do this stuff really quickly. And if you have an existing website, for example, you can feed a URL from your own site into that, and then it’ll take information to help you start so that you’re not starting from scratch.

Financial strategy is another one, if you’re trying to create financial projections for something, if you want a template related to finance, I’ve been using it in my personal finance and trying to think about, okay, I uploaded. A document of financial [00:21:00] goals that I created from a book that I was reading about investments.

And then I used this to then think through, okay, can you help me create a template for a monthly budget that then integrate some of these goals that I’m keeping track of them from month to month, whether it’s contributions to my investment account, whether that’s building up my emergency savings or other things that I have on my mind.

The last one is creating a transition strategy for your business. So for example. What I’ve created for myself, ’cause I’m really thinking about this, is like I really want to reduce the time that I’m spending on the screen. I wanna be working more in person. I wanna be working more with the plants now that I kind of have a more permanent home base.

This is something that’s really important to me, but I also recognize that I can’t just do that overnight and there has to be some steps that are taken in order to support me in that transition. So what I started asking and basically developed this whole strategy around was, who do I need to hire first?

[00:22:00] How do I calculate the return on investment of that particular position? And how do I make this transition in a way that aligns with my personality type? And as an added bonus, what does a day in the life look like of my future self, having addressed my blind spots, something that ChatGPT was able to help identify for me, this was incredible.

And I almost cried when I read through what it was describing for my day in the life. The reason is that I felt like for the first time in so long, I was being seen by what it was describing, and it was just, it was so crazy. I was like, oh my God, this is exactly what I want my day to be like. And so I’m currently in that position of making that transition.

I’m really excited about it.

 I wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to one of the Transcendent Farmer Podcast’s newest sponsors, the Fargo Moorhead Wellness Collective. The FM Wellness Collective is a community of wellness practitioners in the Fargo Moorhead area dedicated to supporting [00:23:00] and empowering one another.

They serve as a reliable resource for the community to connect with wellness professionals, making wellness more accessible and strengthening the culture of well being in the Fargo Moorhead area. Learn more by visiting the links in the show notes. Or finding the collective on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

 Okay, let’s move on to the last one. Number five, lifestyle tips and hacks. So the reason that this can be helpful is that sometimes you just don’t want to start from scratch or like you just need inspiration or creativity, or you wanna combine things that maybe are untraditional and figure something out.

So, for example. Ways that I have been using this in my own life is in recipe generation. So a lot of times what I used to do before ChatGPT, I would put in maybe a handful of the ingredients that I had into my, Google search engine, and then I would just search and then put recipe at the end of it and then see what would pull up.

And then sometimes I would have the rest of the ingredients and then sometimes I wouldn’t. But now. [00:24:00] Now I’m making like a master list of everything in my fridge and my pantry, and then I’m asking it to create a meal plan based on my dietary restrictions. And then any other thing that I want to take down of like, so for example, I put in this last week, I said, okay, Monday night I’m gonna have a smoothie because I want something light and I have a gym class late in the day, so I wanna get my protein in, but I don’t wanna be eating meat and that night.

And so then it’s like integrating these things into. My weekly plan, and then the rest of the time you’re just giving it these different qualifications. Like, I really want fresh foods. I wanna focus on salads because it’s summertime and it’s really hot right now, and here’s what I’ve got. And it’s very cool.

Like I really, really enjoy that. Another one very real, real example, when at like two in the morning when I can’t fall asleep because it’s so hot in my apartment because I don’t have ac, I’m like, what do people do in hot climates to cool their bodies down because I’m not sleeping well and it’s affecting my [00:25:00] work and my emotional state.

And so then I found these really cool solutions. I started putting essential oil in my body at night. Mint in particular for anyone else who is struggling out there. I’ve been putting a wet cloth with like tea tree and mint essential oils over my fan that I have like my standing fan. And I’ve also, this has been the big one game changer For anyone out there , take a frozen water bottle and wrap it in like a light fabric or a towel, and then put it in your sheets next to your body.

I’ve been putting it on my feet and it’s been amazing. It’s been really, really helpful. In addition to. The giant fans that I have going, but just, it’s still not enough. Right. So I’m struggling. If anybody has an idea, please send ’em my way.

I should be getting a new AC unit installed. I did negotiate with my landlord on that here in the next couple of weeks, just depending on how quickly it arrives. Let’s not forget that what makes all of the stuff that we’re generating through [00:26:00] AI better than average is the human touch, right?

It’s our flavor, it’s our authenticity, it’s our uniqueness that makes us desirable people to be around. And just as a disclaimer, I did not use AI to come up with a content for today’s episode. This is a hundred percent original content from yours, truly, Emily Reno. So lastly, I just wanna close with my own thoughts about how I believe that my own use of AI and my team’s use of AI is going to help me achieve my financial goals towards starting my farm.

Because I think that a lot of you out there who are listening, you’re in a similar position. You’re like, how do I use this tool to help me get towards that goal faster, right? And to reduce the stress, the tension, all of the pain points that I’m facing along the way. , So I’m hoping that you’ll consider leveraging some of these tools in your own work so that you can spend less time on the screen and more time with your family in the fields, appreciating all of the benefits that Mother Nature has to offer.

Our bodies, [00:27:00] minds, and spirits. Before I get into this list, I do have one additional thought which I would like to offer, which relates to a comment that I had earlier on in the episode, which is just around my confidence and this, this piece about assumptions,

I feel like what has changed so much for me around this use of technology is that my assumptions have changed about what I think is possible, and I feel like anyone who is listening, my inner thought is like, you have no excuses at this point. If you have a question, if you have a doubt. Please try using this technology to help you through it.

Because I feel like my excitement, my eagerness around figuring out, okay, how can this be leveraged to help me move forward faster to help me get, access to farmland faster. That’s what energizes me so much. So here’s what I’ve outlined in terms of what I feel like those [00:28:00] steps look like for me.

First one is really transitioning my responsibilities in my business to have others take over the work of my online projects that I can free up more time for in-person work. And this has been a goal of mine for quite a while. I was just traveling so much and it was very convenient to have remote work.

Step two, I want to have my online work serve as a passive income source for me through combination like eBooks, online courses, I’m looking at launching a membership community b ecause I feel like creating connection is one of the core areas that I wanna be working on. And then PDF downloads as well. Step number three, I would like to make a decision about where I want to invest in building a farm or taking one over if that is, a better fit for where I’m at. This is one of the hardest things for me.

I’m so frustrated with myself with timing. I’m really struggling with having patience around this because I feel like every day that passes, I’m not getting any younger. Yes, maybe I’m growing like a [00:29:00] little bit wiser. I’m becoming more business savvy. I feel like I have a much better handle on some of these business and finance foundations that I did even three, four years ago.

But I still feel that there’s such a misalignment in my current reality and where I want to be. I’m spending way too much time on a screen. I’m not being connected to the earth, to the growing season, to the farming community, and it’s just, it’s frustrating, Because I feel like maybe I’m putting too much pressure on this decision of where I want to land and that I feel like it has to be the right one instead of just.

A decision, and part of the reason is that I recognize that investing in a farm is a decades long investment. When you are investing in building soil health. It’s not just something that happens overnight, it’s season after season, and I recognize that and I have for a long time. And so really struggling with step number three.

But once I get there, my next step, number four, once I know [00:30:00] where I want to be and more details around that particular operation, I plan on taking strides toward acquiring whatever capital is needed to make it happen. And right now, I feel insanely equipped with the information that I need and the tools to make it happen.

, I don’t have any doubts at this point. , Put the information together, go out, start talking to people, that is what you have to do. Then step number five, I wanna hire people to take over my online work so that I can only focus on doing, those off-farm things that are maybe high ticket, the most rewarding.

I would love nothing more to have my time split between writing, podcasting, and farming. That is my dream life right there. And , it’s gonna happen. It will happen one day. I don’t know if that’s gonna be. in a year, five years, 10 years, 15 years, whatever that looks like. But I think that that is like the sweet spot for me.

It’s just what I figured out that I love doing and something that brings me, a lot of joy, very energizing. And I think that for anyone who is listening, that’s really what you wanna do is continue [00:31:00] iterating, continue adjusting, and figuring out what is it that you do best, that you love best, that leaves you feeling so energized afterwards, you could just keep doing it because it doesn’t feel like work.

That’s where your sweet spot is. My encouragement to you is if you’re doing anything that is not production related, those are the kinds of activities that you should be leaning into. Okay? So you’re probably asking yourself , where does AI fit into all of this, Emily? Well, here’s some ideas. Job descriptions, evaluation frameworks.

Fundraising materials, marketing my eBooks. ’cause I’m definitely not gonna let AI be writing for me, right? I don’t want my voice to be lost and then automating my systems.

I’m hopeful that this provided you with some encouragement, some inspiration, some ideas for how you might be able to use this technology and some of what you’re doing. And I will make sure that some of the resources that I have. That are available on this front are included in the show notes. I’ll also [00:32:00] make sure that if you are interested in working with me one-on-one, I am starting to work more regularly with coaching clients.

It is the one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. Absolutely love it. And I just, I really enjoy kind of helping be that accountability buddy, peer support, for these fellow farmers and, podcasters and creatives out there who are just trying to, make their dreams happen. If you’re looking to get that extra push and accountability to move those things forward, hit me up.

I’ll probably be scaling down some of my online work through my consulting through the summertime, which is really exciting. But I will always be creating space for my coaching clients because it’s an area that really lights me up.

Thank you for listening and for engaging, for being a part of this community. I really appreciate it. If you got value out of this, please share it with someone that you think would enjoy it and we will catch you on the other side for another episode [00:33:00] soon.

 If you loved this conversation as much as we did, feel free to share the love by passing it along to a friend or fellow farmer and be sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss another episode. Until next time, friends.