Take Five with the Taranis Team: Bryan McMurtrie

Get to know a little more about our own Bryan McMurtrie in this week’s Take 5 spotlight. Bryan shares what his “ah-ha” moment was that helped him take the step from ag retail to Taranis and how he sees Taranis changing the lives of countless retail agronomists.

Bryan, tell us about your background in ag retail. How did you get your start?

I started in ag retail working in operations and then worked up to an applicator, followed by precision sales and agronomy sales. For five years before coming to Taranis, I was managing full-service agronomy retail along with a couple of elevators. I know how retail works and bringing Taranis to the industry is personal for me.

What were the biggest challenges you faced in ag retail?

You just do what needs to be done when you’re working in ag retail. I would have growers call me to check their fields, stage them, make herbicide recommendations, and honestly, there weren’t enough hours in the day. And that’s really where I saw Taranis as transformative for ag retail. It gives you back so many hours in the day. You can sit down with a cup of coffee in the morning, and in 15 minutes you can scan thousands of acres, prioritize where you need to go, and narrow maybe 20 or 30 fields down to five or six.

Working in ag retail previously, how do you see Taranis affecting the relationship between a retailer/agronomist and their grower?

Identifying threats early builds tremendous rapport with a grower. It builds the opportunity for a real conversation about things that matter to them – you’re able to provide something of value every time you talk.  You’re not just stopping into their shop or jumping in the tractor with them, you’re delivering valuable information that they can use for decision-making. It’s an elevated conversation every time you pick up the phone or stop by to visit with them.

What was the “ah-ha” moment for you that made you think that every retailer needs Taranis?

Aside from giving retailers back so many hours over the course of a season, the power of Taranis’ AI is unbelievable. It is constantly learning, and the more data is captured, the better it gets. If you throw a business card down, Taranis’ AI can read that business card from the sky (through high-level, high-resolution data capture). For a crop, the AI is able to process those images and not just determine that there are threats but what those threats are. It’s incredible and impossible not to say “Wow”! That and the dashboard takes all of that high-level information and prioritizes it. It is the most high-tech tool in agriculture right now, and the dashboard makes interpretation and decision-making so easy.

Do you think that Taranis’ AI will replace the human agronomist?

No. Never. Agriculture is an industry built on and around relationships. You can’t build a relationship with technology alone. Taranis is a tool that amplifies what an agronomist does. It allows them to be more precise with their time and recommendations. Taranis is a digital employee for an ag retail team.

Want to hear more about Bryan’s journey from ag retail to Taranis and how AI is making an impact on the farm? Check out this episode of the AcreForward Podcast.