SharkFarmerXM's podcast
Vince Pawluski from Grande Prairie, Alberta 7-17-24
[Music] And welcome again to Shark farmer radio. Hey, I'm your host Rob Sharkey. We're in a studio today just outside of Bradford, Illinois. The dark, the dark town of Bradford, Illinois. Still no power. It's been, I don't know, three days. I just got a text message from Amarin and it said, "You'll be reparred." That's a power company. At 11.30 and I laughed. I'm like, "Oh, good. That's five minutes." And then I noticed the date and I go, "Wait, that's tomorrow." And then it's p.m. So we still have tomorrow night, 11.30 p.m. we should have power. That'll be five days. Yeah, that's been, we've been out a week before. That was rough because that was winter. Yes, and it was before we had a nice generator. We had one of those you just had to fill it with gas every like three hours. Yeah, it lost my mind. And then, you know, if it's blowing snow, it stops for reasons, you know, other than. This, we got a Generac, which they really should be sponsors. But that thing, you can tell when the water pump kinks in the air, the big air compressor for the farm that really drags it down, the clothes dryer, and it will not quite run our air conditioner. It runs it, but you know how the air conditioner really has to be at full tilt for the free on and all that. Yeah, because we're running so many other things. Yeah, so it's still a pretty good job. Yeah, listen to us complain. I know, I know first world problems. Last night was the season premiere of shark farmer TV season nine. It was fantastic. We were in Oregon at a tulip farm. It was gorgeous. So much fun. I can't believe we've done nine seasons. And since we're talking to a Canadian today, Ameren is our hydro company. Oh, nice. Is that right, Vince? Oh, not sure. I've never heard the name of that company before. Yeah, but that's what you call your power companies, right? Is hydro companies? Not on our side. No, we just call them power companies. That's on the east side. I never understood that because I know why because the electricity is created by the lock and dams or whatever. But you say hydro company, obviously, you're going to think that's a white water company. So can you figure that out for us? Yeah, that's what on our side and the left. That's what we would also agree. That's definitely water or something to do with liquid. That's so funny. We haven't even introduced Vince, and we're already putting him on the spot. Vince Puluski from Grand Prairie, Alberta, a third generation farmer. How you doing, Vince? Good. Good. Your third generation farmer, what all do you raise up there? We primarily grow wheat, canola, barley, do a little bit of yellow peas, and then there's a little bit of fescue seed that's grown because we have the right conditions that the plant actually makes seed for grass. So short that we're limited to certain crops. Only five crops. That's generally, you talk to you all up there, and it's like 25 or so. Yeah, pretty far north where I'm at. Uh-huh. Now, what canary seed? We have tried that in the past. Again, the problem where I'm at is where the Alaska Highway kind of starts. So the distance to market is so far that you kind of just got to stick to the mainstream crops that get hauled away on the rail. Yeah, got you. Now, were you a farm kid? Yes, I was. Yep. Okay, so grow up on the same farm you're living on or around there? No, actually, I, uh, I find a story. My dad didn't take over the family farm. He started his own farm. We grew that farm to 12,000 acres, and then I kind of got tired of all the work, I guess, and we got rid of that farm, and I thought I wasn't a farmer anymore. So for two years, I was quote retired at 30 years old, and then we traveled 17 states for the motorhome with the lights and kids. And then, uh, I moved to a Calgary area for two years, and then my dad called and said, "Hey, so-and-so's retiring. Uh, you want to rent some land?" And, uh, yeah, we rented land, and I started farming again. I call it a kind of a disease, and there's no cure for it, so. Yeah, I've got it. Generally, the bank takes care of the cure. So events, I mean, is it, do you love farming or was it, I don't know, is it just something that you knew how to do? You know, at the time when I, we sold, I didn't think I loved farming. And it was, it's not just the farming, it's the people. The people that you interact with when you're farming are just kind of a different breed of people. And I got removed totally from that living in a city, and I kind of just missed the whole thing. And then I did realize that I, I did enjoy farming. And one of the things I really enjoyed about, about farming was, was the machinery. And playing around with machinery and, you know, modifying it and kind of making things my own. Yeah, well, that makes sense because, uh, you are also the CEO of RC Farm Arm, which we're going to get into. But like this, uh, engineering that all this involves, I mean, were you educated in that or you self taught? Uh, yeah, no, that's, I guess that's self taught. Um, I've been playing around, I come from, uh, line of blacksmiths actually. Uh, my grandfather was a blacksmith from, uh, Ukraine when he emigrated and he was always messing around with stuff. And it's just kind of, uh, a thing that's in you a little bit, you know, always creating. And as I needed to do something, I learned and taught myself how to do it. So when I got into this, I, I taught myself how to draw in cats. And then I taught myself all about 3D printers and 3D scanners. Okay. I, we've got to talk about all this. All right, we do have to run a break today. We're talking with Vince Poluski. Now he is from Grand Prairie, Alberta. He's a third generation farmer, but also the founder inventor and CEO of RC Farm Arm, which we're going to be getting into. All right, after the break. This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell, or lease your land? Well, check out Common Ground where they connect landowners and farmers and hunters too, by the way, go to commonground.io. That's commonground.io. You don't have electricity. You just feel off. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And it stinks because it's a beautiful sunny day. And, uh, we'd be making money on the solar. But now not only because it doesn't work because now we're cut off from the system. So we're not making money on a solar plus we're burning LP. So we're getting double dinked. We are. You don't care. It doesn't do any good to complain about it. So I'm just not, I'm not gonna. Maybe they're listening. Do you ever think about that? They're like, Oh, you know what? We should, we should probably get the sharkies up and run it. Well, you know, that is our original story of how you got started with a shark farmer when we lost power years ago and you tweeted the the company. So, you know, they have a whole like, uh, I don't know, a human relations course. They do. They called the shark farm. The shark farm. It's honestly one of the things I'm most proud of is that I made a major power company. Their, their relation course is named after me. It's fantastic. Today, however, we are up in Grand Prairie, Alberta. We're talking with Vince Poluski. Now he is a third generation farmer, but he's also the founder and inventor and CEO of RC Farm Arm. I don't know, Paul, how do you even start this story? I guess at the beginning, how'd you come up with the idea? Uh, you know, I didn't even want to invent this product. Actually, all I did was I wired my own little case tractor that I bought. Um, because I've always met around with stuff. So I had another tractor. I could turn the PTO on with a remote and I bought this tractor and I thought that'd be cool. I could start it, rev it up and engage the PTO. So I, I did that. Took me a little while and I put a little video on Twitter and overnight I had like 48 people message me. I want you to do it to this tractor and to that tractor and whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what kind of uh, uh, hillbilly engineering did you use? I mean, was it like bungee cords or how does the original thing go? The original one, I, I hacked into the electronics. I cut into, uh, to the wires and figured out how to manipulate the voltages to get the tractor to do what I wanted. Okay, I'm going to take back my combat about hillbilly engineering. So you actually, this was like a high-tech way of hacking in. Yeah. Yeah. But the problem with that is it doesn't transfer very well to other people and other tractors. So I have a guy phoned me who had his own farm product that he's marketed and he's like, you got something here. You got to keep going with it. So that was August 18th. A lot. I couldn't figure out how to, I was going to go about it. And then on the combine, I kind of figured it out and had some sketches on the window with, you know, dry erase markers and stuff. So by November 30th, I applied for a patent, you know, to put your application in. March 3rdish, I had my first working prototype that I could physically make a video out of. To show what I can do. And we launched the website and made some first online sales. And we shipped exactly 365 days after that, our first version of the product. Oh, wow. Now was that first version? Is that universal? No, the first version was like specific to each tractor console. Oh, well, because you just said the first one, you know, you're working on a case, which I mean, nobody cares if you're on a case. But actually, when you get to a John Deere, I mean, that's, that's where you're really talking about. You could, you could mess up a really, truly a valuable piece of equipment. Oh, wow. I mean, how would you figure out how to hack this stuff? Well, that's exactly what I did is I went old school. So what my two pen and patents cover is all I do is I move the control surfaces that are already in the cab with a custom fit overlay that matches the switches and, and manipulates them exactly how they need to be. So you're really, you don't know if there was one on your tractor or not, because I don't use anything but existing mounting holes or surfaces to attach to. And I don't touch any electronics. We just move the switches out of there. So it's kind of like micro robotics, I guess. I've got six John Deere's and literally every single one of them is different in the way the arm set up. Well, two are the same. It doesn't matter. But what I'm trying to say is they've got to be so specific that has to be a challenge. Yeah, that is a challenge. And John Deere, I don't want to say the word worst. Most creative in the cab that they have. They keep me on my toes. But we do, I think it's 18 different versions. And that's where the 3D scanning comes in. Because when we find one of those cabs, we travel to the wherever that tractor is. We scan it, we draw off of it, we print it, we test it, refine it, test it again. We have done it as quickly as in seven days from scanning to shipping. Oh, wow. Oh, tractor model. Yeah. What amazes me is from his first tweet, a year later, he was shipping them. It's moving right along. Oh my word, that's a business that came from a tweet. Yep. Yep. So what all can we do with these RC arms? With an RC arm, you can, you turn the key, physically turn the key so you can start and stop the engine. You can engage and disengage your PTO, control the throttle, and two hydraulics. And then there's four other buttons on the remote that are 12 volt outputs that you can control whatever else you want to. Gotcha. So I mean, I'm thinking back to when we were home and you were, this thing would be invaluable. Because I don't know, it was just such a pain and a keister to crawl up there every time and get everything going. You can do all this from, can you do it from like another tractor or you got to be standing close to the one you're using, how's that work? Ranger, you got to be within 330 feet, which is, you know, line of sight anyways, like you kind of got to be by the tractor to see what you're doing. But we actually have a guy in Michigan that has 16 remotes and they're hauling manure, not so many tractors he's got. Yeah, is that, is that your main customer or is manure? No, our main customer would be grain augers. Oh, sure. And yeah, then grain bagging, because then you can control the tractor from the grain cart. Okay, all right. I've got a lot of questions. Today we're talking with Paul Puluski, or Vince Paul Puluski, that too. Vince Puluski. Vince Puluski from Grand Prairie, Alberta. Now he's a founder, inventor, and CEO of RC Farmar. We'll be back right after the break. This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell, or lease your land? Well, check out Common Ground where they connect landowners and farmers, and hunters too, by the way, go to commonground.io, that's commonground.io. All right, it's time for Alberta's favorite radio segment. Where in the world is Will? Well, what did you find for us today? Today I'm in Grand Prairie, city in northwest Alberta, Canada. That's up there. Yeah, within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. Sounds nice. Yeah, the city has adopted the trumpeter swan as its official symbol, due to its proximity to the bird's migration route and its summer nesting grounds. You ever seen one of those in person? Those are huge. Oh, they're fantastic. Oh, yeah, you don't want to mess with them. Plus, you have to read the book, the trumpet of the swan. That's fantastic, but E.B. White, come on. Read books. What is wrong with you? It's classic. Swans are mean, though, right? I'm assuming that they can kill a man, but I'm not sure. Yeah, they have that attitude. Grand Prairie prairie, for this reason, is nicknamed swan city. The dinosaur has also emerged as an unofficial symbol of the city due to paleontology discoveries in areas north and west of Grand Prairie. Speaking of dinosaurs, the Philip J. Curie Dinosaur Museum is located 15 minutes west of Grand Prairie. It is a 41,000 square foot, 3,800 square meter for our Canadian friends. Oh my gosh. With many exhibits, large theater, classrooms, paleontology lab, and a restaurant named after Philip J. Curie from the University of Alberta who contributed to the understanding of the link between dinosaurs and birds. Ah, yeah, I watched Jurassic Park. Right. The town of Grand Prairie was incorporated as a city in 1958. At that time, its population was 7,600. The opening of the Proctor and Gamble Craft Pulp Mill in 1972 and the discovery of the Elmwood deep basin gas field spurred an economic boom and Grand Prairie's population went from 12,000 to over 24,000 by the time that oil boom went bust in '81. Yeah, I always wanted to visit a pulp mill because I you know, I don't know how it gets in orange shoes. Notable people from Grand Prairie include Tanner Fritz, ice hockey player for the New York Islanders. Hockey player from Alberta Shocker. And Kelly Sutherland a retired professional Chuck Wagon driver. Oh, those guys are awesome. That is so cool. All right. Tennille Town's country music singer. With the captain. Former Facebook engineering director Mike Shaver. And Stephanie Steph Richards, Canadian American composer, trumpeter, band leader, and producer known for her contributions to contemporary jazz and experimental music. I don't believe you. A female trumpet player. Yeah. Well, her multi-disciplinary approaches to composition including her super sense project for scent and music with Jason Moran have earned a critical acclaim. Okay. All right. Thank you. Well, today we are talking with Vince Paluski. Now, Vince, did you learn anything? Yeah, something I did there. I didn't know some of that stuff. Yeah, the Facebook engineer. Guy, I didn't have no idea. Is there really a female trumpet star up there? Well, I guess I want to add an idea about that. All right, Vince is a farmer, but he's also the founder and inventor and CEO of RC farm arms, which we've been talking about. All right. So let's say, okay, let's say I have a hydraulic auger, right? And I don't want to get out of my tractor that I'm filling up or whatever. I can run this with your invention. I can run that stuff. I can start up the auger. I can rev it up. I can turn on the PTO and much more. All with something that you invented all by yourself. Yep, that's correct. Yep. That was a convenience device, you know, as much as it is a safety device. When my grandfather died, he had two and a half fingers left. Not the authors, but the farm related accidents. So growing up as a kid on the farm, safety was actually implemented a lot more than I realized until I got a little older and was at other people's farms and seeing how other things were. So I guess safety and convenience was in the back of my mind when I was creating this. Well, and you've got a couple of daughters, so safety around the farm is a big issue for you. Do your daughters help you? Is it like a family affair running this? Yes, it is a family affair. We're all hands on deck, so to speak. We run everything out of the farm yard. We have two campshacks, skidshacks, one's office, one's a printer shack. One of my daughters is working full time for us for the summer, traveling with us to farm shows and kind of filling in all those little things that need to be done, whether it's marketing or what have you. The youngest is at home while we're traveling and she is the kind of keeping track of the guys that are working there, guys and gals actually, because we have a younger girl working for us as well, and kind of my eyes and ears. And she's the one that's in charge of quality control when I'm not there, because we check everything over and they get it, sure everything works. So that's between her and I that we get the final say and the final look at the product. Now, these things I'm just looking at the videos. Are they easy to install? Yeah, I go with a great length to design it, that it's easy to install, strong and simple. And simple can actually it's complicated when you want to make something very simple. It's complicated. We actually have on our on our website, we just put on a 3D viewer there, so that you can actually like roll one of the bird in the round and click on it and see it move, because it's actually kind of hard to explain to someone without them actually seeing it. And if you show them what product itself is, they look at it and they're like, I can't figure it out. Like, I don't know what it does, where it goes. And then when you steal a picture of it on, then they're like, ah, I get it. Yeah, now if people want to see this, what's the website? It's artsyfarmarm.com. I thought it'd be .ca. How'd you get away with an American site? Oh, you can get any domain you want. I own ca.com.net. And are the people, I mean, is the feedback, is that been positive? Yeah, feedback's been very positive. It's actually really positive with the older generation. I had a guy phoned me back after he got his product. And of course, when I get a phone call, it's like, oh, no, what do they need help with? And what's wrong? And he said, no, I just wanted to tell you that this thing should have been invented the day after they invented the plow. Well, that's, I mean, would you get something like that? Oh, yeah. That's Tony something. All right, Vince Feluski from Grand Prairie, Alberta. Go check it out, RC Farmarm Events. Thank you so very much. But don't go anywhere. Your fellow Canadian, Sean Haney, he's coming up next. He told me he doesn't like your invention. I have to ask him about that. [Music]