Josh Ruiz, Senior Director of Ag Technology and Innovation at Duda Farm Fresh Foods, shares how he views challenges and opportunities in his role to be an actor of change in agriculture on this week’s episode of Voices of the Valley.

“Technology isn’t just about robots, machines and tractors all the time”, Ruiz says, “but sometimes it’s about being smarter and analyzing data. My team and I have done a lot of deep dives into data to take away the gut feeling that farming comes naturally. We tend to run with our guts a lot in farming as an industry, and my team and I have been able to find ways to analyze the data, collect data we weren’t collecting before and truly make some decisions that are data driven, not gut driven.”

Ruiz talks about the value of recognizing the things you don’t know what you don’t know and the importance of taking a chance and shoot for it.

At the core of his efforts, a sentiment comes forward: “I want the industry to be better off when I leave this industry than when I started. I hope that others start coming along.”

Listen to this week’s episode of Voices of the Valley with Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson here.