Responsible Crop Protection & the BeSure! Campaign

As planting and growing season continues across the country, stewardship remains one of the most important responsibilities for growers and applicators. In this episode of North American Ag Spotlight, host Chrissy Wozniak sits down with Mike Aerts, Vice President of Science and Regulatory Affairs at the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, to discuss the 2026 BeSure! Campaign and the role stewardship plays in protecting pollinators, wildlife, water quality, and agricultural productivity.

Mike explains how the BeSure! Campaign serves as a decision-support resource that encourages growers and applicators to follow best management practices while emphasizing a simple but critical message: read and follow the label. He discusses the extensive scientific research behind pesticide labels and why the phrase "the label is the law" remains one of the most important principles in crop protection.

The conversation explores the essential role pollinators play in agriculture, including their contribution to approximately one-third of the food we consume and more than 75% of the world's flowering plants. Mike also addresses common misconceptions surrounding pollinator health and explains how factors such as pests, diseases, habitat loss, weather events, and invasive species often have a greater impact on bee populations than many people realize.

Listeners will learn about stewardship practices for treated seed and foliar applications, the importance of proper equipment calibration, spray drift management, and the growing use of technology to improve application accuracy. Mike also shares insights into Florida's Managed Pollinator Protection Plan (MP3), a voluntary program that helps growers and beekeepers communicate effectively to protect pollinators while maintaining crop production.

The discussion also highlights a new concern for beekeepers across the United States—the invasive yellow-legged hornet—which has recently been detected in the Southeast and poses a significant threat to honey bee populations.

Throughout the episode, Mike emphasizes that food security depends on responsible crop protection practices and collaboration among growers, applicators, beekeepers, registrants, and regulators. The result is a practical conversation about how agriculture continues to improve stewardship while producing the food, fiber, and specialty crops consumers depend on every day.

To learn more about the BeSure! Campaign and access stewardship resources, visit GrowingMatters.org/BeSure.

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Transcript

00;00;20;16 - 00;00;45;02
Chrissy Wozniak
Hi, and welcome to North American Spotlight. I'm Chrissy Wozniak. As planting and growing season gets underway across the country. Farmers and applicators are making countless decisions. The impact not only crop production, but also the environment around them. Modern crop protection tools play an important role in helping growers protect yields from insects and other pests. But with those tools comes a responsibility to ensure that they're used properly.

00;00;45;04 - 00;01;16;13
Chrissy Wozniak
So whether we're talking about seed treated seed, foliar applications, pollinator protection, water quality, or even communication between growers and neighboring beekeepers. Stewardship remains one of the most important topics in agriculture. And the good news is that today, farmers are among the best stewards of the land. And there are resources to help ensure that crop protection products are used safely and effectively while protecting pollinator pollinators, wildlife and natural resources.

00;01;16;15 - 00;01;48;29
Chrissy Wozniak
One of those efforts is the annual Be Sure campaign, and I think this is the fourth year in a row that the Bee Sure campaign has been highlighted here on AG Spotlight. And it brings together agriculture organizations, crop protection companies, applicators and growers to promote best management practices. Throughout the planting and the growing season. Today, we're going to discuss what stewardship looks like in practical terms and why it matters, and some simple steps that growers and applicators can take to protect pollinators and their operations.

00;01;49;03 - 00;02;10;25
Chrissy Wozniak
So joining me today is Mike Aerts, vice president of science and regulatory affairs at the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, where he works directly on issues involving pest management, crop production practices, food safety and regulatory affairs affecting growers throughout Florida and beyond. Well welcome, Mike. Thank you so much for being here.

00;02;10;27 - 00;02;14;01
Mike Aerts
Well, thank you, Chrissy, and good afternoon, everyone.

00;02;14;03 - 00;02;20;04
Chrissy Wozniak
Awesome. So let's start by. Can you give us some of your history and information about what you do?

00;02;20;07 - 00;02;45;24
Mike Aerts
Oh, as you mentioned in the introduction, I'm responsible for anything that's scientific or regulatory or affairs related with respect to Florida, especially crop agricultural production that involves different, new registrations for pesticides that mean the reregistration of the pesticide. That means any kind of environmental aspect that means any kind of worker protection aspect, any kind of, water issue or, food safety issues.

00;02;45;24 - 00;02;53;04
Mike Aerts
So it just depends on the day. The exact day that we're talking about as to what all is going to take place during the course of that day.

00;02;53;07 - 00;03;03;11
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Awesome. That that's a lot. And for those who may not be familiar with it, what is the be Sure campaign and what is the overall mission?

00;03;03;14 - 00;03;30;22
Mike Aerts
Well, the Be sure campaign, if you're not familiar with it, it's something you should take the time to familiarize yourself with it. It's really the bee. Sure system is really in place to assist as an overall decision support system kind of tool. It's about stewardship and about getting the word out on adopting best management practices to ensure pesticide products are used safely, responsibly, and especially that as that applies to pollinator protection.

00;03;30;24 - 00;04;03;19
Mike Aerts
The bee sure project, pretty much the name pretty much describes its mission. That being, be sure of what you're doing. And a lot of that has to do with appropriately following pesticide labels and such. And everything starts with the pesticide label. All the information you need to know is somewhere on that pesticide label. Because remember, for all of these, the required studies that are part of obtaining a pesticide registration, the cost for all those required studies equates to more than $300 million.

00;04;03;23 - 00;04;31;20
Mike Aerts
So 300 and a $300 million investment is going into the wording that appears on those labels. So, you know, details surrounding rates, timings, use directions, human and environmental protections, and also components such as how to properly dispose of an unused product or insect water. All of those kind of things are included in the label. From a scientific standpoint, it's how they were established, which is why it's always important to read label directions.

00;04;31;22 - 00;04;52;14
Mike Aerts
And every pesticide, every single pesticide label out there will have the wording on it that says read the label before use. Now, while that kind of wording on a pesticide label might not be as exciting as a JK Rowling or an Ian Fleming story, the fact is that that wording appears on that label that says read this label before use.

00;04;52;16 - 00;05;26;05
Mike Aerts
That actually means it's actually the law for the user to read the entire label before attempting to use that product. And then once you get past reading the label, then things turn to application of the label knowledge on the acronym X for that situation the biology, the past, the weather, whatever else might be going on in the field, and then assembling all that information, implying that information into overall pest, all overall decision making processes is what really it was, what really necessary for appropriate use.

00;05;26;08 - 00;05;53;01
Chrissy Wozniak
And that's what I really like about this campaign, is nobody wants to read a label. Right. And but it is so important. And I think this, this annual campaign, just to put it at the top of everyone's mind that this is this is so important. And like you said, there's a huge investment in that label. And, and it's, you know, it's really the safety of, you know, people, animals, your land, everything.

00;05;53;01 - 00;05;58;06
Chrissy Wozniak
And, and that's why I think it's so important that this campaign goes on every year.

00;05;58;08 - 00;06;00;03
Mike Aerts
Can't be stressed enough.

00;06;00;05 - 00;06;20;01
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. So why do other organizations I know they're there every year. We have different organizations involved just in this podcast and a lot of different companies. And you know, why did they they also agree that, this continued continual support of stewardship campaigns like, be sure are so important?

00;06;20;03 - 00;06;48;22
Mike Aerts
The Be Sure campaign is really an industry wide collaboration between crop production companies, trade associations and ag retailers, with the goal of implementing practical stewardship practices that protect pollinators. Other wildlife and the environment. So it's really about stewardship and working together. To be sure, approach just helps with avoiding unintended harm through strategies that include better communicating and planning.

00;06;48;24 - 00;06;56;12
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's it. And when you talk about stewardship, what does that mean in practical terms for farmers and applicators?

00;06;56;15 - 00;07;28;04
Mike Aerts
Oh, that's a that's a stewardship is kind of an interesting sort of thing. One thing surrounding the whole be sure campaign. It's important because it help promote responsible agricultural management approaches, ensuring the implementation of overall sustainable farming practices that help protect the environment, enhance food security. This campaign also helps farmers learn about, and adopt practices that can lead to healthier ecosystems and improve agricultural productivity.

00;07;28;06 - 00;07;42;17
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's it. And and pollinators are often a big part of this conversation. Can you explain the important role pollinators play in agriculture and food production? For those that are not familiar, that might work in agribusiness or or in other sectors?

00;07;42;17 - 00;08;07;20
Mike Aerts
Sure. Well, roughly one third of everything we eat is a direct result of effective pollination done by bees and other pollinators, and pollinators are also responsible for pollinating more than 75% of the world's flowering plants, which promotes biodiversity, helps to maintain ecosystem health resiliency and economic stability, which is always important.

00;08;07;22 - 00;08;29;27
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, for sure. And I'm lucky today to be, interviewing another Floridian. I'm also here. I'm outside of Fort Myers, and I know here in Florida, we, we have a lot of specialty crops that are grown rather than traditional row crops, like a lot of the audience. So what does pollinator stewardship look, and how does it look different in fruit and vegetable production?

00;08;29;29 - 00;08;57;17
Mike Aerts
You have a whole role of pollinators in this whole specialty. Crop equation is kind of important. So no pollination means we would have to do without a good number of different specialty crops crops such as blueberries, strawberries, watermelons, cantaloupe, cucumber, breads, all those types of commodities would not be available without efficient pollinator that's done by honeybees and other similar pollinators.

00;08;57;19 - 00;09;22;29
Mike Aerts
But pollinator stewardship comes into play with an aspects of the crops that even do not require bees for pollination, such as citrus. So there's a wind pollinated product, but it's still important from the from the bee aspect. Because of the orange blossom honey business, you have to be careful what you're doing in citrus, because nevertheless, those bees are also visiting those trees as a part of gathering nectar for the orange blossom honey.

00;09;23;02 - 00;09;28;20
Mike Aerts
Another significant component to the business trend.

00;09;28;23 - 00;09;54;25
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's right. And the the what are some of the I like today's environment. There's a lot of a lot of misinformation, which I know is a trendy word, but there is a lot of misinformation and, you know, politics kind of drives the narrative a lot. So what are the most common misconceptions that you hear about crop protection products in pollinator health?

00;09;54;28 - 00;10;20;21
Mike Aerts
Yeah, pesticides are always looked at as the big bad guy relating to things like colony collapse disorder. But realistically, pesticide influences on things like bee populations or such falls quite a ways down the list of actual impacts on honey bees and such. If you were to talk about some of the things that really impact honey bee populations, first of all, of course you'd have to talk about pests and that meaning pests that attack honey bees.

00;10;20;21 - 00;10;45;10
Mike Aerts
The rural mind comes to mind immediately, and other similar, insects of that are parasites of that type that impact, the honey bees themselves. Then you've also got to consider pathogens that impact the honey bees. Things like Varroa mite transmit a lot of different viruses to the bees directly. Things like American foul brood or the no similar, all those kind of things.

00;10;45;11 - 00;11;10;19
Mike Aerts
A foul brood is something that's going to weaken. It's going to it's a bacterial infection that causes the bees digestive system to shut down. And then things like nausea is a is a actually a fungal disease that affects the bees kidneys of all things. So you've got all those sort of things occurring simultaneously. Then you've also got to consider the environmental conditions that might be a part of this whole process, be it, weather and habitat loss.

00;11;10;22 - 00;11;31;02
Mike Aerts
All those sort of things can affect bee behavior. We think about also from an environmental standpoint, you gotta think about simple things such as hurricanes. When hurricanes come along, go blow hives over or go flood out bee yards, those kind of things. Those are all still things that have to be considered in the overall system of, of of raising bees and the like.

00;11;31;05 - 00;11;57;17
Mike Aerts
Things like management practices, bee management practices come into play very heavily. Poor beekeeping practices can lead to stress and health issues within the colonies. Nutrition is a big thing. The variability of pollen sources or the the adequate, the adequacy or the lack of adequacy and the diversification of the bees diet and that sort of thing. Genetic diversity is certainly another important factor you get.

00;11;57;18 - 00;12;28;16
Mike Aerts
You've got to have much in the way of genetic variability within the populations of queens, so that the queens can give rise to healthy colonies. Well, if you get a genetic restriction, that's what leads to a lot of, colony collapse in those situations, just because they don't have the genetic diversity that's required. And then, yeah, certainly pesticide exposure is going to come into the conversation, but it's going to be a little farther down the list with respect to actual components that are impacting things that are affecting pollen.

00;12;28;16 - 00;12;49;09
Mike Aerts
A colony populations and such. And I would like to go back to my first point on the pests that are attacking the bees. And in addition to things like the Varroa mite, everyone might like to know that we've got a new invasive species that's been found in the United States. That's going to have a great impact on honeybees.

00;12;49;12 - 00;13;19;14
Mike Aerts
This this invasive species is called the yellow legged wasp. And the yellow legged wasp, basically feeds on honeybees. And while in a single colony of a yellow legged, wasp will require 25 pounds of forage per year to sustain and forage, being honeybees. And these things are well, I want to make people aware of this so that if they see this sort of thing, they can report it.

00;13;19;14 - 00;13;45;16
Mike Aerts
Because these wasp are phenomenal hunters. They literally will hover about a foot outside the entrance of the hive with its with their backs facing the hive, so that when a bee flies out of the of the hive, the wasp is able to take off right after it, capture it, and consume it. So it's it's and it this thing probably came ashore in the eastern United States in the port of Savannah.

00;13;45;19 - 00;14;08;07
Mike Aerts
So it's been reported in parts of Georgia and parts of South Carolina. But it's on the move. So it's probably just a matter of time before it reaches Florida and other locations to from some of the trapping they were doing last year that the USDA was was responsible for, they caught more than 500 queens that were out and about trying to reestablish colonies.

00;14;08;09 - 00;14;32;09
Mike Aerts
So this thing is out there, it's probably not going to be eradicated. And it could, think about that, think about how much 25 pounds worth of bees equates to. And that's for one wasp colony. So we're going to have some challenges in trying to figure out how to protect the hives from these wasps. And the bees themselves are learning this is happening to them.

00;14;32;09 - 00;14;52;04
Mike Aerts
And once they discover that the wasps are invading, those that are exiting their colony, they tend to not go out and forage as much so that when two subsequently impacts the viability and the health of the colony, because they're not getting the worker bees out and about to do the foraging that they need to be doing to sustain the hive.

00;14;52;07 - 00;15;08;21
Mike Aerts
So, yeah, this, this yellow legged wasp is a mess. And I'm not sure where it's going to go, but we need to pay close attention to it. And I would highly encourage anybody that if they see something hovering outside the entrance of a hive, take note of it, try to take pictures of it and report it.

00;15;08;23 - 00;15;31;00
Chrissy Wozniak
Wow. Yeah. So we will definitely over here a North American egg. Keep an eye on that story as well. That's that's pretty scary. And, here in Florida, too, you brought up another good point about the weather. I remember right after Hurricane Ian, just driving in the city, and there was an entire hive of bees still populated in the middle of the road.

00;15;31;06 - 00;15;48;26
Chrissy Wozniak
Like, I have no idea where they came from. They could have come from miles and miles away. So that something to that I'm sure the bee farmers, after all these hurricanes over the last few years. Well, we had a reprieve last year, but, before that, they. Who knows where those hives end up, right? Right. Yeah. There's.

00;15;48;29 - 00;15;50;29
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Florida's difficult.

00;15;51;04 - 00;15;53;07
Mike Aerts
And diffuse. Who knows where they go.

00;15;53;09 - 00;16;05;24
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, exactly. And so what about, treated treated seed? What are some of the most important stewardship practices that growers should really keep in mind when they're planting treated seed?

00;16;05;26 - 00;16;23;25
Mike Aerts
Sure. Well, I should mention upfront Florida's in a little different situation than a lot of the Midwestern states might be because of the fact that we're especially crop state. We don't have a lot of commodities that are put into the ground via seed. Yeah, sweet corn will be a lot of the leafy vegetable lettuce type crops will be.

00;16;23;27 - 00;16;47;05
Mike Aerts
But pretty much everything else we were involved with involves transplants. So those transplants, or they come from seeds that are generated in the greenhouses in like, so, the amount of seed treated seeds that hits the ground in Florida versus other states is going to be very minimal, especially compared to some of those Midwestern state. But nevertheless, you know, stewardship practices growers should keep in mind we're treating seeds.

00;16;47;08 - 00;17;08;22
Mike Aerts
Our initially are going to include follow the label, including the direct and including some of the other things you might not think of right offhand, like the directions associated with storage, or transporting the seeds and handling the seeds, and even disposing of the seed bags. Those sort of things have to be considered, although the all that information is going to appear on the label and then follow the label too.

00;17;08;22 - 00;17;20;15
Mike Aerts
When it comes to things like cleaning, planting equipment, people might not think about those sort of things, but all those little things matter too, and all those sort of things will be described on the label.

00;17;20;18 - 00;17;26;17
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's good. And then what about for foliar applications? What are some of those best management practices.

00;17;26;19 - 00;17;56;06
Mike Aerts
Well, most labels if if the product has any kind of real impact on pollinators, they'll be what's called a bee box included on the label. And he's bee boxes are very conspicuous. And you can tell right away if it's a product that is going to have some sort of application restrictions associated with it, but most of the restrictions are going to be along the lines of, you know, applying the product, after dark or after the bees have stopped foraging.

00;17;56;09 - 00;18;24;24
Mike Aerts
Another stewardship practices apply the product after if it's below 55 degrees. So those sort of things might not come into play in the Florida very often. But those are the types of different stewardship things that are on the label. But this carries over then to into even things. We're in Florida. We have mosquito control. Mosquito control personnel need to take into consideration what they're doing from a mosquito control standpoint as it relates to stewardship involving honey bees and other pollinators.

00;18;24;24 - 00;18;46;26
Mike Aerts
So yeah, there's there's quite an array of different things that have already been documented and established. And yeah, I also can really suggest to do is follow what's on the label and it's going to come in place and it's going to come into play further with, with Florida especially crops, because within those bee boxes, if you're making applications at night, you have to consider restricted entry intervals.

00;18;46;26 - 00;19;11;27
Mike Aerts
If you finish your spray application at 5 a.m. and the ROI is 12 hours, you can't. That means you can't have workers in the field until 5 p.m. the next day. So those sort of things have to be considered as well. And if you're talking about a lot of Florida crops that are indeterminate producers, meaning we harvest them consistently and continuously over the course of the season, well, now, pre harvest intervals will come into play.

00;19;11;29 - 00;19;31;16
Mike Aerts
You're gonna have to be careful that if you have to harvest, you know, oftentimes you're harvesting strawberries on a 2 or 3 day basis. You better make sure that the product you use is something that only has like a 12 hour restricted entry interval or pre harvest interval. So you can get back into the field in an efficient time to be able to harvest the the berries or whatever.

00;19;31;16 - 00;19;35;21
Mike Aerts
When when you absolutely need to.

00;19;35;23 - 00;19;43;23
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Good point. And then what about equipment. How important is calibration and spray drift management when making these applications.

00;19;43;25 - 00;20;04;07
Mike Aerts
Well when you're talking calibration you can make that that's an easy sell right away. Because if your equipment's not calibrated right, you're losing money. And when a farmer hears he's losing money on something, he's going to, he's going to rectify that situation rapidly. So economics is going to be a simple component of that's associated with things like calibration.

00;20;04;09 - 00;20;24;06
Mike Aerts
But also remember too, there's a lot more in the way of new technology coming along. So to assist in those sort of things, you've got sprayers out there that have what are called electronic eyes. So if there's a gap, you know, row of centers, for instance, that electrical outlet electric, I will automatically shut off that bank of nozzles as a sprayers passing it.

00;20;24;06 - 00;20;50;02
Mike Aerts
And then the will come back on when it does reach another tree. Or if you're dealing with a five foot tree versus a ten foot tree, the electronic eye knows to shut off that top bank of nozzles so that the no product is wasted and potentially subjected to drift, because it'll shut off that top bank and only the bottom bank of nozzles will be in use to to get the product administered to the product to the tree itself.

00;20;50;02 - 00;21;08;12
Mike Aerts
So and it's also a lot more technology relating to drift reducing agents that's out there. A lot of investment is going on with respect to drift management, drift reducing agents. So those things are being incorporated much more heavily now than they were ten, 20 years ago as well.

00;21;08;14 - 00;21;25;16
Chrissy Wozniak
Okay, great points and something I didn't know before I started doing a little bit of research for this. But Florida actually has one of the largest concentration of commercial beekeepers in the country. So how do you think, is the best way for growers and beekeepers to communicate, to make sure they're on the same page?

00;21;25;18 - 00;21;55;26
Mike Aerts
Well, Florida is lucky because we've got plants that are pollinating 12 months a year. We rarely get below freezing. So it's going to be there's not near the stress put on bees in Florida as there will be in other states, which is why so many beekeepers bring their bees to Florida to overwinter them here. It's just it just, you know, a lot less stress put on the bees when they're in this kind of environment versus trying to bundle up and stay warm in North Dakota or whatever inside the hive.

00;21;55;28 - 00;22;21;25
Mike Aerts
But Florida was lucky with respect to, other stewardship type practices, because Florida was one of the first five states were involved with what's called the MP3's managed pollinator protection program, and this was administered by the Florida Department of AG and Consumer Services. And it's basically a voluntary beehive registration system and involves databases, mapping tools and communication channels.

00;22;21;27 - 00;22;44;06
Mike Aerts
And the purpose is to to help protect bees from pesticide drift, which in turn protects the honey and allows the bees to continue their role in pollinating plants. These these MP3's are not regular regulatory programs. Participant participation is voluntary and based upon. And it's really based upon open communication, a desire to look after pollinators, the environment and each other.

00;22;44;09 - 00;23;12;19
Mike Aerts
So what will happen is under these mp3's, the beekeepers will put on a map where their hives are located. Then the farmer can check these maps and see if it's anywhere near any of his his land. Then if he's planning to to do some sort of an application in the near future, he can get. There's information on the MP3 maps, so he can contact the beekeeper and advise him that, hey, a spray might occur in 48 hours or 72 hours or whatever, and just want.

00;23;12;20 - 00;23;38;23
Mike Aerts
So the beekeeper will know that he'll he might have to move his hives or something temporarily. So it's really just a grand way to do additional communication between the growers and the beekeepers. Now, like I said, we were just lucky that we were one of the first five states to get these mp3's in place, and its use is only exponentially increased since we put this into place five, six, seven years ago.

00;23;38;25 - 00;23;51;06
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, that's a great tool and hopefully that can expand throughout the other states as well. That's that sounds great and I love that. It's voluntary and and helpful to the the grower as well. That's awesome.

00;23;51;09 - 00;23;54;02
Mike Aerts
The other states are picking it up too.

00;23;54;04 - 00;24;08;00
Chrissy Wozniak
That's that's fantastic. Now I often hear the phrase the label is the law and it just sounds, oh, that's boring, but it it's true. And and it comes with consequences right now.

00;24;08;00 - 00;24;28;11
Mike Aerts
Very much so. That's kind of what we were talking about earlier. These companies invest more than $300 million into the wording that appears on those labels. So yeah, that's it's a serious matter that you follow what appears on those labels because all of those studies define the type of wording that must appear on the label. So it's all science backed.

00;24;28;11 - 00;24;37;21
Mike Aerts
It's not just a random type of wording that somebody, in order to put on paper. This is all scientifically, scientifically justified, right?

00;24;37;21 - 00;24;50;01
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, absolutely. And as you look at agriculture today, what gives you confidence that growers and applicators are actually continuing to improve their stewardship practices?

00;24;50;04 - 00;25;22;27
Mike Aerts
Well, I think a lot of it will come down to the fact that, you know, food security is national security. And to insure NASA security, pesticide products must consistently be used in accordance with the label directions. And I only see there that understanding and that comprehension is only gaining more traction between the grower community, between the beekeeper community, between the registrant community, the egg distributor companies, everybody is having a greater and greater appreciation for the systems approach that this really entails.

00;25;22;29 - 00;25;29;20
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, that's that's great. And if there's one message that you would like every grower to remember this season, what would it be?

00;25;29;22 - 00;25;41;13
Mike Aerts
Well, maybe just like we were just talking about food security and national security, and we've got to make sure we do things right in order to produce the food that's going to be necessary to feed the US population.

00;25;41;16 - 00;25;46;27
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, absolutely. So where can the listeners go to learn more about the Be Sure campaign?

00;25;46;29 - 00;26;10;14
Mike Aerts
Well, yeah. Everybody, if you're not familiar with be sure you need to familiarize yourself with it rapidly. And yeah, just check out the website. Growing Manners dot o Rigby. Sure, very simple to remember and and check out. And there's a lot of good information in there. And it'll also direct you to other resources that you can potentially look into as well.

00;26;10;16 - 00;26;20;09
Chrissy Wozniak
Oh that's awesome. Thank you so much. And I've got one last question for you. Why do you personally serve the ag industry? What's your mission? Why put you on this earth?

00;26;20;11 - 00;26;40;25
Mike Aerts
I grew up in agriculture. I was picking apples and picking cherries when I was seven years old, probably. And it's just always been in the blood. It's just, you know, once you get that agriculture bug in you, it's just something that's tough to let go. And the people associated with this industry are second to none. I mean, you could ask anybody for anything.

00;26;40;25 - 00;26;57;00
Mike Aerts
And as soon as they gave it to you, they they'd say, what else could I potentially help you with? And when you're around those kind of people, not only are you walking side by side, you also know you also know they've got your back. And it's just that that type of environment that just is just tough to say.

00;26;57;00 - 00;26;59;02
Mike Aerts
No to.

00;26;59;05 - 00;27;21;28
Chrissy Wozniak
I couldn't agree with you more. That is awesome. Well, Mike, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing your insights on the Be Sure campaign. And thanks to all who are watching or listening. If you want to learn more, then the links are provided in the show notes. Don't forget to subscribe to North American Tech Spotlight on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, listen notes, or, anywhere that you get your podcasts.

00;27;21;28 - 00;27;31;23
Chrissy Wozniak
And if you like this episode, I would love it if you shared it.