Colt Knight: 00:15
You don’t need any time to collect your thoughts or anything. You’re just ready to go.
Ashley Wright: 00:22
I’m just ready to go.
Colt Knight: 00:27
Welcome to the Maine Farmcast. I am your host, Dr. Colt Knight, associate extension professor and state livestock specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Today, we have a riveting guest from Arizona. She happened to be on the podcast in one of our first handful of episodes—Miss Ashley Wright from the University of Arizona. She is in Maine to help us with some artificial insemination classes, but Ashley is also an expert in the other type of AI—artificial intelligence—and how you can use it to make your life easier.
Colt Knight: 01:10
In fact, we just did a big seminar in Montana this summer about making your life easier using artificial intelligence in our day-to-day extension jobs. I think it’s really important to communicate with producers how they could use it in their daily lives or to make their farm work easier as well.
Ashley Wright: 01:36
Yeah. There’s a lot of potential with artificial intelligence to make some of your day-to-day tasks easier. From summarizing things—at Extension, we do a lot of meetings, and one of the most tedious parts is taking notes and remembering exactly what you or others agreed to do. AI has a lot of capabilities to help with that, taking some of the busy work and mental load off so you can focus more on the parts of your job that really need your attention.
Ashley Wright: 02:16
Things like developing content, creating workshops, designing them, doing research, and being out in the field talking to people—rather than sitting in the office making task lists and doing paperwork.
Colt Knight: 02:33
I think a few things livestock producers could use AI for are grant writing and marketing—two areas they often need help with.
Ashley Wright: 02:54
Yes. Both of those are great uses. One of the best things is to get your thoughts down into an AI model and have it help you organize them into a cohesive product that can be turned in—for example, as a grant proposal. Instead of wordsmithing all your ideas yourself, you can type in a stream of consciousness.
Ashley Wright: 03:32
For example: “This is the idea I have and what I want to do.” Then ask AI to help create the project narrative and summaries. It can also point out big holes you may have missed—things you weren’t thinking about when you were drafting. It’s like bouncing ideas off a colleague—only this time it’s AI.
Colt Knight: 04:12
Yeah. As an Extension person, I get requests from producers for grant help all the time. I don’t write grants for people—it’s time-consuming.
Ashley Wright: 04:28
Very time-consuming.
Colt Knight: 04:30
So I tell folks, “If you write a rough draft, I’ll proofread and help.” Usually, that’s where the conversation ends because producers are busy and intimidated by the process. Whether the grant issuer is a private foundation like American Farmland Trust or FACT, or a federal program like Northeast SARE, they release an RFP—a request for proposals.
Colt Knight: 05:05
That RFP is the guideline for what they will and will not fund. You can upload that RFP into ChatGPT or another AI tool and talk to it conversationally—the more natural you are, the better the response.
Ashley Wright: 05:42
Exactly. Pretend it’s your friend you’re telling about your cool project. Upload the RFP and then say, “Here’s my project—help me write the proposal.” You’ll still need to proofread because AI sometimes “misses the boat” on certain topics. Your expertise is key to catching errors or misunderstandings.
Ashley Wright: 06:43
Many grants are strict about requirements. They may toss out applications missing even a small required paragraph. AI can help make sure you’ve answered all questions perfectly.
Colt Knight: 07:29
Right. You can also ask AI: “Are you familiar with this request for proposals?” It will summarize the RFP for you, and you can then explain your farm operation and ideas to see how they fit. Once you have an outline, you can ask AI to write the grant.
Ashley Wright: 08:47
That can save a lot of time. Grant proposals are often lengthy, sometimes redundant. AI can help answer repeated questions without the headache of rewriting the same idea multiple ways.
Colt Knight: 09:44
When AI gives you a draft, review it for errors or deviations from your intent. Give feedback—e.g., “Fix this spelling error” or “Reword this section”—and it will regenerate until you’re satisfied.
Colt Knight: 10:38
One thing you should never do is ask AI to generate data or citations—it will fabricate them. Always double-check.
Ashley Wright: 11:00
Yes. I find it helpful to do my own research, gather citations, and upload those to AI, instructing it to use those sources. Still double-check, because AI may incorrectly imply causation.
Colt Knight: 11:53
Exactly. AI can’t tell good from bad information, so popular myths may be presented as fact. The hardest part of grants is writing those 10- or 20-page proposals. AI can do a draft in minutes—but you still need to guide it.
Ashley Wright: 13:11
And give it specific details about your operation—herd size, breeds, practices, etc. Good input equals good output.
Colt Knight: 14:13
If you have a website or social media, include those links so AI can pull relevant details. Also, clarify so it doesn’t confuse you with someone else.
Ashley Wright: 15:14
Yes. Now, about marketing—AI can help with social media captions, long-form website content, and more.
Colt Knight: 15:54
If you want to grow your social media, post daily. That’s hard—but AI can help with ideas and trending topics.
Ashley Wright: 17:08
Exactly. AI can take some of the marketing burden off your plate.
Colt Knight: 18:02
It can also create images—stick figure, cartoon, or comic styles work well. Avoid realistic images, which AI struggles with.
Ashley Wright: 18:17
That saves you from having to be a graphic artist.
Colt Knight: 19:33
Here’s a tip: you can even ask AI how to talk to AI, and it will guide you through the right prompts.
Ashley Wright: 21:19
If you have examples of designs you like, upload them so AI can merge elements into something new.
Colt Knight: 22:12
The more you interact with AI, the better it learns your style.
Ashley Wright: 22:30
Yes—mine now writes very close to my style because I’ve uploaded so much of my own work.
Colt Knight: 23:06
Short-form videos drive the most engagement. One-minute or 90-second reels in vertical format work best. You can feed a long video into AI tools that cut it into short clips.
Ashley Wright: 23:59
I use a GoPro for time-lapses, and software like GoPro Quik will do those cuts automatically. Then, just add trending music.
Colt Knight: 25:14
And you can ask AI which music is trending this week.
Ashley Wright: 26:00
Yes—and AI also writes great “fluffier” language for grant intros and narratives.
Colt Knight: 27:07
Or you can write your own and have AI formalize it into grant language.
Ashley Wright: 27:25
It can also proofread for grammar, clarity, and readability.
Colt Knight: 27:52
When you think your grant is finished, reupload the RFP and ask AI if your application meets all requirements—it will spot gaps.
Ashley Wright: 28:09
For my own work, I use AI heavily for reporting. I feed it my collected data and it generates readable reports for the university audience.
Colt Knight: 29:29
You also told me you use AI to rewrite emotional emails into professional ones.
Ashley Wright: 29:55
Yes—it’s great for that. I can type a stream-of-consciousness reply and have AI make it professional but still firm.
Colt Knight: 31:39
Anything else livestock producers should know?
Ashley Wright: 31:50
Watch for new AI-powered tools like smart tags or recordkeeping software. They’ll get better and could save time.
Colt Knight: 33:07
On recordkeeping—AI can summarize your phone’s calendar entries into useful reports.
Ashley Wright: 35:11
Yes, that’s how I start my reporting now—by downloading my calendar and having AI count events, attendees, etc.
Colt Knight: 36:38
We encourage you to explore AI. It’s free, easy to use, and can make your busy life easier—freeing you for the parts of farming you love most.
Ashley Wright: 37:20
Exactly. More time with your animals and customers, less on paperwork.
Colt Knight: 37:48
Yep. Ashley, it was great having you on the podcast again. For questions, comments, or episode suggestions, email us at extension.farmcast@maine.edu.