Shownotes
Episode Summary
Join Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show Juan Gabriel Succar, CEO and Director of Verde Compacto, the first vertical farming company out of Latin America. Verde Compacto is an organization that is dedicated to reinventing the food industry through technology. Today, Juan shares his origin story and how his passion for environmental sustainability led him to launch Verde Compacto. Juan and Harry talk about the exponential growth of the industry, why mass education and proper hiring are crucial and why government involvement in such endeavors has been lackluster at best. Finally, Juan talks about some of the upcoming projects he’s working on that will help to transform the agri-food industry in Mexico and around the world.
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Key Takeaways
03:41 – Harry welcomes to the show Juan Gabriel Succar who talks about how his passion for the environment led him and his cousin to launch the very first vertical farming organization in Latin America
11:29 – What Juan observed about vertical around the world that inspired him to launch Verde Compacto
12:47 – Partnerships and mixing family with business
17:38 – Mass education of vertical farming
19:26 – Verde Compacto’s offerings and explaining Huvster
22:21 – Feedback from early customers
26:03 – Government involvement (or non-involvement) in vertical farming
31:07 – What’s next for Juan and Verde Compacto
34:04 – Harry thanks Juan for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can learn more about Verde Compacto
Tweetable Quotes
“From 2016 to 2019, we focused on developing technology for indoor vertical farming to make it more productive at a lower cost and to reach more people and to get more people into the vertical farming industry.” (04:47) (Juan)
“In the end, if we do not have a healthy environment, we cannot have a healthy population. Everything that we do and our lives depend on the environment.” (10:44) (Juan)
“I think the most important thing here is to know where you want to go, have certain technical skills, but a lot of creativity and open mindedness to learn new things.” (18:31) (Juan)
“That’s very important in this industry to get focused on what you’re good at and what your value proposition is and how to increase it. It’s grow fast, but grow smart as well.” (25:52) (Juan)
“We are starting to develop a project for these food deserts. So we start creating a circular economy project, bringing container farms here in order to get better food to the people, which gets them healthy. Being healthy, everything starts working. Then you get jobs there and they can grow their own food. When you create jobs, you create health and you create innovation in these communities.” (27:52) (Juan)
Resources Mentioned
Vertical Farming Show – https://verticalfarmingshow.com/
Juan’s Email – [email protected]
Juan’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-gabriel-succar-abascal-53331b191/?originalSubdomain=mx
Verde Compacto Website – https://verdecompacto.com/en/home/
Verde Compacto Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/verdecompacto/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=7d4a007b-a062-44aa-8724-43195c6bec33
Verde Compacto Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/VerdeCompacto/
Verde Compacto YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBHLafuf7JC9pt1ec9KrLAw
Sponsor Info:
Cultivatd’s Website – https://cultivatd.com/
Cultivatd’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cultivatdco/
Cultivatd’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/cultivatd
Cultivatd’s Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/cultivatd/
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Mentioned in this episode:
2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews
2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews
Transcripts
$680 million poured into precision ag last year.
Speaker:Autonomous weeding robots dominated, and John Deere made 2 acquisitions in 3
Speaker:months. A food company, not an equipment maker, bought a
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Speaker:Precision Agriculture Intelligence Report From iGrow News is now
Speaker:available. Get your copy today at
Speaker:igrownews.com/precision. If you are starting a vertical
Speaker:farm and don't know where to begin or which technology would suit your needs,
Speaker:then reach out to the experts at Cultivated. As indoor farm brokers, they
Speaker:help connect you to the right technology and ensure your project is successful.
Speaker:Best of all, their service is free because they work on behalf of their
Speaker:partners. Visit cultivated.com to learn more. And that's
Speaker:spelled C-U-L-T-I-V-A-T-D dot
Speaker:com, or click the link in the show notes. I think when you
Speaker:have innovation, when you have a purpose in your company and you are facing
Speaker:worldwide trend that is helping people change their lives
Speaker:and get better, I think there's a lot to grow. And, and the food
Speaker:industry is one of the most beautiful things about it because there's no limits in
Speaker:the food industry and it's an industry that we all depend on.
Speaker:And there's always opportunity to innovate, and there's always opportunity to do better.
Speaker:So definitely, that's why we— this is the biggest company we've built so far.
Speaker:Welcome to the Vertical Farming Podcast, weekly conversations with
Speaker:fascinating CEOs, founders, and agtech visionaries.
Speaker:Join us every week as we dive deep into the world of vertical farming.
Speaker:With your host, Harry Duran. Hello, hello,
Speaker:hello. Welcome back, vertical farming, agtech,
Speaker:CEA, greenhouse hybrid
Speaker:solution aficionados. You're in the
Speaker:right place. I know I call it the Vertical Farming Podcast, and we get to
Speaker:be a little loose with that definition at times, because I think
Speaker:there's so many things that are happening in similar and adjacent spaces. So while
Speaker:we may not rigidly conform to that definition,
Speaker:I'd be interested to see specifically what people's thought on that
Speaker:is. As always, I'm happy to have you back. It is season 5.
Speaker:It's been crazy the last couple of years, all the excitement around the show, all
Speaker:the buzz, and grateful for all the conversations I've been having
Speaker:through those first 4 seasons. And this season is going to be
Speaker:no exception. I'm kicking it off in grand style with an
Speaker:interview with Juan Gabriel Succar. He is the co-founder
Speaker:of Verde Compacto. It's one of the first companies coming out of
Speaker:Mexico, and I couldn't think of a better way to kick off season 5 from
Speaker:a global perspective. There's going to be so many great conversations. We've got John
Speaker:Purcell coming back for round 2, Vani Estes, Viraj
Speaker:Puri of Gotham Greens, great conversation with Max
Speaker:Lossel that's in the can of AgRevolution, the team from VoltServer,
Speaker:Indoor AgCon, Vertical Future, Contain, NetLed, Jungle.
Speaker:So many, so many great conversations are queued up for
Speaker:season 5. I'm really excited to share them with you. If you've missed
Speaker:past episodes, if you've missed past seasons, if you're new to this
Speaker:podcast, I highly, highly recommend you check out
Speaker:verticalfarmingpodcast.com and just take a peek at some of the
Speaker:past guests. I know you'll recognize a lot of the names. You heard it at
Speaker:the beginning of the show, but just another quick shout out to the team at
Speaker:Cultivated. I couldn't be more honored to be partnering with them again
Speaker:for season 5. We do have sponsorship slots available all
Speaker:season 5, so we've got a couple of new sponsors coming on board if
Speaker:you are interested. And looking for the best place to
Speaker:put your indoor agtech marketing dollars, I might be
Speaker:biased, but I couldn't think of a better show to advertise on and
Speaker:support than this one, as we're reaching some really
Speaker:interesting and well-connected folks in the space. So,
Speaker:[email protected] if you want to have that conversation.
Speaker:Okay, as I mentioned, my conversation this week is with Juan Gabriel
Speaker:Sucar. He's the CEO and director of Verde Compacto, and it's the
Speaker:first vertical farming company coming out of Latin America. I think I said
Speaker:Mexico earlier. It's an organization that's dedicated to reinventing the food
Speaker:industry through technology, and Juan shares his origin story and how his
Speaker:passion for environmental sustainability led him to launch the company.
Speaker:We talk about the exponential growth of the industry, why mass education and
Speaker:proper hiring are crucial, and why government involvement in such
Speaker:endeavors has been pretty lackluster, to say the least. Juan talks
Speaker:about some of the upcoming projects he and the team are working on that'll help
Speaker:transform the agri-food industry in Mexico and around the
Speaker:world. This episode is also brought to you by the Vertical Farming Weekly
Speaker:newsletter. Each week, our team member Noah is bringing you the
Speaker:latest and greatest in the world of vertical farming. It's a great recap of
Speaker:things that have been happening at a high level in the industry and a reminder
Speaker:of the recent podcast episode for that week. So sign up today
Speaker:at verticalfarmingweekly.com. If you are a new listener, if
Speaker:you are a regular listener and you have not sent in your rating and a
Speaker:review, we're going to make sure that Those get read out on future episodes.
Speaker:It's really easy, just go to
Speaker:ratethispodcast.com/vfp and
Speaker:yours will be the next one I read out on the next episode. Okay,
Speaker:so excited to be back on track with you. I wanted to have
Speaker:several episodes in the can to make sure we don't miss a beat and
Speaker:excited to kick this off. So let's jump into this conversation with Juan Gabriel
Speaker:Succar. So Juan Gabriel Succar, CEO and
Speaker:Director of Verde Compacto, thank you for joining me on the Vertical Farming
Speaker:Podcast. Hello, Hari. I'm happy to be here and I'm glad for the
Speaker:invitation. So this is, uh, you're currently mobile
Speaker:right now, and, and just for the benefit of the listener, you want to let
Speaker:people know where, where you're dialing in from? Correct. I'm in León,
Speaker:the center of Mexico. Okay. I'm traveling to Mexico City actually.
Speaker:There's pretty interesting things happening in Mexico City, which is important because
Speaker:it's one of the biggest cities in the world, and vertical farming
Speaker:definitely is happening there. we're working on a couple of
Speaker:projects to make this happen in one of the biggest cities in the world. So
Speaker:that's why I'm trying— I'm on the road right now. Yeah, it
Speaker:sounds like— yeah, definitely. Like, obviously the fact that you're on the road
Speaker:means that you've got a lot of things going on. So maybe just for
Speaker:the benefit of listeners and people who don't know about Verde Compacto, can you give
Speaker:like just the 60-second overview of what it is that you do?
Speaker:Correct. So we're Verde Compacto. We're the first vertical farming
Speaker:technology company that was born in Latin America. We were born in
Speaker:2016. From 2016 to 2019,
Speaker:we focused on developing technology for indoor
Speaker:vertical farming to make it more productive at a lower
Speaker:cost, to reach more people and to get more people getting into
Speaker:the vertical farming business and the industry. In 2019, we entered the
Speaker:market with a product. We have a container farm called the Hofster. And
Speaker:we now— the Hubster, we have Hubsters operating in different parts of the world:
Speaker:Mexico, US, some islands in the Pacific Ocean. We're starting to
Speaker:open some opportunities in Europe. And also, besides only
Speaker:selling the container farms, since we developed our own technology,
Speaker:we are capable of doing customized projects for
Speaker:actual vertical farmer operations that they want to grow
Speaker:in a specific way. So we can customize the operation for them, make it the
Speaker:size they want and with the tools they need. And so basically
Speaker:that's what we've been doing. And right now we are launching
Speaker:a new business line for Verde Compacto that we call Verde Compacto
Speaker:Farms, which we are working with actual
Speaker:produce companies in the US and Mexico that they already have
Speaker:products in the retail sector. They're already selling products in the retail.
Speaker:And we are putting vertical farming operations into the product line.
Speaker:So it's a little bit what we're doing right now and where we're
Speaker:going. So talk to me a little bit about your background,
Speaker:education-wise, early work experiences. Like,
Speaker:how did you start to have an interest in this field? Yeah, so that's
Speaker:very— that's a fun story. So basically, me and my
Speaker:partner Jorge, we are cousins, the co-founders. But
Speaker:since we were very, very young, we were very passionate about the environment.
Speaker:We were very close to the ecosystem. We went a lot to the
Speaker:outdoors and we were very, very interested on how to
Speaker:preserve our ecological resources
Speaker:around the world. So first we started an organic fertilizer
Speaker:company back in 2010 with this objective to do
Speaker:business, but to make it sustainable, to make an impact in the world.
Speaker:Yeah, so we started that way. We started to get involved into
Speaker:agriculture by introducing organic fertilizers, and we
Speaker:started to combine it with ecological or green energy
Speaker:supply projects. So that's how we started to get
Speaker:involved very closely to agriculture, and we started to
Speaker:see all of the problems that we are facing as humanity to grow
Speaker:our food. In the region we are in, center of Mexico, is one of the
Speaker:biggest or largest producers of of vegetables and produce in
Speaker:Mexico, and it almost exports everything to
Speaker:the US. Almost 90% of the produce that is grown here is exported to the
Speaker:US. So it's a very, very powerful industry here.
Speaker:But we were impressed that even though it's a technified sector, it's a very
Speaker:powerful sector, it's growing. But we are having water
Speaker:problems, water supply problems, we are having labor problems. So
Speaker:every time people has to come more from the south to come to the center
Speaker:of Mexico to make all the labor in the land, all of the risks we
Speaker:are seeing with different growers or farmers that they're losing
Speaker:a lot of their production because of the unstable weather
Speaker:conditions that there are. So we started to see all of these
Speaker:problems back in 2014-15,
Speaker:and we were saying, hey, we are in the 21st century. It's not— there
Speaker:must be something that is happening, a new way to grow our food.
Speaker:There needs to be something out there. We cannot be— it's impossible that we are
Speaker:growing it the same way as 20 or 30 years ago. There must be something
Speaker:out there. That's how we started to make some research on the trends,
Speaker:technology, where was the market going at that time. And
Speaker:we found indoor vertical farming. And we found that
Speaker:it was happening a lot in Asia, in Europe, in the
Speaker:US, but there was nothing in Mexico, there was nothing in Latin America.
Speaker:And we say, hey, so there's a big opportunity to do it. And if we
Speaker:don't do it ourselves, somebody else will do it. And so that's how we started.
Speaker:That's a little bit in the background. Myself, when we started Verde Compacto,
Speaker:I was in the university. I was studying mechatronic engineers. My partner
Speaker:Jorge, he's an operation engineer. And I have
Speaker:a master's degree on sustainable energy supply chains
Speaker:and an MBA on
Speaker:management for agri-chain industry companies. here in Mexico.
Speaker:And yeah, so that's a little bit of the background and a little bit of
Speaker:the story. So, and you were studying in Mexico? Yes, I was
Speaker:studying in Mexico, and then I moved to France for 6
Speaker:months to do my master's, and then I came back here to
Speaker:continue on our business and everything. Everything happened at the same time.
Speaker:Where did this— you know, you talked about impact and you
Speaker:talked about this interest in you know,
Speaker:sustainability. Is this something that you had as a
Speaker:passion early on? Is this something you remember as a child? Is this something
Speaker:that was passed through from your family? I'm just curious where that inspiration
Speaker:comes from. Yes, I think that was from early on.
Speaker:Since I was a child, as I told you, I was very— I
Speaker:liked a lot to be out in the woods, to connect with
Speaker:the environment, with the animals. Actually, instead of watching
Speaker:cartoons, I watched all the time Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.
Speaker:So since late '90s, beginning of 2000s,
Speaker:all of these people that were important people on the
Speaker:environmentalist, they were already talking about climate
Speaker:change, about impact and how to preserve our environment.
Speaker:I remember a lot to see, for example, some animal species
Speaker:and forests that were lost because of human impact,
Speaker:you know. And, uh, and yeah, I think since very, very young we
Speaker:had that passion and, and a little bit a sense of responsibility
Speaker:that we had to work on something to keep our environment.
Speaker:Because at the end, if we don't have a healthy environment, we cannot have a
Speaker:healthy population, because everything that we do and our lives
Speaker:depends on the environment. That's it. That's for true. That's a true story. But
Speaker:sadly, every time we are more connected into, into our
Speaker:lives that are focused on technology, or, or we are
Speaker:very focused on our jobs, that we lose that side
Speaker:that we are still connected on the environment, you know. That's where our food comes
Speaker:from, that's where the air comes from, that's the water, how the water,
Speaker:clean water comes from. So we have to transform our lives
Speaker:into having a more responsible or a more
Speaker:sustainable to connect our lifestyles with
Speaker:preserving the environment if we want to have a healthy life for the future.
Speaker:So Juan, I was wondering, as you were getting a company
Speaker:started, like, what were you seeing in Asia,
Speaker:Americas, Europe, or even what was happening in the States that
Speaker:convinced you that now was the time to get started with your project?
Speaker:Correct. So when we started to find out more about vertical farming,
Speaker:we saw that there was a lot of companies starting to pop out in these
Speaker:different parts of the world you mentioned. Some companies, Fright Farms,
Speaker:AeroFarms, CropBox, Infarm. So, a lot of these companies were
Speaker:starting to popping up. They were starting to raise a lot of capital,
Speaker:and they were generating a lot of interest about it. And being
Speaker:here in Mexico, in a part where
Speaker:food production is part of our lifestyle, and we
Speaker:and we are a big— it's a big industry here. We were saying, hey,
Speaker:we need to have this here because we are food producers. And if we
Speaker:want to compete in the following years in this industry, we need to update
Speaker:and innovate and challenge these trends that are
Speaker:happening around the world. So we were seeing that there was
Speaker:none of this happening around, not even in Latin America, not only in
Speaker:Mexico, but in the rest of Latin America. And we decided to
Speaker:go on and do it ourselves. We just had to raise our hand. Were you—
Speaker:did you give any thought to partnering with maybe some of the US companies that
Speaker:had gotten started? You did mention Trade Farms, and I've had John on the
Speaker:podcast as well. And I'm just trying to think about your
Speaker:mindset and how to think about, like, this is something that we can create, or
Speaker:would it be better if, you know, we partnered with another company and they brought
Speaker:that technology in-house or into Mexico? Yeah. Well,
Speaker:our initial thought was, okay, let's partner with an actual
Speaker:company and let's bring this into Mexico. But a couple
Speaker:of conversations we had with some of the companies, they were not interested in
Speaker:looking to Latin America at that time. And it's understandable because you
Speaker:can understand it because the market was starting. It's a really early
Speaker:stage in the United States and in Europe, and in Latin
Speaker:America was brand new. So I think there was a lot of work to
Speaker:these companies had a lot to— a lot of work to do in their actual
Speaker:markets. And after seeing that, we decided to do it
Speaker:ourselves. So had you ever built
Speaker:a team or a company of this size before?
Speaker:No, this is the biggest company. This is the biggest company for sure.
Speaker:And yeah, I think when you have innovation, when you have a purpose in your
Speaker:company and you are facing worldwide trend, that
Speaker:is helping people change their lives and get better. I think there's
Speaker:a lot to grow. And the food industry is one of the most beautiful
Speaker:things about it, because there's no limits in the food industry. And it's an
Speaker:industry that we all depend on. And there's always
Speaker:opportunity to innovate, and there's always opportunity to do better. So
Speaker:definitely, that's why we— this is the biggest company we've built so far.
Speaker:And I noticed some of the folks that you're— that are on the team are
Speaker:family members. And so how do you as a owner,
Speaker:think about who are the key people that you need on the team?
Speaker:How quickly do you hire them? Who do you bring in as a partner? What
Speaker:are the complementary skill sets that where you're stronger or someone else is
Speaker:stronger? I'm curious about that as a CEO, as an entrepreneur, as an owner, how
Speaker:you think through that process? Well, yeah, that's a pretty interesting question actually.
Speaker:For our hirings, we always look for the best talent. We like
Speaker:to promote and we believe in the youth. In the youth
Speaker:people collaborating with experienced business people.
Speaker:And that's what we've built. So we, our board of advisors and our
Speaker:partners or investors, they're pretty experienced business
Speaker:people with a lot of years of experience in different industries. And
Speaker:combining that with new hires that just got out from
Speaker:university combines perfectly experience with creativity
Speaker:and energy to go forward because After you, the
Speaker:people that work every day are part of our team. They come with new ideas.
Speaker:They don't come with an already, how do you say,
Speaker:dirty, in the good sense of the word, with a dirty mindset or with
Speaker:other practices that can maybe blind them out on making decisions,
Speaker:on bringing new ideas. And they have a lot of energy to bring up. And
Speaker:this model has worked very good for us because we hire people
Speaker:from when they're in their final years of university sometimes.
Speaker:So they start from scratch, a new position in the company. And
Speaker:if they develop it, if they work well and they develop this new
Speaker:position well, they build their own future and they put the line
Speaker:up to their vision of how, of where they want to get. So
Speaker:this combining youth and young people with
Speaker:experienced business people has helped us move fast, be
Speaker:creative, and do a lot of things. And now working in the family side,
Speaker:I think, well, first with my cousin, the relationship with Jorge, my cousin,
Speaker:the co-founder, I think has helped a lot to understand
Speaker:ourselves better on different points of view. Because the
Speaker:good thing about knowing ourselves since we were kids is that we can
Speaker:understand ourselves better than anyone and that we could have
Speaker:better motivations or motivations besides just making business.
Speaker:So we can understand that from each other in a good sense. And
Speaker:he's pretty good operating. He's a great operator. He's very good getting
Speaker:things down to earth and get them going. I'm more into new
Speaker:ideas, new opportunities, and how to build them. And so I think we
Speaker:combine that pretty well. And also in the company, there's
Speaker:also my brother and other cousin that are working into
Speaker:bringing new projects here. And this helps a
Speaker:lot because we're growing as a corporate company
Speaker:because we have external partners and investors, but bringing
Speaker:family members into the business, we see that they're training
Speaker:themselves so they can get better positions and better and new
Speaker:opportunities for the company in the future. And with this level of
Speaker:confidence, of trust, and of understanding each other, I think
Speaker:we can generate a bigger platform to expand in the following years. So
Speaker:this is a little bit on the relationships between the team. I'm curious, Juan,
Speaker:what's been the need to provide
Speaker:education for people that you're partnering with, your investors,
Speaker:even like the people that you're hiring? I know in the States, part of the
Speaker:challenge with vertical farming is the availability of
Speaker:people to hire. You know, there's not a lot of
Speaker:talent out there specifically, and people are learning. Some of these positions are just being
Speaker:created for the first time. And so if we're having the problem here in the
Speaker:States, I imagine in Latin America it's even more pronounced. Yeah,
Speaker:that's an industry problem or a challenge. That's not— I don't think that's
Speaker:original or it depends on wherever you are, but it's a reality
Speaker:in this industry and like any other industry that is just getting
Speaker:their first steps and is starting to grow, as in the computing business or the
Speaker:internet business. So people need to learn themselves how to do things.
Speaker:And I think it's the same whenever you have a new industry. I think the
Speaker:most important thing, the most important thing here is to know where you
Speaker:want to go, have certain technical skills, but a lot
Speaker:of creativity and a lot of an open mindset, learn new
Speaker:things. And this way you can become an expert in your field.
Speaker:So that's why we like to hire just graduated people because they
Speaker:come fresh. They come with good technical skills. No bad habits. They
Speaker:come fresh. No bad habits. That's a word. And they go
Speaker:out to learn. They are hungry to learn new things. and put their
Speaker:skills into work. And we found out a lot of
Speaker:people, young people, that they're starting to research on
Speaker:lights, on controllers, on nutrition specifically
Speaker:for vertical farming. So all these curious people to learn
Speaker:more, they find these companies a good platform to put this
Speaker:curiosity into work. And so, yeah, so
Speaker:it's a challenge that everyone in the industry needs to face. So talk a little
Speaker:bit to people who may not be familiar with Verde Compacto, and
Speaker:then how Hofster came out of that. What are the
Speaker:current offerings right now for the company? Correct.
Speaker:So yeah, Verde Compacto is the name of the company, and the product we
Speaker:developed is called the Hofster, which is a container farm. And we
Speaker:designed the Hofster with the idea of making the most
Speaker:profitable farm or container farm out there, because our goal is
Speaker:to bring more people into the vertical farming business. And that's
Speaker:how we work and operate. We like the Hopster to be a motivation and
Speaker:a tool for people that want to get into the industry, but
Speaker:also being the technology developed by ourselves and the company,
Speaker:we are able to customize further future
Speaker:technology applications for vertical farming to help grow
Speaker:actual vertical farming operations. So we are offering
Speaker:like both sides of the coin. So we bring the Hopster to
Speaker:people that want to get into the market. with an interesting price, with a
Speaker:very interesting productivity. So they can get
Speaker:better yields, better returns, better profit. We like to work very
Speaker:closely with each of our new growers. We always
Speaker:help them whenever they start a new project. We help them
Speaker:in training them. We give them the right tools to operate the
Speaker:container farm the right way. Once a farm is
Speaker:installed, for example, we send or experts right there on site.
Speaker:So to put the farm together, we tell them, we give them an
Speaker:agronomical training from theory until we do the
Speaker:first germination with them. We teach them how to give maintenance to the
Speaker:container. And then we are there for them 1
Speaker:year for free, because we know that it's the time you
Speaker:normally get to start breaking your learning curve. Yeah.
Speaker:And that way, all the 4 new farmers get all the support from
Speaker:our expert growers and from expert technicians so they can get the
Speaker:best out of the Hobster. So that's the main idea of the Hobster, that new
Speaker:people can get into the business. And now for actual vertical farming
Speaker:operations and growers, this is also a great product because,
Speaker:as I said before, these people already know, these farmers, they already know what
Speaker:they need in order to scale up. Like, for example, they already have great
Speaker:enough germination area for their operation. And what they need is
Speaker:just more growing space. So we can build for them a container
Speaker:farm that is 100% productive, so they don't have to lose any space on
Speaker:germination, for example. So we can adapt to wherever— we
Speaker:can adapt the technology and the farms to suit whatever
Speaker:farmers' needs. Or, for example, they say, okay, my microgreen demand is
Speaker:growing like crazy, so we can adapt a hopster
Speaker:where it's maybe— where we can grow the microgreen area
Speaker:and reduce a little bit the vertical towers, for example. So, it's a
Speaker:combination of opportunity, being there for the farmers,
Speaker:and grow together with them. What's been some of the
Speaker:reactions or the experiences with some of the
Speaker:early clients and some of the existing customers you're working with? Yeah.
Speaker:So, first, of course, it's always the validation of the projects,
Speaker:right? As we said before, we need to educate. So
Speaker:learning from this, we started to change how to approach these
Speaker:new projects or new farmers. So before we even close a
Speaker:project, we help them validate their project or their business
Speaker:opportunity. So once they have the farm, they can actually put it to work
Speaker:and they can execute their plan, right? So that's why that's
Speaker:very, very important. That's one thing that we saw with our first or the
Speaker:early clients, that they needed maybe some advice on how
Speaker:to structure their project, where to sell the product, what to grow, how to
Speaker:grow it, at what price could they sell it. So that's one thing.
Speaker:And the other thing right now for the new projects is just that I said,
Speaker:new people are asking for new type of farms. Let's say mushroom
Speaker:farms or strawberry farms or new applications for the farms.
Speaker:And this has been challenging us into accelerate our
Speaker:R&D to start bringing new solutions to the market and help these
Speaker:farmers grow their business. What's interesting, Juan, is that you
Speaker:have first mover advantage. I don't know if anyone else in Mexico was
Speaker:doing the same thing, but there's something to be said for having first mover advantage
Speaker:and obviously learning and keeping an eye on what's happening in the States because
Speaker:there are— I mean, I've spoken to Andrew Carter from Smallhold, the
Speaker:folks from Oishi Berry, Hiroki from Japan,
Speaker:who's doing amazing things specifically with strawberries. I think there's a lot
Speaker:of opportunities to learn best practices and see, to your point,
Speaker:you have a different problem to tackle other— when you talk, we can start
Speaker:expanding beyond leafy greens. And it sounds like your team
Speaker:is up for that challenge and trying to adapt the Hofster for
Speaker:different case studies, use cases. Exactly. And that's part of the
Speaker:learning. And that's, that those are the, let's say, that's the beautiful
Speaker:part when you're in a new industry where people
Speaker:are open-minded and your team needs to learn from scratch
Speaker:what to do, because then they become experts in their field. And then you can
Speaker:start just changing some of the configurations or certain
Speaker:components, but you bring a new product out there because you already have all the
Speaker:knowledge in all your team. And I think this is one of
Speaker:the— this is thanks to that. So this result,
Speaker:this consequence is because of this challenging learning curve we have
Speaker:to develop as technology developers. And
Speaker:yeah, and now one of the most important things that is coming up is
Speaker:How do we accelerate our R&D and new offerings or
Speaker:new configurations, new applications, but we also make
Speaker:it commercially feasible? And how do we bring it
Speaker:with new clients and how do we keep that track of helping
Speaker:them getting the best out of it? So that's also a challenge in that.
Speaker:Is part of the question that you ask yourself, how fast do you want to
Speaker:grow? Well, that's what, that is what wakes
Speaker:up Keeps you up at night. Exactly, exactly. Because,
Speaker:and that's very important because since, again, you're in a new industry, every day
Speaker:there's new opportunities coming up and you need to stay focused. You need to stay
Speaker:focused on what you're doing because then there's a lot to do.
Speaker:Sometimes we get very excited for new opportunities and we have
Speaker:wanted to grow fast. Sometimes you take them, but sometimes you
Speaker:get out of track, you know? So that's very important in this
Speaker:industry. to get focused on what you're good at and what
Speaker:your value proposition, how to increase it. And yeah,
Speaker:it's grow fast, but grow smart as well. What's
Speaker:been the response from either the city? I know
Speaker:you mentioned you're in León, or even Mexico itself,
Speaker:the country. Have you had conversations with any
Speaker:levels of folks in government to understand what
Speaker:subsidies, benefits, tax breaks? Because
Speaker:there's a big opportunity here and a lot of opportunity to grow and develop this
Speaker:new industry, not only in Mexico, but in Latin America, right? Correct. I'm
Speaker:wondering, you know, I'm sure you got a bunch of other things that
Speaker:are on your— that you wake up thinking about, but I'm just wondering if this
Speaker:is one of those things that has come up as well. Definitely,
Speaker:definitely. And this has been one of the challenges of being pioneers in
Speaker:an industry because the government right now and the grants
Speaker:and everything is designed to help
Speaker:traditional farmers, and there's a lot to help them with. So, for the
Speaker:government, there's a lot of priorities before thinking on vertical farming, to be
Speaker:realistic. So, saying this, we've talked to government,
Speaker:and we started to approach them in a
Speaker:different mindset, just not only, hey, give me grants, or— but
Speaker:it's, how can we get the best out of the technology
Speaker:in your programs that can help the actual growers, in that case,
Speaker:help them, or farmers, and help them grow instead of just
Speaker:giving them greenhouse. Or for example, one program and
Speaker:one project that we started to work on is that the government normally
Speaker:has to deliver fresh food to small communities that are
Speaker:not communicated or don't have any supermarkets. And
Speaker:it's— Like here, they call them the food deserts. Food deserts.
Speaker:Exactly. Like the food deserts. And these people are in a very
Speaker:sad situation. And it's very challenging. They don't— they are not in the
Speaker:best health conditions because they don't have good nutrition. And
Speaker:we are starting to develop a project for these food deserts. So we put the
Speaker:container farms and we start creating a circular economy project, bringing
Speaker:container farms here. You get better food to the people,
Speaker:you get— you make them healthy. Yeah. Being healthy, everything
Speaker:starts working. Then you give jobs there and they can grow
Speaker:their own food. So there, they— when you create jobs, you create health. and you
Speaker:create innovation in these communities. So instead of just the
Speaker:government taking to these food deserts, let's teach them and give them
Speaker:the tools on how they can grow them themselves, you know. So it's
Speaker:part of the challenges we're facing right now here. And yeah, we need to be
Speaker:very creative on how to push these priorities in the government
Speaker:to help this industry grow. Yeah, it seems like you have— it's not only a
Speaker:lot of the challenges that I've heard in my conversations with earlier, you
Speaker:know, founders, that they're having here in the States where it's already been
Speaker:well established. There's a clear path, there's a lot of different opportunities
Speaker:and different channels to grow into. But you have an additional challenge
Speaker:of educating a new region as to what the
Speaker:possibilities are, and then, uh, making a decision for
Speaker:yourself as the, the co-founder how big you want to
Speaker:grow. Do you want to make a footprint obviously in Mexico, but do you have
Speaker:bigger plans to think about leveraging you know, the common language?
Speaker:And are there opportunities in Central and South America
Speaker:for Verde Compacto? Oh yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely.
Speaker:There's a lot of— every day there's more awareness on
Speaker:vertical farming, and every day there's more people that are
Speaker:interested in starting a project on vertical farming. And in
Speaker:the rest of Latin America as well, we've been having a lot of interest in
Speaker:Brazil, in Argentina, in Chile, in El Salvador. in Colombia,
Speaker:in Mexico, in Honduras. So, yeah, people are
Speaker:wanting to get involved into vertical farming. People are getting
Speaker:aware that we need to transform our food
Speaker:supply chain in order to have access to fresh
Speaker:food in the future and keep the environment safe. So, yeah,
Speaker:there's a lot to do. Right now, of course, our plans,
Speaker:yeah, grow our business in Mexico, in Latin
Speaker:America, But accelerate our growth in the actual
Speaker:markets, such as Europe and the United States. We're actually, we
Speaker:already have some Hubsters that are running right now in the United States.
Speaker:We have projects in Europe to expand an operation over there. And at the
Speaker:same time, we're generating a lot of noise in Latin America and the rest of
Speaker:the world. Because again, I think since again, this is a new
Speaker:industry, a new industry, you start within a global
Speaker:industry. not only in a regional industry. So you— so whenever you are
Speaker:solving a problem that is a global problem, you get
Speaker:awareness from everybody. And that's been also a challenge, but it's
Speaker:also a motivation on how could we help the
Speaker:projects that also come in Africa, in Asia,
Speaker:even though we don't have operations there, you know? But yeah, our plan
Speaker:is to get vertical farming everywhere we can.
Speaker:Yeah, very, very ambitious plans and definitely
Speaker:supporting your ability to do that. And definitely, like, I think
Speaker:there's a lot of hope for and promise for what you guys are gonna be
Speaker:delivering. Just as we wrap up, just a couple more questions. When you
Speaker:think about the roadmap and what's ahead for the
Speaker:Compacto, can you talk a little bit about what you have
Speaker:in, you know, maybe next 12 months? You know, obviously 3 years is probably
Speaker:a long time in vertical farming, so maybe— All right. Let's just think about the
Speaker:next 12 months. Well, the next 12 months is to establish—
Speaker:we're developing some flagship projects that are taking
Speaker:the company to another level to start to being able to bring vertical
Speaker:farming to the rest of the world. One of them is actually Miami
Speaker:right now happening. It's a very interesting project where I
Speaker:think it has the potential to be one of the leading vertical
Speaker:farming operations in the whole United States. And
Speaker:being part of that, it's a pretty good challenge and a pretty good opportunity. But
Speaker:we are here to bring the exact solution
Speaker:that this operation needs. So this could be a good challenge for that.
Speaker:And so that way, we want to be part of being
Speaker:involved in a vertical farming operation in the United States.
Speaker:Also, we are starting a program, as I said before, to go to
Speaker:Europe. We're starting to analyze
Speaker:partnerships to establish a good operation there
Speaker:and Yeah, and have one foot inside the
Speaker:European continent, which is growing a lot as well. And of
Speaker:course, keep on pushing and keep on educating and keep on
Speaker:building the industry in Mexico and Latin America. So
Speaker:this is what comes for the next 12 months, and it's a good
Speaker:challenge, but I think we're ready to face it. Well, Juan, I want to
Speaker:thank you for taking the time and working through all the technical challenges to get
Speaker:this conversation recorded. I know. I don't know, but
Speaker:here we are. Yeah, here we are. And I think what was important is
Speaker:to make sure we tell the story of what you're doing with Verdict Compacto. I
Speaker:had not heard of you guys, and, you know, obviously your team reached out to
Speaker:me, and I'm glad they did because I think I'm really inspired by your story
Speaker:and what you're doing and the additional challenges you face because you're in a
Speaker:new region where you're not only having to develop and
Speaker:build your program and your project, but also educate people at the
Speaker:same time as to, you know, you're offering a product that some people may not
Speaker:be familiar with and a culture may not be familiar with. Because you say
Speaker:farm, you know, to someone in Latin America, and they're going to
Speaker:immediately think of like the physical farms. And then there's questions about
Speaker:how does this taste? Is this coming from a machine? You know, it's
Speaker:really— you have to— a lot of education. So I applaud what you're doing. Thank
Speaker:you. And I know you have a lot of work ahead of you, but I'm
Speaker:glad that we're able to get the word out. Thank you. Thank you. And here
Speaker:we are. I think all of the companies and all the stakeholders in this industry
Speaker:need to work together to push this forward. There's a lot to do, there's a
Speaker:lot to build, and we're pretty proud of Verde Compacto
Speaker:being part of that. And I really appreciate your time and your space to
Speaker:talk a little bit on how we are putting our effort into this new
Speaker:industry that is very, very important for the future of our
Speaker:food supply chain. So if folks want to learn more about Verde Compacto, where's
Speaker:the best place to send them or to connect with you? Oh yeah, so yeah,
Speaker:you are welcome to visit us in verdecompacto.com. Or in our
Speaker:social media, in Verde Compacto, in Instagram or Facebook,
Speaker:or just send me a direct email at [email protected]
Speaker:and we can follow up the conversation. In YouTube, you can also search for
Speaker:Verde Compacto. We have some video tours of our container farms.
Speaker:We have a 360 tour as well where you can navigate,
Speaker:and we are happy to help on your projects wherever you need. We're very happy
Speaker:to help you. Glad to see you have a strong social presence as well, because
Speaker:that's important nowadays. Yes, yes, very, very important. Very, very
Speaker:important. Thanks again for your time. I really appreciate it, Juan. No, thank you, Harry.
Speaker:I appreciate it. Take care. Thanks again to Juan for coming on the show and
Speaker:sharing his story and the story of Verde Compacto. I never take for
Speaker:granted the hour that I get to spend with these amazing CEOs,
Speaker:founders, visionaries of the world of vertical farming,
Speaker:and I'm so happy that I get to share them with you. Full show notes
Speaker:available at verticalfarmingpodcast.com. The team does a really bang-up
Speaker:job of giving you a nice recap of the episode, timestamps,
Speaker:any resources mentioned, quotes as well. So, so let's make
Speaker:sure their work is not in vain. verticalfarmingpodcast.com.
Speaker:And share it with a friend as well. Thanks to our season 5 title
Speaker:sponsor, Cultivated. If you are into a vertical farm and don't know where to start
Speaker:or which technology would suit your needs, reach out to them today. And best of
Speaker:all, their service is free because they continue to work on behalf of their
Speaker:partners. Learn more at cultivatd.com, and that's spelled
Speaker:C-U-L-T-I-V-A-T-D.com. Just leave out
Speaker:that last E. Podcast production and marketing provided by Fullcast.
Speaker:If you want to learn more about how a podcast can support your marketing
Speaker:needs for your business, Yes. Visit fullcast.co.
Speaker:As a reminder, if you're enjoying the show, leave us a rating and a review
Speaker:at ratethispodcast.com/vfp, and we'll be sure to read those out
Speaker:on future episodes. Tune in next week for my round 2
Speaker:conversation with John Purcell, CEO of Unfold. We
Speaker:share some of the insights from his recent visits to
Speaker:Indoor AgCon and another update
Speaker:on what's happening from the wonderful world of plant
Speaker:genomics. John never disappoints, so make sure you tune into that one. Okay,
Speaker:back in the saddle. Until we meet again, here's to your health.
Speaker:Thanks for listening. To read the full show notes for this episode, which
Speaker:includes any links mentioned in the episode, as well as a full show
Speaker:transcription, visit verticalfarmingpodcast.com.
Speaker:There, you can sign up for our email list to be notified when new
Speaker:episodes are posted.
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