S7E82: Tristan Fischer / Fischer Farms - A Looming Food Crisis, Sustainability, & Building a Culture of Kindness

Episode Summary

Tristan Fischer has been involved in sustainable energy and sustainable food for over twenty years. He has been the Chairman or CEO of numerous companies, including Fischer Farms, a vertical farming/hydroponics business. Today, Tristan joins the show to discuss the benefits of vertical farm crops over field-grown crops, the looming food security crisis, and the importance of being a kind and empathetic leader

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Key Takeaways

07:13 – Tristan Fischer joins the show to share his background in finance, the evolution of renewables, and his passion for sustainability

17:15 – Vertical farming crops vs. field-grown crops

21:54 – Feeding the world: Tristan’s vertical farming origin story

31:16 – The inspiration to launch Fischer Farms and how Tristan has grown as a CEO

42:12 – The importance of being kind and empathetic

45:08 – Fischer Farms’ offerings and ideal clients

48:56 – A tough question Tristan has had to ask himself recently

51:43 – A specific ask Tristan has for his colleagues in the vertical farming industry

52:37 – Harry thanks Tristan for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can go to connect with him and learn more about Fischer Farms

Tweetable Quotes

“If you want to do good in the world, you also need to actually be profitable and develop businesses that are intrinsically capitalistic. Using capital to grow and having a business which is purely based on charitable activity isn’t good enough if you want to make a difference.” (10:52) (Tristan)

“When I was first doing solar projects, solar really wasn’t a great technology. Wind wasn’t really a great technology. It was expensive. It was intermittent. And, if you move on to twenty years after I started and you look in the UK now, the new wind energy systems that are coming onstream are the lowest cost electricity in the market, with the exception of solar.” (14:35) (Tristan)

“The quality that you get from vertical farming is just better than the quality that you get from a field-grown crop. It’s tastier, has a longer shelf life, is more nutritious, it has a lower environmental footprint. There’s just a whole long list of reasons why vertical farm products are better than field-grown crops.” (18:35) (Tristan)

“About twenty-five percent of all the world’s food production comes from land which uses aquifer water for irrigation. And, in about twenty years time, in most of the world where they have that type of system, that water will be gone or unusable.” (24:53) (Tristan)

“I think that ultimately what you’re trying to do as a CEO is get the best out of your team because, ultimately, you need them. They are the specialists. They are the ones who understand the lighting, the water systems, the technology, and the growing.” (36:10) (Tristan)

“I think that, as a CEO, creating that culture is very important. A culture of trust, of openness,and dare I say, of kindness, and love, and affection. We want people to be nice to each other, tobe good to each other, because if they are nice and good to each other, the more likely they areto cooperate and help each other out. And that’s what it’s all about really.” (41:48) (Tristan)