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$680 million poured into precision ag last year.
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Autonomous weeding robots dominated, and John Deere made 2 acquisitions in 3
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months. A food company, not an equipment maker, bought a
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robotics startup to protect its own supply chain. The deals are
Speaker:
accelerating, the money is moving, and the winners are already separating from the
Speaker:
pack. If you're investing, building, or buying in this space,
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you need the full picture before your competitors get it. The 2025
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Precision Agriculture Intelligence Report from iGrow News is now
Speaker:
available. Get your copy today at
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igrownews.com/precision. This episode is brought to you
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by Ceres, who combines smart greenhouse design with customized
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climate control technology to build sustainable grow environments for
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year-round production. They work with their customers and clients every step of the
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way, from helping to secure funding to providing growing data.
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Whether you're a commercial entrepreneur, an educator, or someone looking for a rewarding
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hobby, visit ceres That's
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C-E-R-E-S-G-S.com, to get
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started on your greenhouse goals.
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Welcome to the Vertical Farming Podcast, weekly conversations
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with fascinating CEOs, founders, and agtech visionaries.
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Join us every week as we dive deep into the world of vertical
Speaker:
farming with your host, Harry Duran.
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Vertical Farming Podcast. This is Harry Duran. Year-end
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bonus episode. Given that this was the first year of the
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show, I thought it would be nice to do a little bit of a recap,
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considering I kicked it off early this year in the midst of a
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pandemic. And little did I know what a ride I'd be in for. For
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those of you who may not have heard the origin story, it started with me
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discovering Peter Diamandis's book Abundance, diving deep on vertical
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farming, and with the skills we have at Fulcast, our
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production company, beginning to put together what would become the
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Vertical Farming Podcast. I was lucky early enough to get interviews with
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the likes of David Farkar, Louisa Burwood-Taylor, Henry
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Gordon-Smith, and John Friedman, just to name a few. And I'm
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eternally grateful especially to David and the team at
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Intelligent Growth Solutions, IGS, for taking a chance on us and being
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the first sponsor for season 1. We had a fantastic array of
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guests. Steven Pankhurst, who had an incredible inspiring
Speaker:
series on YouTube that was one of the first things I researched when digging
Speaker:
into the topic. We had conversations with Dave Riddell from Clausen
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Greens, Nicola Kurzleke and Virginia Emery, Andrew Carter and
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Scott Macy, Alex Tink, And David Farquhar and Michelle
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Bonahome from Hylex to round out season 1. We took a bit of a
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break and I knew I had my work cut out for me if I was
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going to keep the caliber of the episodes up to par with season
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1. So after catching my breath for probably what was a couple of
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weeks with managing day-to-day
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operations at our production company, we kicked off season 2.
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Special thanks to Mark Flinkie and Haley at Ceres
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Greenhouse Solutions, who came on board as a season 2 sponsor.
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We kicked off season 2 with a great conversation with Tobias Peggs of
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Square Roots and followed up with a nice round of conversations
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that covered a wide range of topics. Eddie Badrina on creating exponential
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positive change, New Age Provisions container farmer Mario
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Vitalis, and 2 really strong interviews with John Purcell and Henry
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Stuhl of Unfold and Bowery Farms respectively. So
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we've taken a little bit of a break for the holidays, but I wanted to
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come on and thank you from the bottom of my heart. The
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support has been overwhelming. I've had people reach out to me on
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LinkedIn, comments on Twitter and our Instagram pages,
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and suggestions for guests for future episodes and future
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seasons. So we're already in the process of lining those up.
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I'd also be remiss if I didn't give a special thanks to
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A couple of volunteers on the show, Charles and Daniel, who were
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really helpful. If you've enjoyed the show, I'd love it if you could leave a
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rating and a review at ratethispodcast.com/vfp.
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And as well, if you're interested in sponsorship opportunities for
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season 3, by all means, reach out to me directly,
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[email protected]. I understand it's been a challenging
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year for many people in this country and across the world. And
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so I want to express my heartfelt thanks for you taking the time And hopefully
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the podcast has brought a little bit of sunshine into your lives this year.
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Looking forward to more fantastic conversations in 2021.
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Here's to your health. Happy New Year to you all. Special thanks to our episode
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sponsor, Ceres Greenhouse Solutions. Ceres is creating sustainable
Speaker:
growing environments by combining smart design, innovative technology, and
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dynamic partnerships. Learn more at
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ceresgs.com. That's
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C-E-R-E-S-G-S.com.
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Thanks for listening. To read the full show notes for
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this episode, which includes any links mentioned in the episode, as
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well as a full show transcription, visit
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verticalfarmingpodcast.com. There, you can sign
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up for our email list to be notified when new episodes are published.
Speaker:
$680 million poured into precision ag last year.
Speaker:
Autonomous weeding robots dominated, and John Deere made 2 acquisitions in
Speaker:
3 months. A food company, not an equipment maker, bought a
Speaker:
robotics startup to protect its own supply chain. The deals are
Speaker:
accelerating, the money is moving, and the winners are already separating from the
Speaker:
pack. If you're investing, building, or buying in this space,
Speaker:
you need the full picture before your competitors get it. The 2025
Speaker:
Precision Agriculture Intelligence Report from iGrow News is now
Speaker:
available. Get your copy today at
Speaker:
igrownews.com/precision.
