Shownotes
Can technology and privacy coexist in this rapidly evolving business landscape? This is a question we attempt to answer as we welcome Tinia Pina, the innovative Founder and CEO of Re-Nuble. Our riveting conversation explores the risks and rewards of navigating the digital world while protecting our privacy, and how we can leverage accessible technology to create sustainable products, without being swept up in the distractions of the tech world.
New York’s relentless energy can be overwhelming, but it also breeds resilience. Together with Tinia, we journey through the bustling streets of the Big Apple, delving into its unique influence on its citizens. We reflect on the significance of community and how to find balance amidst the city's frenetic pace. We then steer our discussion towards the revolutionary world of renewable resources and sustainable agriculture. Tinia shares compelling anecdotes about her professional journey, the resilience that New York cultivated in her, and why she founded the New York City Agriculture Collective.
The episode concludes with a fascinating discussion on the future of vertical farming, a disruptive practice that is reshaping the way we grow our food. We talk about the exciting potential of giving farmers more flexibility, from irrigation to material types. The potential of home farming and investment possibilities in produce security, particularly outside the United States, are also touched upon. Tinia's insights into these emerging trends offer a fresh perspective on the future of the industry. So join us for an episode packed with invaluable insights from a seasoned professional leading the way in the field of renewable resources and sustainable agriculture.
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Key Takeaways
0:00:03 - Technology's Impact on Privacy and Business
0:04:45 - Finding Home, Balance in New York
0:08:48 - The Evolution of Renewable
0:21:58 - Challenges and Growth in Sustainable Agriculture
0:34:25 - Flexible Irrigation and Material Types
0:44:31 - The Future of Vertical Farming
Tweetable Quotes
"I've always needed to align my personal values with my professional work. The work that I needed to do needed to have a social mission, which is why we're a social enterprise. It's very easy and without any question, we need to have something that's going to directly give back in ways that the business can."
"We're essentially a social enterprise that focuses on developing and commercializing nutrients and fiber products that are meant to use byproducts from the food production industry, as well as crop residues, to turn them into organic, renewable materials to replace mineral salts and horticultural substrates."
"The biggest advantage has been for me of just removing any ego, any attachment, and I think that makes me a lot more lean. I lean into the team. I definitely create an environment where people feel like they're co-creating, they're contributing just as much as I in the sense of this is part of their vision as well."
Resources Mentioned
Tinia's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/re-nuble
Tinia's Website - https://www.re-nuble.com
Tinia's Email - [email protected]
Tinia's Twitter - https://twitter.com/Re_Nuble
Tinia's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/re_nuble/?hl=en
Tinia's Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ReNuble/
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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
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. For me, I've
Speaker:always needed to align my personal values with whatever kind of professional work that I
Speaker:do. I used to work in finance. That culture was not for me. Learned that
Speaker:very quickly. Did what I did to need to adapt. But at the end of
Speaker:the day, I spent a lot of my time doing a lot of volunteer work
Speaker:through urban rooftop gardens. At the time, it was Brooklyn Bridge on a volunteer
Speaker:basis. taught through New York Cares, through a prep
Speaker:SAT program in Harlem. And that just really instilled
Speaker:that the work that I needed to do needed to have just a social mission,
Speaker:which is why we're a social enterprise.
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
Speaker:farming with your host, Harry Duran.
Speaker:Vertical Farming Podcast, season 9. Regular listeners to the
Speaker:show, welcome back. I always greet you with open arms, and I've actually
Speaker:gotten to say hi to some of you at
Speaker:VertiFarm Conference. And I am recording this in case you notice a
Speaker:difference in the sound quality from my hotel room as I get ready to
Speaker:jump into day 3. So with the changes in
Speaker:time zones, you may be hearing this at— in the evening or in the
Speaker:daytime, but it's been A fun experience. It was a long trip to get here
Speaker:and well worth the time. Special thanks again to the team
Speaker:at VertiFarm and AVF Summit. It's been great to connect with folks, new
Speaker:folks, fans of the show, past guests,
Speaker:partners, sponsors. So much fun to be in
Speaker:this industry and to see what's happening, see the excitement that's happening, and
Speaker:just have these face-to-face conversations. Really, nothing can beat that. So it's been really,
Speaker:really great experience. If you are a new listener, then this is what happens every
Speaker:single week here. We talk to some of the amazing folks in the world of
Speaker:podcasting and we get them just relax and just
Speaker:kick back their heels and share their stories, share their inspiring origin
Speaker:stories and talk about what's happening in the world of vertical farming for them,
Speaker:how they got started, what inspired them, what continues to inspire
Speaker:them. And that's really what makes this show what it is. And so
Speaker:I'm appreciative of you. Checking the show out, and I hope you continue to spread
Speaker:the word. Tell your friends in the industry, tell your friends that are not in
Speaker:the industry, tell them to— if you want to learn about something about vertical farming,
Speaker:you should probably check this podcast out, Vertical Farming Podcast. So
Speaker:thanks one and all for all the help and the support of this show over
Speaker:the years. It's been really appreciative. In case you missed last week's episode,
Speaker:we spoke to Rob Van Straten of Skytree, who was actually at this
Speaker:conference, and I got to See Rob here, which is always fun, and
Speaker:past guests as well. We talked about his discussion
Speaker:of his journey, his career journey in getting to this point, and
Speaker:Skytree's ESG compliance journey as well. We get a
Speaker:little technical and figure out the ins and outs of CO2 capture technology
Speaker:for vertical farms, and we share Rob's insights on the industry.
Speaker:Really great to see what they're doing, and that's a very informative episode, so make
Speaker:sure you check that out if you have not already. This week's guest, Tiniya Pina,
Speaker:we connected at Indoor Ag Tech NYC. Actually,
Speaker:Indoor Ag Con, I think, was the first time, and then we put it on
Speaker:the calendar, and finally, over the few months, we made the time
Speaker:work and we were able to have this conversation, which I really appreciate. So
Speaker:we asked some questions in this conversation about the existence
Speaker:of tech and privacy. That's how we started. It was top of mind for me
Speaker:and helpful. And grateful to Tinea for providing some of her
Speaker:context there. And then we share some stories about our time spent
Speaker:in New York and the energy that's there. It's interesting because
Speaker:I've got a strong relationship to the city, having grown
Speaker:up just outside of it and having lived in it several iterations of
Speaker:my life. And my recent trip there was a reminder that
Speaker:sometimes the energy can be a bit overwhelming. And I don't know if it's something
Speaker:that's changed after COVID, but It's different for me now,
Speaker:and maybe it's because of the time I've been spending in Minneapolis,
Speaker:actually just outside Minneapolis in Minnesota, and just being able to
Speaker:wake up and see trees in my backyard and the occasional
Speaker:turkey or deer that's running through the yard, which happens.
Speaker:And you notice that your stress levels are definitely reduced. And so when
Speaker:you're in an environment like New York City, it sort of creeps up on you
Speaker:again. So we talked with Tinea about the work that they're
Speaker:doing. With renewable, the challenges, and the
Speaker:growth potential for sustainable agriculture. We talked about the
Speaker:exciting potential of giving farmers more flexibility from irrigation to material types,
Speaker:the potential of home farming, and investment possibilities to provide
Speaker:security both within the US and outside as well. Her team
Speaker:is doing some inspiring work in the world of renewable resources
Speaker:and sustainable agriculture. So very insightful to hear what's happening
Speaker:in this space as it's something that's a little new for me. So I'm really
Speaker:excited to share this episode with you. If you're enjoying this episode or past
Speaker:episodes and you're a new listener, then the homework
Speaker:is to go to ratethispodcast.com/vfp
Speaker:and leave a rating and a review. And I'd love to read yours out next.
Speaker:You get a shout out on this podcast. And keep in mind, if you're listening
Speaker:to this on the go, that these episodes have a ton of takeaways as
Speaker:always. But as a listener, I want you to focus all your energy on the
Speaker:conversation. So don't feel like you need to pull out the notepad, take notes.
Speaker:Everything from this specific episode can be found at
Speaker:verticalfarmingpodcast.com, where you can click into the episode, play
Speaker:it, and all the show notes are there, and it'll include all the guest links
Speaker:also. All right, before we jump into this uninterrupted conversation with
Speaker:Tinea, here are a few words from the partners that support this show.
Speaker:Mark your calendars for the CEA Summit East in Danville, Virginia, from
Speaker:September 19th to the 20th, 2023. This 2-day
Speaker:event, co-hosted by Indoor AgCon and the Virginia Tech IALR
Speaker:Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center, brings businesses
Speaker:and academia together to help you grow your business. Immerse yourself in a full
Speaker:lineup of research showcases, panel discussions, and keynotes featuring
Speaker:top experts, grower operators, and other thought leaders. Explore the
Speaker:latest CEA innovations from tabletop exhibitors. Enjoy
Speaker:quality networking opportunities. Don't miss this unique opportunity to attend a
Speaker:conference at a research facility where you can get a firsthand look at cutting-edge research
Speaker:projects happening right now and explore ideas for collaboration with
Speaker:Virginia Tech and IALR researchers as well. Vertical Farming
Speaker:Podcast listeners can save 10% off the standard passes with code
Speaker:VFP. Visit ceasummit.com for more
Speaker:details and to register. If you're considering container farming, then
Speaker:look no further than Farm Anywhere. Astute listeners will recognize
Speaker:the name from my conversation on episode 99 with
Speaker:Gabriel Zarafanitis. Farm Anywhere is renowned for their state-of-the-art container
Speaker:farms and complementary agricultural equipment, which guarantees a robust
Speaker:start to your indoor farming venture. Even better, Farm Anywhere is
Speaker:providing a discount exclusively to listeners of this show, a
Speaker:$5,000 reduction in delivery fees, no monthly subscription
Speaker:charges, and many other benefits. To take advantage of this special
Speaker:offer, visit farmanywhere.ag/vfp.
Speaker:I've been excited about the work the team is doing at Farm Anywhere since my
Speaker:conversation with Gabriel, and this is a fantastic offer you should take advantage
Speaker:of if it's a fit for you. The link again,
Speaker:farmanywhere.ag/vfp. So,
Speaker:Tini Apina, founder and CEO of RenewBull, thank you so much
Speaker:for joining me on the Vertical Farming Podcast. Anytime. Thanks for having me,
Speaker:Harry. We're going through the ups and downs and
Speaker:the ins and outs of Security and privacy online.
Speaker:Prior to hitting record, we were having some issues with this platform, which I think
Speaker:we got resolved. But this idea of passwords floating
Speaker:around and security online, it is not something we needed to
Speaker:concern ourselves with 20 years ago. I grew up in the '80s, and it is
Speaker:really weird to have to think about all the things we need to take care
Speaker:of now to protect our privacy. Totally. And it changes the way we do
Speaker:business now too. Yes. Yeah, you were sharing a
Speaker:story that was pretty scary with someone that had their privacy or
Speaker:their information hacked and it didn't turn out well for them.
Speaker:I saw a post recently, someone posted, I think it was on Slate,
Speaker:about this is what life used to be for people who worked in my
Speaker:generation. And people were just posting these vignettes of like,
Speaker:as soon as I was done with work at 5, I would just leave and
Speaker:go like hang out with my friends at the bar and I'd never have to
Speaker:think about work. And like, I didn't have an email and like I had one
Speaker:awkward-sounding email for work that I never used. Or I
Speaker:would get up in the morning, hang out with my friends, and we'd watch Friends,
Speaker:must-see TV, and that's all we would do. And that's all we had that was
Speaker:on TV. And it was this weird moment in time that I think
Speaker:about it now. And I mean, mostly everyone, myself included,
Speaker:the phones at the bedside. And I catch myself, I'm like, this is not
Speaker:the first thing I want to be doing. So, I have to train myself. I
Speaker:don't know if insidious is too heavy a word, but it's just this slowly
Speaker:over time, this creeping in of like technology into our worlds
Speaker:to the point where people feel like they can't do without it. Yet we did
Speaker:do without it a decade ago. And I'm wondering what that experience has been like
Speaker:for you. Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. I think it's very existential
Speaker:because I think the main thing that it's triggered by
Speaker:is fear of missing out. So a lot of FOMO and the fear of not
Speaker:being relevant. And I think if people can just remove a
Speaker:lot of that attachment to those 2 fears, Hmm. Then, yes, you
Speaker:can become centered. You can just create a lot more boundaries.
Speaker:I think that has also kind of caused a lot of perhaps the hype
Speaker:in our industry that we've been hearing about and seeing.
Speaker:And if really people just focus on the core competency, their core mission,
Speaker:despite how challenging and especially when you're creating a new category, it
Speaker:really removes that what seems to be just a very
Speaker:just negative kind of energy that none of us want to be attached to.
Speaker:Yeah. How have you found that has changed, like, your
Speaker:behavior or your relationship to tech? Yeah, that's a good
Speaker:question. You know, we've been tech-enabled, but not tech in the sense
Speaker:of there is a sophisticated software
Speaker:algorithm or tech hardware that really
Speaker:makes us who we are and differentiates us. And I think that gave us a
Speaker:lot more flexibility with how we raise money, And really
Speaker:just doubling down on what we're doing has always been hard.
Speaker:But thankfully, and I'm so glad that we don't rely on
Speaker:having to focus on tech and just the IP
Speaker:of it, it does really allow us to take and innovate on
Speaker:existing kind of processes and using off-the-shelf
Speaker:commercial equipment, for example, and just hone in on where can we be more
Speaker:cost efficient. so that we can provide something more affordable, more
Speaker:responsibly sustainable, and ideally more resource efficient. 'Cause that's
Speaker:our core focus. We wanna differentiate ourselves with our
Speaker:services and our products based on that. I think when you get distracted by
Speaker:tech and the features of it, then it
Speaker:really just makes it that much more challenging in what you really
Speaker:wanted to focus on at the beginning of your mission. Home is New York City
Speaker:for you? Good point. Home is originally from Virginia, but I've lived
Speaker:and worked in New York City for almost, 17 years now. Okay.
Speaker:And where did you grow up? Woodbridge, Virginia. So right outside of Fairfax.
Speaker:Okay. And what was that like? Good suburban family.
Speaker:Both my parents didn't go to school. I was the first oldest child to go
Speaker:through college, majored in information technology from Virginia Tech.
Speaker:And, you know, just really had a very diverse,
Speaker:non-deterministic path to what I do now.
Speaker:But, you know, I think I've just always been grounded with hard work.
Speaker:You know, things have always been hard in the sense of what I've pursued. And,
Speaker:when you add manufacturing on top of agriculture, you
Speaker:really need to have thick skin to just stay focused on it. So, I think
Speaker:a lot of people didn't think I would last this long, but I'm here to
Speaker:prove others wrong. What was your first
Speaker:experience with New York or your most memorable? I would say my
Speaker:first experience was I had my first panic attack in the city. Oh,
Speaker:really? And, it was putting 2 too much money down for an apartment that
Speaker:was about to get swept underneath my feet. And I
Speaker:think, you know, New York City— and I'm sure there's other cities similar to it—
Speaker:it definitely hardens you. Yeah. But it hardens
Speaker:you in a way that, like, you are so much more respectful of other people's
Speaker:time. So I'm that much more efficient with phone calls. Yeah. And I
Speaker:appreciate, I appreciate community because you can get
Speaker:really lost in a numbers game rat race here. What do you do
Speaker:to keep yourself centered? I'm a very, you know, I like to go around the
Speaker:city, take photographs with a camera. I like to be around
Speaker:nature. So I try to go out and farm. You know, we're starting a
Speaker:very DIY farm on some land in Massachusetts. And
Speaker:that's my first foray. I don't, you know, I own that I don't have
Speaker:a farming background. Maybe my ancestors did, right?
Speaker:But that's where I also really appreciate it more because I can be that much
Speaker:more experimental. I am removed of all ego,
Speaker:so I want to learn as much as possible, try as much as
Speaker:possible, and just know that there is hope to be
Speaker:experimental with it. We were talking a little bit before we got started. I just
Speaker:got back from Indoor AgTech NYC, and I grew up in New
Speaker:York, grew up in Yonkers, just outside New York City. I have lived Upper East
Speaker:Side and East Village, as the regular listeners will know. And I
Speaker:think what was striking for me is how different I responded to the
Speaker:energy The event was in Times Square, Marriott Marquis. And as anyone
Speaker:knows, you step into Times Square and then you're— it's like the energy of Las
Speaker:Vegas, but instead of a strip, it's like a 4-block radius of
Speaker:just like, I don't even know how to describe that. And it's just chaotic, frenetic,
Speaker:like all of the above. And I think in the past I had more of
Speaker:an appetite for that, even though I preferred downtown in terms of that energy.
Speaker:But I think as I get older, you sort of have less patience for it,
Speaker:or you have to find different ways to cope with it. Or New Yorkers. I
Speaker:used to have a friend who said, I don't go, I don't hang out above
Speaker:14th Street. I think he said. He lived downtown. This was
Speaker:like in the '90s or something like that. I thought that was hilarious. He's like,
Speaker:nope, don't go above 14th Street. So I think everyone responds to it
Speaker:in a different case in time. And but do you find like there's certain pockets
Speaker:of the city that you resonate with and you turn— kind of stay in those
Speaker:areas? Yeah, absolutely. And it's a thing, you know, getting
Speaker:friends from Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, it's hard to get them out of
Speaker:their own borough because we like to host a lot. But For me, you
Speaker:know, I'm fortunate to live close to the Hudson. As soon as I go
Speaker:to the water, I feel zapped of stress. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. As soon as—
Speaker:same thing with Central Park. So once you find your routine and
Speaker:that routine helps centers you, grounds you, removes you of the stress,
Speaker:it's possible. Yeah, it's great to have that. And then you
Speaker:mentioned you were working on some land as well. So do you find, or do
Speaker:you notice a difference that when you leave New York and then when you come
Speaker:back, that shift is like for you? Good question. I think for me, it's
Speaker:like, so this land is not, it's
Speaker:cleared, but it's not developed. So no utilities. And for me, I'm
Speaker:able to kind of, it's just like really kind of create my own
Speaker:blueprint by really working with permaculture principles. So when I
Speaker:come back to the city, I'm that much more excited to just do
Speaker:and create. So it's very much restorative in that sense. I
Speaker:was looking at some of the experiences you've had from your LinkedIn profile. I
Speaker:saw that you worked at New York Cares and I was familiar with that organization.
Speaker:as well from my time in college during fraternity. We would do coat drives for
Speaker:them and stuff like that. So is that something that's always been a part of
Speaker:you in terms of this ability to do volunteer work,
Speaker:give back to the community? And where did that start for you and, and who
Speaker:inspired that? Yeah, you know, for me, and I appreciate you asking that,
Speaker:for me, I've always needed to align my personal values with whatever
Speaker:kind of professional work that I do. Yeah. I used to work in finance. That
Speaker:culture was not for me. Learned that very quickly. Did what I did to need
Speaker:to adapt. But at the end of the day, I spent a lot of my
Speaker:time doing a lot of volunteer work through urban rooftop gardens.
Speaker:At the time, it was Brooklyn Bridge on a volunteer basis, taught through
Speaker:New York Cares through a prep SAT program in Harlem.
Speaker:And that just really instilled that the work that I needed to do needed to
Speaker:have just a social mission, which is why we're a social enterprise
Speaker:so that it's very easy. And without any question, we need to
Speaker:have something that's going to directly give back in ways that the business can't.
Speaker:But also, I can feel good that we're creating this shift for
Speaker:society, whether it's rethinking on how things are used or how food is
Speaker:produced. And so, that's what allowed me to kind of
Speaker:go this long. Yeah. There were many points in the business where I should have
Speaker:given it up. And, I had a negative
Speaker:666, as much as that's indicative of things that you
Speaker:would not think are good, balance in the business. I had a negative
Speaker:balance in my personal account. And, there were many obstacles like that
Speaker:where it's like, damn, like I need to really rethink things.
Speaker:But I think just that core mission and
Speaker:my personal values, and because I knew what we were
Speaker:working on is so impactful for the industry and
Speaker:just society, that's what helped me keep the grit to keep the
Speaker:persistence. If I didn't have that, or if it was just a quick
Speaker:exit type situation, I wouldn't have stayed this long.
Speaker:Where do you think you learned that from? Good question. I don't know. You
Speaker:know, I think it could be something that, you know, just I
Speaker:was kind of have by birth those traits. But I
Speaker:also think that my parents, I didn't really have
Speaker:like security net to be able to experiment.
Speaker:So anything that I started with this much risk, I
Speaker:had to really fully commit for more than just
Speaker:the opportunity itself. And I think that's what really
Speaker:perhaps did it for me. When did you start to become more
Speaker:interested in the world of agriculture? I saw, you know, there was a collective
Speaker:you joined and even Oregon Tilth. So how did that get on your
Speaker:radar and how did it start to pique your interest and get moving towards that
Speaker:direction? Yeah, New York City Agriculture Collective, which
Speaker:really kind of the founding members, Henry Gordon Smith and several from
Speaker:AeroFarms and a number of others, smallhold others. I really kind of give
Speaker:credit to Henry to creating the community of us really just
Speaker:wanting to create what we felt was needed, but also create this
Speaker:culture that sensationalized and really made a
Speaker:proud sense of wanting to grow food in New York City. And so that's
Speaker:what was one kind of seed. And at first, I didn't know
Speaker:what to expect, but I knew I wanted to be a part of it with
Speaker:a totally different perspective. And so that was New York City
Speaker:Agricultural Collective. Still exists, still runs very well. And I think they're doing a
Speaker:New York City AgTech Week this upcoming September. Separately with
Speaker:Oregon Tilth, they actually reached out because they were looking for board members
Speaker:with diverse representation and diverse kind of perspectives. And
Speaker:what I felt I brought to the board was, you know,
Speaker:really looking at just more kind of fragmented
Speaker:agricultural markets, especially related to urban agriculture, smallholder farms,
Speaker:and especially CEA. And they You know,
Speaker:even though organic is definitely value of mine
Speaker:personally, but not limiting ourselves to organic or
Speaker:just organic food, not just produce grown, it's also
Speaker:food that's processed. And so, it wasn't hard to
Speaker:get the interest of their board given the, I think, the diverse
Speaker:outlook that I bring. So, I was fortunate in that way. So,
Speaker:to talk about where you were as you were learning, you get influences
Speaker:from the collective, working with Oregon Tilth, And talk a little bit
Speaker:about the story of how this idea starts to formulate for Renewal
Speaker:and who, if anyone, you're having conversations with at that time.
Speaker:Yeah, so Renewal actually was really conceived before then when I was
Speaker:working in finance. I took— I just had this
Speaker:random idea because it was totally unrelated to what we do, and I
Speaker:always wanted to do work with recycling to the point where I was looking at
Speaker:Mack trucks, these expensive Crazy-looking trucks,
Speaker:no budget for it whatsoever, but just really understanding the infrastructure
Speaker:and how you know material resource transfer stations are
Speaker:handled. And so I took two personal weeks off
Speaker:when I was working in finance to take vacation, go to Des Moines, Iowa, and
Speaker:learn what anaerobic digesters are—the huge municipally
Speaker:owned behemoths that manage organic waste.
Speaker:And I've always felt if we can take the the same benefits that
Speaker:food waste as a compost material can provide for
Speaker:soil ecosystems, why can't we mimic that
Speaker:similarly for hydroponic or soilless? Okay. Because I see
Speaker:the benefits of bacteria providing in reduced fertilizer
Speaker:inputs amongst other properties. And so, I've always been a
Speaker:huge fan of biomimicry, always been a huge fan of like, how can we
Speaker:really look at how things react and the synergies
Speaker:within the ecosystems to do that in another
Speaker:scenario. And that really was what started for us. We were focusing
Speaker:on food waste, vegetative waste specifically, and using
Speaker:a bioconversion process that allows it to be
Speaker:sterilized and turned into a homogeneous— so same kind
Speaker:of pH and just nutrient composition—
Speaker:so that hydroponic farms could first start working with it.
Speaker:as a replacement to synthetic mineral salts. And, it was a
Speaker:rocky experience. We gave out the product to several farms in the industry.
Speaker:We were fortunate to get feedback from them, had some deficiencies quite
Speaker:transparently with basil in particular at the beginning. And then, we
Speaker:worked through— we had a lot of constraints that
Speaker:really limited us to a vegetative waste-only product. And
Speaker:so, when we realized, okay, how much time are we
Speaker:putting into this? And that doesn't mean we're going to abandon it, but now that
Speaker:we kind of picked up this Renew Terra, which is the focus on
Speaker:using crop residue fibers, okay, to choose it as a
Speaker:replacement to rockwool, peat, and coco coir, that really got a
Speaker:lot of interest and gave us more diverse markets than just the US,
Speaker:where a liquid organic hydroponic nutrient product is really going to
Speaker:be severely impacted based on shipping costs. Yeah. Whereas a
Speaker:fiber product, not so much. So, So we put that production on
Speaker:hold and really doubled down on the Renewterra product line
Speaker:purely because of that. To go to your point, I think the
Speaker:mindset of really looking at cities, how to close the
Speaker:loop on what inputs are, how they're consumed, and
Speaker:how to really turn that byproduct or waste stream
Speaker:or residual into materials that are used on a pretty
Speaker:frequent and high-volume basis, that still remains.
Speaker:The good thing is it gives us flexibility to work with different waste
Speaker:types irrespective of the geography and the different kind of food
Speaker:production economies elsewhere. So for
Speaker:folks that are not familiar with Renewal and
Speaker:the product line, how it's evolved since you started and
Speaker:who your customers are, can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So we're essentially a social enterprise that focuses on, and it
Speaker:for-profit social enterprise. So, a lot of people mistaken that as a nonprofit,
Speaker:but we are for-profit in the sense that we sell, or I should say, we
Speaker:develop and commercialize nutrients, a platform of
Speaker:sustainable technology, such as nutrients, as well as fiber
Speaker:products that are meant to use byproducts from the
Speaker:food production industry, as well as crop residues
Speaker:to turn them into organic renewable materials. To
Speaker:replace mineral salts on the nutrient side, and separately
Speaker:rockwool, peat, and coco coir on the input side as it relates to grow
Speaker:medias or horticultural substrates. And so our
Speaker:platform for Renewterra, especially given that's what we've been
Speaker:honing in on, it is anywhere from plugs of different
Speaker:dimensions to blocks, slabs, and
Speaker:mats, but we also have loose fibers And the
Speaker:intention is to, you know, right now we use a proprietary
Speaker:fiber that allows us to adhere with other
Speaker:existing residual fibers such as jute. We are also experimenting with other
Speaker:materials that allows us to really bind these 2
Speaker:fibers together. And the fibers allow for more water retention,
Speaker:but also more air porosity, the pockets without creating too much
Speaker:density and too much what I would say inconsistency in
Speaker:the fibers, shape, and size that you often see with wood substrates.
Speaker:Okay. So, that's the main thing that we've been focusing on.
Speaker:Where are you seeing most of the application or interest in
Speaker:terms of the product lines? Yeah, so recently we launched a
Speaker:mat. The Renew Terra Mat comes in various shapes and
Speaker:sizes, and that mat is more so grown
Speaker:for, or used for microgreen mats, but they're also used in
Speaker:NFT gutters and other really different
Speaker:dimensions that I think some farms have more custom You asked earlier
Speaker:in terms of the farms that we're working with. So, they're both here in the
Speaker:US and Canada, as well as abroad in Germany,
Speaker:France, et cetera. So, what the reason why they've
Speaker:sought us out is for a couple of reasons. So, the biggest one is
Speaker:the sustainability. We can speak with truth and confidence
Speaker:that we can reduce the emissions. However, transparently,
Speaker:you know, right now our LCA is being updated. So the way
Speaker:we calculate our emissions— What's that, the LCA? LCA
Speaker:is life cycle assessment. Okay. Or life cycle analysis. Okay. So that
Speaker:would be looking at, okay, all of the inputs going in, all the raw
Speaker:materials and renewables production process, as well as
Speaker:the processes and activities to— for the customer to receive
Speaker:that finished good, what are the emissions involved? Okay. And so
Speaker:that's not finished yet, but what we're able to provide is here's the emissions you're
Speaker:reducing by using our product. That has been upcycled.
Speaker:And so sustainability has been the first and foremost, followed by
Speaker:affordability. And given that we have flexibility with
Speaker:not only the material density, but also the
Speaker:dimensionality, we can be able to provide more
Speaker:flexibility on the pricing. And then lastly, the resource
Speaker:efficiency. So how the product can be
Speaker:irrigated, we optimize for less water and less
Speaker:irrigation. which indirectly would also reduce energy
Speaker:costs. So, those 3 things took us a while to hone in on, but
Speaker:now with the mats, and very soon in August, the plugs,
Speaker:followed by the slabs and the blocks, people will be able to see the
Speaker:benefits that we're seeing on the mats translated across those use cases.
Speaker:And, do you see that growing faster than the nutrient side?
Speaker:Good question. We get asked that all the time. I do purely
Speaker:for the reason that right now, You know, it's very
Speaker:cheap to ship the fiber product or our Renewterra line
Speaker:all across the world because it's a light product, whereas the nutrients
Speaker:were really limited to North America just based on shipping costs.
Speaker:However, the production process, which right now is in upstate New
Speaker:York, is designed so that can be very cost-effectively
Speaker:replicated in a distributed fashion. So our goal is not to ship
Speaker:all over the world. That certainly would be counterproductive to our mission.
Speaker:We want to be able to replicate it with strategic partners in other
Speaker:markets where they can take their localized vegetative waste
Speaker:stream or crop residue as a fiber source
Speaker:and turn it into materials that would best be used for farms in that
Speaker:area. What's an example of crop residue? A
Speaker:good point. So in this case, it would be jute. Jute is used as a
Speaker:fiber in many industries, but the jute fibers
Speaker:is a byproduct often for of the first, like, primary
Speaker:industry that it sold for. Okay, so then when
Speaker:you're creating the nutrients, was there a challenge in standardizing, like,
Speaker:the levels of all the nutrients you would have? Because I was
Speaker:thinking, if you can't control the distribution or the mix of the
Speaker:vegetation that makes its way into the waste, I'm just
Speaker:curious, from a— without giving away any secret sauce, like,
Speaker:how you determine or how you modify it so that you're ensuring
Speaker:a even distribution on a consistent basis with every batch
Speaker:that you make? Yeah, no, fair question. So right now in
Speaker:our upstate New York facility, we do work with a select few of
Speaker:produce byproduct suppliers. And the reason why
Speaker:they give away is just if they're unable to give it to a farm as
Speaker:livestock feed, then they donate it to us. And it's a
Speaker:standardized, you know, waste makeup right now that's broccoli,
Speaker:cauliflower, carrots, peas. Okay. Sometimes that ratio
Speaker:does vary based on the day, but the good thing is that we now have
Speaker:an average baseline of what we can anticipate. And we do,
Speaker:you know, add in amendments that are OMRI certified to allow us to be
Speaker:able to dial in a very consistent macro and micro
Speaker:percentage. And how big's the, the team now? Good
Speaker:point. So there is 10 of us. By the end of this year, we plan
Speaker:to grow by at least 5 to 6 more. Okay. And
Speaker:how has the— what have been your challenges? Because you started, it looks like you
Speaker:started in 2015. You've talked a little bit about the highs and
Speaker:lows. Black swan events like COVID, I'm sure, threw you for a
Speaker:loop. And so can you talk a little bit, maybe some, a couple of the,
Speaker:the highs and lows that got you to this point? And, and obviously there's some
Speaker:stuff that you had to get through to make it here. So I'm interested in
Speaker:a bit of those stories. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we first, right
Speaker:before COVID we were about to go to market with a pellet
Speaker:nutrient dispenser, essentially. What that meant, or what it entailed,
Speaker:was taking the food waste, pelletizing it, putting
Speaker:it into a digester, if you will, that would be co-located at a
Speaker:farm, and that digester turning it into an effluent
Speaker:that would be done at the site of the farm in real time,
Speaker:and at the time that they would actually need the nutrients to be available. Because
Speaker:the problem with organics oftentimes is you can release it
Speaker:or irrigate it in a farm system, and that nutrient
Speaker:composition sometimes, depending on how
Speaker:shelf-stable and consistent the nutrient composition is,
Speaker:it can have variability. So, we wanted to mitigate for that.
Speaker:And, because of COVID it did require a much more
Speaker:complicated supply chain in order to make that product
Speaker:happen. So, we had to completely abolish that, which meant we had to
Speaker:completely change our production process and our manufacturing
Speaker:stack. And that put us behind by 12 months, of
Speaker:which we had raised capital to go to market with that.
Speaker:It also, you know, siphoned $500,000 in a
Speaker:loan that was meant to go towards that. So, we were challenged in a number
Speaker:of ways. But I really give credit to the team just on how resilient,
Speaker:creative. And that's what constraints do for you, right? It really makes
Speaker:you be more flexible. And how have you grown as a
Speaker:leader? Is this your first time in the CEO role? And how have you
Speaker:found yourself now? Obviously, hindsight is 20/20. and you can look back at the experiences
Speaker:that got you to this point and made you more resilient. But, and it's hard
Speaker:to do that when you've still got a lot on your plate. But I'm just
Speaker:wondering if you have time to sort of pause and reflect how you've grown as
Speaker:a leader over these years. Yeah, a lot. You know,
Speaker:I've always had leadership positions, but nothing to the,
Speaker:I would say, extent of a CEO. And I think for me, the
Speaker:biggest advantage has been for me of just removing any
Speaker:ego, any attachment. And I think that makes me a lot more lean. I
Speaker:lean into the team. I definitely create an environment,
Speaker:and I try to, I would say, to where people feel like they're
Speaker:co-creating, they're contributing just as much as I in the sense of this is part
Speaker:of their vision as well, where possible. And I think
Speaker:that makes, you know, all of us are partners on the company. So, there's an
Speaker:equity component to it as well. And with that,
Speaker:everyone, I feel from my opinion is
Speaker:that they know that they can bring mistakes, they can
Speaker:bring failures, but they know that, you know, there's a healthy
Speaker:environment that they can give opinions to,
Speaker:change things without there being any criticism or anything
Speaker:negative that would be retracted from that. And how have you
Speaker:personally, like, do you feel like you've had to either change
Speaker:or evolve in terms of, like, your personal growth? That's a good
Speaker:question. I mean, I think for me, I've
Speaker:had to just remind myself that it's business.
Speaker:And I think sometimes that's the hardest part is like, you know, people mean well,
Speaker:but ultimately it's just business and you just want to do
Speaker:right by your customers, do right by people that you're working with and just move
Speaker:the hell on. And, you know, there have been several times where
Speaker:we have needed to make a quick change that if something
Speaker:was communicated sooner, we would have made that change
Speaker:sooner and missed that $10,000 or $15,000 mistake,
Speaker:right? But I think people really appreciate when you can
Speaker:talk to them as a regular person and acknowledging
Speaker:that mistake rather than creating an environment where it's hostile
Speaker:and all the stress. Like, no one needs to pass on stress. I'm happy with
Speaker:absorbing it. So, how do you Personally manage that?
Speaker:Because that would be a lot to take on for any one person. It is.
Speaker:And I still am not really at a point where
Speaker:truthfully I am scaled quite yet, right? And I do
Speaker:that because I want to— if God forbid, you know, there was a situation where
Speaker:crap hits the fan and I need to step in, I want to know how
Speaker:to do that person's job too so I can quickly resolve it and move on.
Speaker:And I think all of us have had that similar experience, and we have
Speaker:that much more respect for people that we're supported by. So, I
Speaker:think having that mindset, you're a lot more
Speaker:adaptable, you're a lot more empathetic, and you're just a lot
Speaker:more respectful to there being efficiencies with
Speaker:processes because no one wants to be bogged down by things that
Speaker:just aren't working. Yeah. Where do you draw inspiration from in terms of your
Speaker:management style? Good question. from others in
Speaker:the sense, like, your podcast is amazing in understanding how other people
Speaker:navigate things. And I think that's huge. And I hope people
Speaker:will be more transparent with failures, right? Yeah. Because
Speaker:that's really the source of learning. But I do try to
Speaker:focus on a lot of just what other industries are doing
Speaker:too. I think that is really insightful. When I look at
Speaker:commodities or when I look at, you know, it could be
Speaker:even the precious rare earth metal mining
Speaker:industry, there's a lot of bottlenecks related to supply chain.
Speaker:And in the manufacturing business, we have to be aware of things that are similar
Speaker:too. So I just try to take myself out of the context of CEA
Speaker:or agriculture and think of where else are there similarities or patterns we
Speaker:can kind of be more aware of. To the extent that you're willing to share,
Speaker:what have been some of the challenges for you as a both minority and female-owned
Speaker:business owner? Appreciate you asking.
Speaker:You know, I think sometimes there is some bias on,
Speaker:you know, just people that look like others in this industry
Speaker:and maybe not given seriousness or credit to. And I don't take
Speaker:that personally. I just always focus on how do we prove people wrong, right? Because
Speaker:I know there is legitimacy to what we're doing. The market is already telling us,
Speaker:we're getting the feedback. I'm not concerned. Yeah, I think that's a great point. But
Speaker:I do think that, you know, where it is hurting
Speaker:others is if there is a need for collaboration, right? I'm
Speaker:super collaborative. Yeah. It's better that we develop that
Speaker:relationship sooner rather than later. And I think that's where sometimes
Speaker:people in our industry go wrong. There's too many finger-pointing.
Speaker:And instead, let's work together to get over this and add more strengths
Speaker:and advantages to create your own moat. That be it
Speaker:or not. And I think that's a really big hindrance. So,
Speaker:you know, not for me to educate though. That's
Speaker:just someone else's flag to fly.
Speaker:What has been your experience in the industry? I know that we met at Indoor
Speaker:AgCon earlier this year. Was that your first conference? And is that something that's part
Speaker:of— going to be part of your marketing strategy going forward? Oh, good point. No,
Speaker:no, not the first conference. You know, we try to be selective because I've been
Speaker:such a huge fan of the Trader Joe's model whereby
Speaker:you spend little on marketing, right? And just
Speaker:pass all the savings to the customers and/or your team or employees.
Speaker:That's what I'm focused on. So I really, if we show up, it's like we're
Speaker:trying to be celebrities because we are being super selective on
Speaker:showing up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's other
Speaker:ways that we'll be testing this year. Don't want to give it out yet of
Speaker:how, whether, you know, That marketing way or
Speaker:campaign is more effective than other more traditional styles.
Speaker:I just am more interested in
Speaker:listening to customers, understanding where gaps are,
Speaker:and really focusing on where can we create savings so that we can
Speaker:transfer it as much as possible. Because the farmers and the growers are doing the
Speaker:harder work, and I'd rather just make their lives as easy as possible
Speaker:and try to understand where we can come in better. Again, on 3 main tenets.
Speaker:more responsibly sustainable, more affordable, and more resource efficient.
Speaker:What was the response of the folks at Indoor AgCon? Good
Speaker:question. Very good. I think there was— so what was interesting is we had
Speaker:this one comparison table that did
Speaker:use referenceable sources of here's how, you know,
Speaker:ReNuTerra matches up against rockwool, coco coir, etc.,
Speaker:in the plug dimension, right? So that form factor. A lot of people were
Speaker:taking pictures of it, and it was a good conversation starter.
Speaker:That's the whole intent of it, to be a conversation starter, to
Speaker:really share how we're approaching this industry differently.
Speaker:And I think what people realized is when you give them flexibility
Speaker:of irrigation, when you give them flexibility of material type
Speaker:or how big the particle size is, then
Speaker:it just gives them The want to have more kind of
Speaker:ownership as part of this, not ownership in the sense of actual ownership and
Speaker:possession, but more of be a part of something that can make a
Speaker:difference in their farm. I find it to be really hard
Speaker:when you're just putting out a commodity and it's not
Speaker:really moving the needle besides a pricing differentiation.
Speaker:And I'm so— I'm guessing you had a lot of follow-up conversations. We did. Yeah.
Speaker:Okay. Yeah, we did. Who's an ideal partner for you? Is it,
Speaker:when I think about like whether they're in a specific aspect of
Speaker:the business or a specific size of farm? Yeah, good point. So a
Speaker:great case point is, so we've worked with,
Speaker:they used to be called Planet to Plate. They're now 100 Acres. Okay.
Speaker:That's a great model of a small size farm. We're testing with a
Speaker:number of farms that are also larger in vertical farm size.
Speaker:to not put out names yet until we've gotten their
Speaker:consent. But, some of them may use— I
Speaker:didn't speak to this more widely, but we do have a sprout sheet.
Speaker:And, it's very interesting from some of the feedback of the farms where they're using
Speaker:this sprout sheet to instead kind of grow their baby greens
Speaker:from. And so, it's a very different take on how they're using that as
Speaker:opposed to a traditional microgreen mat. That's one
Speaker:example. Another example would be your typical greenhouse
Speaker:farm in Texas that uses an NFT channel, and
Speaker:they want to just replace the floral foam
Speaker:plugs with our Renew Terra plugs. So very soon
Speaker:we'll have those testimonials, but I don't want to give it out just yet
Speaker:without their consent. You did post the experience you had with the farm in
Speaker:Glen Falls. Can you talk a little bit about what that experience was like working
Speaker:with them? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they are operating,
Speaker:but not operating at scale yet. Okay. That intention with Glens
Speaker:Falls has always been to use our products in their
Speaker:farm, test it against current comparatives, and really see
Speaker:how much more we're moving the needle on sustainability and resource optimization.
Speaker:Because the farm has had a number of just infrastructure challenges on the,
Speaker:you know, energy sourcing and just sizing of the equipment, we're
Speaker:soon going to be considering a new location to
Speaker:replicate the R&D and the data that we wanted to make available to
Speaker:the industry. Okay. And so we'll be releasing announcement on that soon.
Speaker:But Glens Falls, we still co-manage, and the intention of it is
Speaker:to show for New York State a grow box,
Speaker:480-square-foot grow box within a 3rd floor
Speaker:of a downtown commercial building or commercial office space,
Speaker:how this grow box can be kind of retrofitted to expand within the 3rd floor.
Speaker:Are you finding more and more people in your orbit that were not
Speaker:aware of vertical farming because of their relationship to you,
Speaker:because of what they see you do? Do you find yourself a lot in that
Speaker:educational chair, you know, showing people what's possible? I
Speaker:do, but I also think it depends on which community. So
Speaker:I would say, you know, if I were only speaking to New York State, they're
Speaker:familiar. I think in Glens Falls, it's really understanding
Speaker:how hyperlocal and how we can help augment
Speaker:the produce production through the limited 6 months
Speaker:or 7 months in New York State to really help extend the production
Speaker:of conventional farms in open field in New York State. Mm-hmm.
Speaker:But beyond that, yeah, I mean, I think it's still a
Speaker:little abstract. It doesn't help that there are
Speaker:certainly small farms that are doing it very well at scale. Farm.One is a
Speaker:great example in Brooklyn, amongst others. But I think
Speaker:just even kind of removing it outside of the city to places like Glens
Speaker:Falls, hopefully we can really show just a very viable—
Speaker:this can exist in peri-urban or rural areas as well. And that was always
Speaker:the focus for Glens Falls Vertical Farm. I was able to
Speaker:tour Farm.One. I got there on Friday, so Rob was kind enough to
Speaker:take me on a tour and give us tastes of the plants. And I went
Speaker:with some other folks from the conference as well. You know, they were— everyone was
Speaker:just blown away by the amount of flavor packed into some of
Speaker:these herbs that, you know, most people are not familiar with, that were, you know,
Speaker:they hit your tongue and you're just like, you weren't expecting like that hit of
Speaker:flavor. It's whether it's anise or citrus or all these wild flavors. And he gave
Speaker:us his book, which I just finished yesterday. So like, I'm now on the
Speaker:seeing my opportunities to grow some microgreens at home.
Speaker:It just kind of kicks off because I've always been interested in and just looking
Speaker:at the different models that are available for home farming as well.
Speaker:I think, and this is probably what happens, that people get a taste of it
Speaker:or they experience it firsthand, and then they start to get excited about the possibilities
Speaker:of it. I think so too. And they've done a really good job of
Speaker:connecting even streetside, like your view of the produce
Speaker:or the flowers, and then having experiential
Speaker:experiences there. That's a— I think it's a solid example. Yeah.
Speaker:By the time this episode goes live, I'll have posted some stuff on the Instagram
Speaker:channel, which is really exciting to, to see. So what's a tough
Speaker:question you've had to ask yourself recently? That's a good question.
Speaker:You know, actually, I kind of— one tough question that we're often
Speaker:asked is, so, and it goes back to our Renew
Speaker:Terra. I think a lot of the technicalities of, okay, well, why
Speaker:does this mat allow for, let's say, higher—
Speaker:we're seeing on average anywhere between 21% to roughly
Speaker:26, almost 30% just increase in
Speaker:yield. So, across radish, cabbage, kale, and arugula,
Speaker:specifically on the mats. So, what's allowing for that if there's no
Speaker:increase in dissolved oxygen? Yeah. Or, there's no, you know, really
Speaker:nutrients being applied. And, we like to
Speaker:say, even though there's more precision and data being gathered on it,
Speaker:is it's really how the fibers lay onto
Speaker:each other. So, they're being molded together using heat, which is one
Speaker:pathogen kill step for us, but how it allows for more air pockets
Speaker:without creating too much water saturation
Speaker:or too much density as a result of that. And while still allowing for
Speaker:the roots to have quicker kind of rooting, I should say.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think it just really comes down to the fiber
Speaker:selection and how our production process molds those
Speaker:fibers together. However, I think we are experimenting with other
Speaker:fibers beyond jute because jute is pretty biodegradable. It
Speaker:does come with that as a raw material. And so, you know,
Speaker:sometimes the biology on jute for longer
Speaker:maturing plants is something we're still kind of
Speaker:measuring and having analyzed by labs just to make sure that the
Speaker:efficacy that we're seeing really exceptional on the plug side— Yeah. For
Speaker:slabs and longer maturity plants are also a strength and not a
Speaker:disadvantage. What's something that— being an entrepreneur
Speaker:myself, obviously there's no shortage of days when you wake up in the
Speaker:middle of the night or you get up and you're— the first thing you're thinking
Speaker:about is your business. And so is there something that's been
Speaker:top of mind for you with regards to, you know, where your business is
Speaker:headed, or, you know, something that you think about personally in terms of
Speaker:questions you ask yourself? Yeah, good point. You know, I
Speaker:think pricing is always the hardest And for
Speaker:us, we really just try to cap our costs as much
Speaker:as possible. But I also think the hardest thing for us is, okay, we
Speaker:know we're adding a lot more value based on the average yields, faster growth.
Speaker:How do we price for that, knowing that the farmer's gonna have
Speaker:that value realized in their grow or production space,
Speaker:but also not price at a premium? That has always been a challenge. Yeah.
Speaker:As we wrap up, I'd like to leave some space at the end of these
Speaker:conversations for any thoughts you have, messages you
Speaker:have, or anything that's top of mind for you as it relates
Speaker:to your colleagues in this space. As you know, like a lot of folks,
Speaker:your peers, they listen to this podcast. And so I've been
Speaker:sort of forming this informal dialogue and let people talk about what's on
Speaker:their mind as it relates to the industry or a message that you have that's
Speaker:top of mind for you. Anything come to mind? Yeah, I appreciate that. I
Speaker:mean, we try to de-risk as much as possible from
Speaker:the heavy metals. We had our RenuTerra product line analyzed from
Speaker:food safety pathogens. Now we can provide guarantee that is not an issue for
Speaker:us. We are open to all
Speaker:questions, and irrespective of how technical it can be, to
Speaker:help us better understand how to de-risk the product line for growers.
Speaker:And so if there's any questions, We're open. Please
Speaker:let us know. I'm on LinkedIn. You can email us at
Speaker: Speaker:We'll send a sample and
Speaker:share our case studies to date. Right now, they're mats. Plugs will be
Speaker:released in August. So, yeah, we're pretty open just to
Speaker:make sure that we're serving and focusing on the right problem, which I think we
Speaker:definitely are. Okay. Makes sense. We'll make sure we include all those links in the
Speaker:show notes as well. So, As we wrap up, what's your thoughts
Speaker:about where we're headed? There's been so much happening in this space. I've been in
Speaker:it for 3 years now. It's just been exciting to see the ups and downs.
Speaker:And obviously, you see all the news that makes the headlines is obviously the closings
Speaker:and people saying, you know, what's happening with vertical farming. But from where you're at,
Speaker:and especially having been in this and riding your own ups and downs
Speaker:throughout the years, like, what's your take on where we are and where we're
Speaker:headed? Yeah, I mean, I think I don't fault anyone for
Speaker:what has happened to date. I think that's just part of the maturity
Speaker:or maturation of an industry, right? But I do think that if we
Speaker:remove the hyper ego, the hyper
Speaker:growth, and the hyper money, then we can scale back and really focus
Speaker:on modularized and small and just really well
Speaker:branded and more specialty perhaps products to get that
Speaker:premium. I think that's where our focus should be. And I also think
Speaker:that, I think we would be better served if,
Speaker:as a community, as an industry, being how niche we are, we're
Speaker:just a lot more collaborative. And, you know, I think that
Speaker:helps everyone, just like there was all this money, because there are certainly
Speaker:investors. We know that there are investors, especially given the
Speaker:scarcities that we're seeing, especially in Europe and outside of the US
Speaker:with produce security. That the people just want to
Speaker:invest in what is reliable and consistent from a sustainability perspective—
Speaker:financial, environmental, social— and we just needed to
Speaker:focus. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing your
Speaker:inspiring story. And I think I love the range of guests that I've been getting
Speaker:on the show, and I'm always happy to attend these conferences to see who's out
Speaker:there and people that I haven't met yet. And obviously you've been in the space
Speaker:for a long time, so I appreciate your perspective and I appreciate you coming
Speaker:on. And I'm sorry we didn't get to connect in New York City. It was
Speaker:a lot going on, as you might imagine, but I'm definitely looking forward to
Speaker:connect with you at an upcoming conference pretty soon. Thank you so much for your
Speaker:time, Harry. I really appreciate it. And so for folks to connect with you, it's
Speaker:renewable, re-nuble.com, and you're
Speaker:active on LinkedIn. You shared that email as well. Anywhere else you want to have
Speaker:listeners connect with you? You know, our website. I look at all the emails that
Speaker:come through. And so yeah, best way to reach is website as well. Okay.
Speaker:I appreciate your time. Thanks again. Of course. Thank you. $680
Speaker:million poured into precision ag last year. Autonomous weeding
Speaker:robots dominated, and John Deere made 2 acquisitions in 3 months.
Speaker:A food company, not an equipment maker, bought a robotics startup to
Speaker:protect its own supply chain. The deals are accelerating, the money is
Speaker:moving, and the winners are already separating from the pack. If you're
Speaker:investing, building, or buying in this space, You need the full picture
Speaker:before your competitors get it. The 2025 Precision Agriculture
Speaker:Intelligence Report from iGrow News is now available.
Speaker:Get your copy today at
Speaker:igrownews.com/precision.
