Shownotes
Episode Summary
Vice President of Innovation at Produce Marketing Association, Vonnie Estes is driven by a passion for agriculture, sustainability and wanting to make an impact on serious issues such as climate change and broken supply chains. Today, Vonnie and Harry engage in a rich discussion on Plant Pathology, educating consumers on vertical farming, and promoting diversity in the AgTech industry. Vonnie shares lessons she’s learned from working at big corporations such as Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont, and her mission to immerse others into the produce industry.
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Key Takeaways
07:13 – Harry welcomes Vice President of Innovation at Produce Marketing Association, Vonnie Estes, to discuss the work she’s doing in Produce and some of the recent vertical farming conferences she’s attended
11:08 – Genetic Engineering & Plant Pathology
13:55 – Lessons Vonnie learned from working at Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont
17:52 – Vonnie’s vertical farming origin story
23:43 – What drives and motivates Vonnie
26:16 – The importance of promoting diversity in the AgTech industry and immersing others into the produce industry
32:25 – Vonnie goes into detail about ongoing projects at Produce Marketing Association
45:00 – The importance of educating consumers on AgTech and vertical farming
48:14 – A tough question Vonnie has asked herself recently and what excites her most about the future of AgTech
50:08 – Harry thanks Vonnie for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can learn more about Fresh Produce
Tweetable Quotes
“I think for big companies like that, being willing to let people try new things and let it fail, and try different technologies, and keep it a little bit separate from your ongoing revenue-generating business is a really smart way to do it.” (15:35) (Vonnie)
“In part of my work with Caribou when I was looking at spinning out this Ag group, what I really wanted to focus on was what breeding could we do for vertical farms? If you’re growing something inside, does the architecture of the plant need to be different? What are some of the traits you can work with? And so, I was really thinking about breeding for vertical farms.” (20:43) (Vonnie)
“I’ve always been driving by [wanting to make an impact]. I think, especially at this time looking at some of the scary macro-drivers around supply chain, and climate change, and some of the other issues we’re facing. And looking at human health and how people need to eat, we can have a big impact on that, on how we grow our food and what food we grow and what food people eat.” (23:51) (Vonnie)
“One thing I would say - just to plug some of the work I’m doing currently - is I just started this Accelerator. It’s not an Accelerator in the typical sense where we’re not taking any equity, there’s no big prize or pitch day. But what we’re trying to do is bring in technology from either different industries or from different countries into the produce industry.” (26:52) (Vonnie)
“I am thinking a lot about what I can do, from a technology and innovation point of view, to help that part of the industry. And some of the early-stage issues are different.” (38:00) (Vonnie)
“With climate change and some of the health issues, the way we grow our food and the food we grow is so important right now. I feel like we’re at this amazing time where on one side we’ve got all these different technologies that we can bring in that can be a solution to these huge problems that we’re facing as a world.” (49:34) (Vonnie)
Resources Mentioned
Vertical Farming Show – https://verticalfarmingshow.com/
Produce Marketing Association Website – https://www.freshproduce.com/
Vonnie’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/vonnieestes/
Vonnie’s Podcast – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-ag-technology-with-vonnie-estes/id1382453777?i=1000468083379
Link to Fresh Produce Technology – https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/technology/
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.
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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
Speaker:that's spelled C-U-L-T-I-V-A-T-D.com,
Speaker:or click the link in the show notes. But I think especially at this time,
Speaker:you know, looking at some of the scary macro drivers
Speaker:around supply chain and climate change and some of the other issues
Speaker:that we're facing and looking at human health and how people need to
Speaker:eat, I just feel like we can have a big impact on that, on how
Speaker:we grow our food and what food we grow and what food people eat.
Speaker:Welcome to the Vertical Farming Podcast, weekly conversations
Speaker:with fascinating CEOs, founders, and agtech
Speaker:visionaries. Join us every week as we dive deep into the
Speaker:world of vertical farming with your host, Harry Duran.
Speaker:Vertical Farming Podcast, Season 5. Welcome back. I'm your host.
Speaker:If this is your first time listening, Then I'm most definitely rolling out
Speaker:the welcome mat for you. You are in the right place if you're
Speaker:looking for a show where we interview fascinating CEOs and founders
Speaker:of the leading vertical farming companies from around the world. We include
Speaker:personalities that are making their mark and have
Speaker:been supportive of the industry for years, if not decades.
Speaker:And that's definitely the case with this week's episode. Before we get to
Speaker:that, in case you missed last week's episode, We spoke with John
Speaker:Purcell, the CEO of Unfold, back on the show for round 2.
Speaker:He came back to discuss the progress he's made helping improve efficiencies within
Speaker:indoor ag and their desire to reach out beyond leafy greens, tomatoes, and
Speaker:cucumbers to other crops. And he talked about the recent launch of their
Speaker:Innovation Partner Program, so make sure you check that out if you haven't done so
Speaker:already. This week we speak to Vonnie Estes. Vonnie
Speaker:was at Indoor AgCon as well. We did not get to connect there, but
Speaker:But as a follow-up, actually, John is the one, now that I think about it,
Speaker:that connected us. So thank you again to John Purcell. She's the VP
Speaker:of Innovation at the Produce Marketing Association, and she's driven by a
Speaker:passion for agriculture, sustainability, and wanting to make an impact on serious
Speaker:issues such as climate change and broken supply chains. In this
Speaker:episode, we engage in a rich discussion on plant pathology, educating
Speaker:consumers on vertical farming, and promoting diversity in the agtech industry.
Speaker:She shares the lessons she's learned from working at big corporations like Monsanto,
Speaker:Syngenta, and DuPont, and talks about her mission to educate others
Speaker:in the produce industry. So really enjoyed our conversation, really insightful,
Speaker:and a lot of takeaways that I think you'll appreciate. I don't
Speaker:usually mention my other show, but I started the podcasting journey
Speaker:with my first show in 2014 called Podcast Junkies.
Speaker:So I thought I'd make a mention here if you're interested in hearing stories
Speaker:from other podcasters. I've been doing it since 2014,
Speaker:and I'm closing in on episode 300. Really fascinating, wide-ranging
Speaker:conversations about the world of podcasting. So check that out if you have an
Speaker:interest in that. Podcast Junkies on your favorite podcast app.
Speaker:This episode is also brought to you by the Vertical Farming Weekly newsletter. Each week,
Speaker:our team member Noah brings you the latest and greatest in the world of vertical
Speaker:farming. If you have not signed up already, then you can actually just pause
Speaker:this and do that now. Go to verticalfarmingweekly.com.
Speaker:Looking forward to your feedback once you've had a chance to check it out. Happy
Speaker:to read out a new review that came in from
Speaker:Ramon95494. Ramon says, I began listening
Speaker:to Vertical Farming Podcast at the start of April 2022,
Speaker:and I've been listening to a few episodes every week ever since. I really
Speaker:enjoy the wide variety of guests Terry brings on, from well-established players to burgeoning
Speaker:startups. It's always great to get insights into an industry which can sometimes
Speaker:feel pretty siloed. I also particularly enjoy the episode recaps and
Speaker:tweetable quotes for each episode. As they make it much easier to share interviews with
Speaker:my friends and coworkers. Ramon, thank you so much for
Speaker:that beautifully worded review. I really,
Speaker:really appreciate when folks take the time to do that. And as promised, if you
Speaker:are loving this episode or past episodes and getting value from it, I'd love it
Speaker:if you leave a rating and a review at ratethispodcast.com/vfp.
Speaker:And as I just demonstrated, I'd be more than happy to read it out on
Speaker:a future episode. Okay, enough of me, more of Vani.
Speaker:Let's get started with this interview. Thanks. So, Vani Estes,
Speaker:Vice President of Innovation at the International Fresh Produce
Speaker:Association. Thank you for joining me on the Vertical Farming Podcast. I'm really happy to
Speaker:be here, excited for the conversation. Where's home for you? I'm
Speaker:in Menlo Park, California. So I'm right in
Speaker:between Meta, or Facebook, and Stanford.
Speaker:Okay. How long you been there? 13 years. For folks who
Speaker:would be considering a move out there, what advice would you give them? Bring your
Speaker:checkbook. It's super expensive. But, you know,
Speaker:I was hiking yesterday and I was up above and looking down
Speaker:into the valley and I took this picture and it's like, you know, people say
Speaker:lots of negative things about Silicon Valley, but you're standing up there, there's like
Speaker:wildflowers everywhere and, you know, you can see the Stanford Tower and it's just
Speaker:beautiful. It's a lovely place to live for lots of reasons. And where were you
Speaker:before that? I was in Wilmington, Delaware.
Speaker:So across on the other side of the country. Yeah. I've lived most of my
Speaker:adult life in California and I lived most of my growing up
Speaker:years in the West. So I've done a few stints on the East Coast,
Speaker:but I've been much more in the West. And you were recently
Speaker:at the Indoor AgCon in Las Vegas. I was
Speaker:indeed. Yes. Was that your first vertical farming Conference, or
Speaker:you've been to previous ones? No, I guess that was— yeah, that was the first
Speaker:one. Yeah, I haven't— I'm speaking at the Rethink one in New
Speaker:York this summer. Is that the one in June? Yeah.
Speaker:And then I spoke on a panel at Indoor AgCon in Las Vegas. And so
Speaker:I'm interested to kind of compare the two, you know, compare contrast, see
Speaker:what they're like. But it's interesting, you know, I work not
Speaker:just in vertical farming, but across all of produce and to
Speaker:just see that very specific group together and the need that they
Speaker:had to have their own conference. And I thought it was good. I
Speaker:thought there was— I got to talk to everyone I wanted to talk to. It's
Speaker:a nice small conference and people were available. So I thought it was
Speaker:a good conference. So a couple of questions about how you even got into produce
Speaker:itself. So is that something you envisioned you'd be working on when you got out
Speaker:of college? Well, yes, actually. It's kind of been a circle,
Speaker:but no, I've got my undergraduate degree in horticulture
Speaker:from New Mexico State and my first job was
Speaker:actually in a greenhouse. It was a 13-acre greenhouse, which was
Speaker:super state-of-the-art at the time. And I was
Speaker:managing a bunch of different flowering plants that we sold through
Speaker:retail. And what I learned about that really quickly is that it's
Speaker:really hard to live off that salary. And
Speaker:so I wanted to leave New Mexico
Speaker:and go do something else. And so I moved to Los Angeles. I put everything
Speaker:that I owned in my pickup truck and drove to LA.
Speaker:It was a big adventure. I was, I think I was 22 and
Speaker:went to work for a tree nursery and had to learn the lesson
Speaker:again that even in LA, it's even worse. You can't live off that
Speaker:salary. So then I decided to go to graduate school and that kind of
Speaker:took a different turn. Yeah, prior to my current home, which is Minneapolis, I
Speaker:was 4 years in LA. So I lived in Silver Lake. So very
Speaker:familiar. I do miss the mountains and the hiking. It's a bit flatter
Speaker:here, but I originally grew up in New York
Speaker:and There's some similar weather and also some mountains in the East
Speaker:as well. Yeah. Yeah. What was it like in LA? Was that your first time
Speaker:there? Yeah, it was my first time there and it was really
Speaker:exciting. I mean, I was there for a year and I felt like I
Speaker:had like all the LA experiences I needed to have.
Speaker:And it just kind of had to stop and say, what do I wanna do
Speaker:with my life and what am I good at? And at that age, you know,
Speaker:at 24, I decided I was really good at school so that
Speaker:I thought, okay, I need to, I need to figure out a way to make
Speaker:a little bit more money and have a little bit more training. And so, it
Speaker:was a great year. I enjoyed living there, but it was definitely— a year was
Speaker:enough at that point. What was the plan?
Speaker:Would you go back to study? And then, what was the idea of with that
Speaker:new degree? What were you going to be looking for? So, I did a
Speaker:bunch of research and just trying to figure out what I was interested in and
Speaker:what was hot and what I could work in. And
Speaker:at the time, genetic engineering was becoming this
Speaker:really important thing that people were just starting to work on. And it looked
Speaker:like, you know, if you got a PhD in that, you know, you could
Speaker:get a pretty good job and get pretty good payment. But at that point, like,
Speaker:I didn't even know anyone who went to graduate school. I didn't really know what
Speaker:I was doing. And Davis— and I wanted to stay in
Speaker:agriculture because I was really interested in both agriculture and
Speaker:biology. Those were kind of my two loves. And so
Speaker:University of California Davis had a really great program that I
Speaker:blindly applied to and got in. And once
Speaker:I got there, I kind of realized the real heavy-duty
Speaker:genetic engineering piece of it were— most of the people that were in
Speaker:grad school studying that were pre-med and had had a very
Speaker:different training and background as me. And I was way over my head.
Speaker:And so I was going to have to either go back and get another undergraduate
Speaker:degree or shift to something a little lighter. less
Speaker:deeply technical, you know, with a different background. And so I
Speaker:moved over into plant pathology. And
Speaker:so I ended up getting my master's in plant pathology. For
Speaker:the benefit of listeners, can you explain what plant pathology, what the study of
Speaker:that entails? Well, what's so funny is that, you know, everyone knows genetic
Speaker:engineering, but people don't know plant pathology. That's kind of funny.
Speaker:No, it's the study of diseases of crops of plants. Okay. And
Speaker:so I had started in the PhD program and realized that
Speaker:most of the people who got PhDs— see, this is what
Speaker:happens when you don't have a lot of mentors and you don't have a lot
Speaker:of people to talk to. You just start doing things and then you realize, well,
Speaker:that's not right. Okay, well, that's not right. And so I
Speaker:started in the PhD program and most of the people who got PhDs at
Speaker:Davis went on into academia. And the
Speaker:university at that time really liked to push people from their
Speaker:program into academic spots like at Cornell and different
Speaker:good institutions like that. And I just realized I didn't love doing
Speaker:science. I love science and I love applying science. I
Speaker:love talking about science. I love seeing science solve problems, but
Speaker:to be in a lab or to teach just wasn't gonna be something
Speaker:that I was gonna be very good at or I was gonna be very excited
Speaker:about. And so I stopped at a master's, which gave me a
Speaker:really great foundation of just science and scientific
Speaker:principles and agriculture and good connections. And so that turned out
Speaker:to be a really good place to stop. stop and start looking at what's going
Speaker:on in the world. So looking at some of the places you've had
Speaker:experience in, you've worked at places like Monsanto, Syngenta, and
Speaker:DuPont, and really big corporations. And I'm wondering, is
Speaker:there a common thread you can point to in terms of some of the lessons
Speaker:you were learning and some of the experiences you had in working in some of
Speaker:these places? Yeah, definitely. I mean, there's a— it's interesting because when you say that,
Speaker:you think, oh, those are really big companies and those were really
Speaker:organizations— Well-known names that we've heard of. Yeah, exactly. But in all 3 of
Speaker:those companies, I worked in very
Speaker:early-stage technologies, different parts of those
Speaker:companies that were just getting started. Monsanto, we had just
Speaker:bought a company here in California, and I
Speaker:worked in that company that was kept very separate from the rest of Monsanto.
Speaker:And at DuPont, I worked in a clean energy part of
Speaker:the business that was a brand new part of the business with a brand new
Speaker:technology that I commercialized. And Syngenta, same thing, it was a brand new
Speaker:part of the company. So the thread that I would tie through those and Even
Speaker:when I was looking at going to work for those companies, I talked to a
Speaker:lot of people and talked to the people I was going to be working with
Speaker:and said, I'm not going to be great in a really
Speaker:organized, process-oriented big company, but if
Speaker:you'll let me run, I can make some things happen here. And so I mostly
Speaker:worked in business development and looking for partnerships and commercializing
Speaker:new technologies. And how would you describe the lessons you learned and
Speaker:what you were able to specifically take away from them? Because you did some work
Speaker:in biofuels as well, right? Yeah, I did 10 years in clean tech. Well, clean
Speaker:tech is a whole nother can of worms of what I learned.
Speaker:But I think, what would I say? They're all kind of different.
Speaker:I think looking, I think for big companies like that,
Speaker:being willing to let people try new things and let it
Speaker:fail and try different technologies and keep it a
Speaker:little bit separate from your ongoing revenue-generating business
Speaker:is a really smart way to do it because— I was able to— I could
Speaker:get deals done much more quickly because of the way we were structured. If I'd
Speaker:have been in the regular business, it would have been really hard for me to
Speaker:get some of the deals done that I did and was just able to
Speaker:move a little more quickly with less constraints, which worked well
Speaker:for me. Yeah. And then there's this— you did some consulting work coming
Speaker:out of that. Is that true? Yeah. Yeah. Kind of at different
Speaker:points along the way. But the last kind of
Speaker:consulting that— well, go back a little bit. I worked in
Speaker:clean tech for about 10 years. And then I was working in
Speaker:developing second-generation fuels. So that means use
Speaker:agricultural byproducts to make ethanol
Speaker:and high-grade chemicals. And so it was using a fermentation process of
Speaker:ag waste to make different products. And so I did that for about 10 years.
Speaker:And then if you remember, everything
Speaker:changed, fracking started, the cost of oil went
Speaker:way down. There wasn't the price of oil to really
Speaker:prop up and continue those types of developments. And it's
Speaker:starting because the price of oil is going back up again. Some of this stuff
Speaker:is starting to resurface, which I knew it would, but that ended. And I was
Speaker:working in that whole industrial biotech area, which was super exciting
Speaker:during the time I was in it. And then the fuels and chemical stuff
Speaker:went away. And then it moved into fermentation a lot around different other
Speaker:types of things. Like cosmetics and foods and alternatives to
Speaker:meats. And so a lot of that direction in working in
Speaker:industrial biotech, but I decided I really wanted to get back into
Speaker:agriculture and work specifically in ag again. So I went
Speaker:to work for a company called Caribou Biosciences, and we
Speaker:had the UC Berkeley license to CRISPR-Cas9
Speaker:technology. And so I was looking at how to
Speaker:apply that in agriculture. And while I was there, was looking at, you know,
Speaker:could we spin out a company that was specifically using gene
Speaker:editing to develop different kinds of crops?
Speaker:And what was your experience? I know working for companies is a
Speaker:bit different than starting your own and having an entrepreneurial
Speaker:bent to what it is you do. Was that your first time doing your own
Speaker:thing? Well, we didn't end up spinning it out. So I stayed at
Speaker:Caribou and spent a lot of time looking at how would we develop that?
Speaker:How would we build it? Who would we hire? What crops would we go after?
Speaker:And then the CEO and the board just decided that a
Speaker:better strategic direction would be to
Speaker:license that technology to, which is Corteva now. At
Speaker:the time they were DuPont. Okay. And so we licensed the
Speaker:technology to them so that they took care of all that. And,
Speaker:and then I decided to leave because there, I could do business
Speaker:development in pharmaceuticals, but I wasn't really interested in doing that. So,
Speaker:so then that's, that's when I went into consulting. from that time. But I
Speaker:think one of the things, I was reflecting before our conversation this morning
Speaker:of when I started thinking about vertical
Speaker:farming. And it was while I was there at
Speaker:Caribou, there's an organization called
Speaker:Singularity University. Do you know them? Oh yeah. Ray Kurzweil?
Speaker:And Pete— Don't know that. Yeah. It is
Speaker:Ray though. That's the— I think it is Ray. Yeah. So it's in
Speaker:Mountain View and the guy that started the XPRIZE, And
Speaker:so they put it together and it's— they work— it's a leadership training
Speaker:university and they work with a lot of corporations
Speaker:and helping them think 10x and just different ways of thinking.
Speaker:Yeah. Moonshot projects. Yeah, exactly. So anyway, they—
Speaker:it was my first week at Caribou and they asked me to come speak. They
Speaker:had a very large corporate partner that was in the
Speaker:ag field and a lot of other fields as well. And so they wanted, you
Speaker:know, they had all of their executives down here in Mountain View, and they wanted
Speaker:to bring in a bunch of different companies in the area to talk to them
Speaker:about, you know, what's new, what's exciting, what's really cool technology. And at the time,
Speaker:you know, CRISPR was just starting to be talked about as a
Speaker:great technology. So that was my first week at Caribou. I went in
Speaker:to speak to these— this corporation that I knew from the past
Speaker:anyway. And then I was standing in the hall, and like, you'd
Speaker:go in and you'd give your talk, and then you'd you'd come out and you
Speaker:couldn't stay in and listen to the conversations. You were coming in and out. So
Speaker:I was standing in the hall and there was this other guy kind of standing
Speaker:around. And so we
Speaker:started talking and it turned out it was Matt Bonnard from
Speaker:Plenty, the founder of Plenty. And at the time it wasn't Plenty,
Speaker:it was CJ Farm. Okay. So this was
Speaker:2016 and we started having this conversation and I'd
Speaker:never heard of Ripple Farms before. And I was just so excited about
Speaker:his vision and the thought of using all this different
Speaker:technology to be able to grow indoors. We had a really great conversation.
Speaker:So, in part of my work with Caribou, when I was
Speaker:looking at spinning out this ag group, what I really wanted
Speaker:to focus on was what breeding could we do for vertical farms. You know,
Speaker:if you look at, if you're growing something inside, does the architecture of the plant
Speaker:need to be different? What are some of the traits you can work with? And
Speaker:so, really thinking about breeding for vertical farms. So that was kind of
Speaker:2016. So that was kind of the first time I started really thinking about it.
Speaker:And then when— I mean, just try to get us now to the
Speaker:present time. When did you start working with what is
Speaker:currently the International Fresh Produce Association, which, like you said, was the result of a
Speaker:merger? So that— I'd been there for 3 and a half years. So
Speaker:it was October or whatever that year was. So 3 and a half years
Speaker:ago. And how did you make the jump to that? Is that something they
Speaker:recruited you, or it's something that had been on your radar and something you wanted
Speaker:to make the move into? Had not been on my radar at all. Had not,
Speaker:you know, never had— have I done much work with associations. And
Speaker:so, after I left Caribou, I did a lot of consulting,
Speaker:actually consulted for Plenty for about a year, and
Speaker:did a lot of work in looking at using CRISPR and different breeding
Speaker:technologies. And so, one of my clients that I
Speaker:worked with and just helping them think about their molecular breeding program was Sun
Speaker:World. It's a large table grape company. And
Speaker:the man who I worked with, David Margulis, was
Speaker:the chairman of the board of what was then the Produce
Speaker:Marketing Association. And so he called me and said—
Speaker:and I'd been working with him for a while and really it was a great
Speaker:relationship— and he said, you know, we're looking at developing this
Speaker:brand new role called Vice President of Technology, and I think you'd be a
Speaker:really good fit. Are you interested? And so I said, well, I'll
Speaker:talk to them. And it turned out that the guy that I was going
Speaker:to be working for, who's since retired, but the guy that I was going to
Speaker:be working for, I had worked with at my very first company out of
Speaker:graduate school in New Jersey. And then there was
Speaker:another guy they were hiring that was also at that same company. It was DNA
Speaker:Plant Technologies. It was one of the very early
Speaker:biotech tech companies in plants. And so it was, it was, you know, kind of
Speaker:a full circle thing. And so I wasn't really sure, you know, I, I,
Speaker:my biggest concern was, you know, at this stage in my career, I really want
Speaker:to make an impact. I want to be able to, to do things that, you
Speaker:know, change the way that we grow food and make
Speaker:food more healthy for people and for the planet. And, you know, very interested in
Speaker:making that impact. And I, I wasn't sure how I could do that from an
Speaker:association. So that was my biggest concern of just trying to
Speaker:figure that out. And so I talked to them, talked to the CEO, Kathy
Speaker:Burns, for a long time and listened to her vision, just a very big
Speaker:vision. And after we talked, I think for about 3 months or so,
Speaker:and I decided, okay, this is— and I think one can make an
Speaker:impact anywhere. If you're a person who's really driven to make an
Speaker:impact, you can do it from almost anywhere. And so I just kind of had
Speaker:to get myself situated around how do I do it
Speaker:from Why is making an impact, why is that important to you?
Speaker:I think especially at this time, I mean, I've always been
Speaker:driven by that, but I think especially at this time, looking at some of
Speaker:the scary macro drivers around supply chain
Speaker:and climate change and some of the other issues that we're facing and looking
Speaker:at human health and how people need to eat,
Speaker:I just feel like a lot of that can And we can have a big
Speaker:impact on that, on how we grow our food and what food we grow and
Speaker:what food people eat. And so, you know, I feel like I've
Speaker:spent my whole career working on that and communicating about that and
Speaker:developing technology for it. And so it's just— that's just what drives
Speaker:me, you know, to get up and do work every day. If I was to
Speaker:have a conversation with any of your childhood or college friends, would they be surprised
Speaker:at where you ended up? College? No. Childhood?
Speaker:I don't know. I was pretty shy, shockingly enough.
Speaker:But my dad was in the Air Force and we moved around a lot. So
Speaker:I was constantly kind of responding to, oh, the new kid again. Oh, the new
Speaker:kid again. But I always did really well in school. I think
Speaker:I always really loved biology. And so if anyone was paying
Speaker:attention to that, they may not be surprised. You mentioned not
Speaker:having mentors early on as you were progressing through your career.
Speaker:Were you able to build some of those relationships with mentors as you started working
Speaker:for these other companies? Somewhat. I think
Speaker:it's always been kind of a struggle, which is,
Speaker:you know, I don't want to get into a long gender conversation, but I
Speaker:just think I was always working in organizations that I was
Speaker:the only woman. And it was just, I think people felt uncomfortable
Speaker:mentoring me. I think it was just kind of a weird time. And
Speaker:I think I searched for mentors outside of my work, you know,
Speaker:of outside of my roles or, you know, my job
Speaker:responsibilities, but, you know, finding people in the industry who were
Speaker:interested and willing to talk to me and teach me the things that I felt
Speaker:like I needed to learn. Yeah. I mean, talk about being in a
Speaker:male-dominated industry, vertical farming.
Speaker:You know, something that was really apparent to me as I was having my first
Speaker:couple of seasons of interviews and I just looking at past guests and, you know,
Speaker:not to detract from those amazing conversations, but I was like, I need to just
Speaker:go out of my way to kind of find more women and find more people
Speaker:of color who are making inroads in here. And it's been
Speaker:interesting. And I've had, since, had some great conversations with folks
Speaker:like Nona Yahia from Vertical Farming, Vertical Harvest. And
Speaker:it's been, I think there's probably an opportunity, I would say definitely an
Speaker:opportunity for, as more people of color, as more women enter the field,
Speaker:to be that leader, to be that role model, to be that mentor, to
Speaker:demonstrate and show that there are opportunities that exist. Yeah, I
Speaker:totally agree. And I go way out of my way to
Speaker:work with— there's a number of women I work with that— and I'm always
Speaker:seeking out, you know, women to help in any way that I can. And
Speaker:it's— the challenges are different than when I was, you know, coming up through
Speaker:mid-career, but there's still challenges. And I think it just is helpful to
Speaker:have people to talk to. But one thing I would say, just a plug on
Speaker:some of the work I'm doing currently, Yeah. So I just started this accelerator,
Speaker:and what— it's not an accelerator in the typical sense where we're not
Speaker:taking any equity, we're not— there's no big prize, there's no pitch day. But
Speaker:what we're trying to do is bring in technology from either
Speaker:different industries or from different countries into the produce
Speaker:industry. And so we put out a call for different
Speaker:companies, and what, kind of quickly, what the program is, is there's an immersion
Speaker:week. Do a week in California, just going all over the
Speaker:state and seeing like all the amazing companies that are here to see.
Speaker:And then there'll be a bunch of webinars that'll last for like 5
Speaker:months, twice a month. And then my organization, IFPFA,
Speaker:has a big global show that usually has like 20,000 people
Speaker:in October. And the people in this program will be able to
Speaker:go and exhibit at that show and get introduced around. So it
Speaker:really is an immersion into the industry and really help people see
Speaker:what the produce industry is, get a lot of information. Because a lot of people
Speaker:that develop technology for agriculture go straight into corn and soy,
Speaker:and I really want to divert it into produce. So as that is a backdrop,
Speaker:I just— we just are starting to tell people whether they got into the program
Speaker:or not today. And how many applicants did you get? We
Speaker:got 50, which I was really pleased with. And
Speaker:given it's the first year and a lot of people didn't even know of the
Speaker:organization or they didn't know me. But one of the things that I wanted to
Speaker:say about that is that I felt really strongly about this being a
Speaker:very diverse group because I've been in these kind of programs before
Speaker:where we're selecting companies and it's all white males.
Speaker:And so I felt really strongly about that
Speaker:this is going to be a diverse group. If I have to go out and
Speaker:handpick people, this is going to be a diverse group. So the first
Speaker:wave came in. I didn't pay that much attention to you know, the diversity of
Speaker:the group. And then, then we, we took it down to 15
Speaker:people. And then I put a column for, you know,
Speaker:gender and other diversity. And because I was going to count it,
Speaker:it's like, if we don't have at least 3 women in this cohort, I'm going
Speaker:to go out and find them. And so it ends
Speaker:up that we have— and it's not completely final yet, but
Speaker:we have over half are women. That's great. And we
Speaker:have at least a third that are not
Speaker:white males. I think we have one white male. It's a lot of diversity.
Speaker:So the one thing I would say about this is that part of it is
Speaker:that I worked with 2 women who were helping me get the
Speaker:word out about this, Open Gate Partners. And so
Speaker:it's 2 women working with me and me, and I
Speaker:think we just have a different Rolodex. And so I think
Speaker:the difference is That, you know, the world that you live in, that's who you're
Speaker:connected to. And so I think that's a lot of the problem that you were
Speaker:saying is that you've got, you know, a lot of situations where it's all
Speaker:men and it continues being all men because all men know all men. And
Speaker:so I think when you open it up and you have 3 women going out
Speaker:and saying, join this program, you're going to get more women. Makes a lot of
Speaker:sense. Is there anything you can speak to in terms of like some of the
Speaker:technologies or some of the innovations or some of the ideas that came
Speaker:up as a result of the submissions? Or is this something that gets fleshed out
Speaker:Yeah, I can talk vaguely. I mean, they haven't— a lot of the people
Speaker:haven't said yes for sure yet. But we have one
Speaker:vertical farming company, which I'm very excited about. We have a
Speaker:company that has a traceability type of technology
Speaker:that's helping track produce and where it moves. We
Speaker:have— who else do we have? A number of
Speaker:crop protection type products, either they're using pheromones.
Speaker:We have a robotics company. So they're just all over the place. We have all
Speaker:different kinds of companies that, you know, are coming in with different types of
Speaker:technologies, both hardware, software,
Speaker:automation, biology, you know, food
Speaker:safety across the whole thing. So I'm really excited about the
Speaker:program. And the pheromones, is that just for specific
Speaker:attract and repel, like certain kinds of bugs
Speaker:that could either benefit or harm the plant, the produce? Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, it helps to get rid of them, helps to find them, trap them, get
Speaker:rid of them. I find that fascinating. When I was at InterregCon, there was a
Speaker:booth of a company, the name escapes me right now, but they had
Speaker:really specific species of
Speaker:gnat-sized or even smaller bugs
Speaker:with a specific purpose to kill or eat
Speaker:another bug, and then at some point they would die. And I just thought the
Speaker:precision with which you can do things like that is really fascinating. Yeah,
Speaker:it's pretty cool stuff. Yeah, I
Speaker:had a summer job in my undergraduate where we
Speaker:were looking for parasitic hymenoptera. So that's like little bee
Speaker:fly species that eat other bugs. That's a
Speaker:mouthful. Yeah. And so we would go out with these big nets
Speaker:in the alfalfa fields and just do big net swoops of all
Speaker:the bugs. And then we'd to sit with a microscope and count the veins in
Speaker:their wings to identify what they are. Count the veins in the wings? Yeah,
Speaker:under a microscope, because we were trying to figure out which ones were the ones
Speaker:that were parasitic and which ones were the— what was the good ones, what was
Speaker:the bad ones, and how do you kind of keep them and use them as
Speaker:pest control? Not a job I would recommend.
Speaker:Well, I think of activities that you can do while listening to
Speaker:podcasts, because I'm coming from the world of podcasts, that definitely would fall into
Speaker:that category. So I'm curious, you know, with all the experience
Speaker:you had as you entered and started working with the Produce Marketing Association, which is
Speaker:now the International Fresh Produce Association, were there some learnings there
Speaker:in terms of things you— on-the-job training or things you hadn't been
Speaker:introduced to before that you sort of had to get up to speed on? Well,
Speaker:I think association work is very different than a company
Speaker:because your products are different, your customers are different.
Speaker:You know, you still like the association. We sell memberships and
Speaker:we sell all different kinds of services and things, but it's
Speaker:very different than working for a company where you're trying to get a product out
Speaker:the door and you're working with customers in a different way. So I think that
Speaker:took me a while to kind of learn how to do. And then it's
Speaker:very much in some companies, I know it's a very service
Speaker:mentality, but a lot of companies, especially
Speaker:depending on your role, you're kind of far away from the customer. In
Speaker:association work, I mean, it really is a service model. Like, we exist to
Speaker:serve the members. And so, it's a very different way of
Speaker:interacting and how you work with people and how you think about what your
Speaker:job is. And was this a merger between— I
Speaker:just want to make sure I don't butcher the 2 names from the
Speaker:PMA and then the international organization to just,
Speaker:you know, with the idea being like the sum would be greater than the 2
Speaker:individual ones? So it was a merger between 2 organizations that have
Speaker:had been out there for years. PMA was around for 70 years. United
Speaker:Fresh is the other organization. Okay. So it was United Fresh and, and
Speaker:PMA that merged together and formed the International Fresh Produce
Speaker:Association that kicked off as an organization January 1st this
Speaker:year. And very— I haven't been in this world for
Speaker:a long time, so I don't know all the history, but I think it was
Speaker:tried a couple of other times to put these 2 together because a lot of
Speaker:people in the produce industry were members of both organizations and it
Speaker:kind of didn't make sense. Yeah. But now just the
Speaker:stars aligned and the 2 organizations came together. And
Speaker:United Fresh is very strong in food safety and
Speaker:advocacy. And so, and we, PMA was not as strong in that.
Speaker:We're a global organization. They were just a US organization.
Speaker:There was no one in my role there. So it's, it was just a, it's
Speaker:been a really good merger of bringing in with not a lot of
Speaker:overlap. And can you talk a little bit about how your role changed
Speaker:from a focus on technology to specifically one on innovation?
Speaker:It didn't really change. I just thought that one of the biggest problems was
Speaker:I get all the emails for people who are trying to sell IT systems.
Speaker:And so that's when people outside of my world think about
Speaker:technology, they think about IT. And so, I was tired of getting those emails.
Speaker:And really, what I do is more around innovation than it is
Speaker:just around the technology piece of it, which is more about
Speaker:what are technologies that we can implement, commercialize, bring into the industry to solve
Speaker:problems. So, that made more sense to me than just focusing on the
Speaker:technology itself. It's more like, how do we use this to solve the
Speaker:giant problems that we have? How did you start to see the
Speaker:transition, or they may have been there when you arrived,
Speaker:or interest? And, you know, either attracting or
Speaker:recruiting folks from the vertical farming world? Like, how did that start to happen? Because
Speaker:obviously you said you were having those discussions in 2016
Speaker:and joined in 2018, and obviously till to the point now where you're attending
Speaker:Indoor Econ conferences. And I'm curious what you were seeing in your time there.
Speaker:Was there just a growing interest or an awareness that this is an
Speaker:aspect of the produce association members that you need to start paying attention
Speaker:to? Well, I think at first it was interesting. If you
Speaker:remember in the beginning, you know, probably like 2018 or so, a
Speaker:lot of the indoor farm people who were really strong on
Speaker:indoor farm felt like they needed to say really negative things about
Speaker:outdoor growing. And I think it was just a stage everyone had to go through,
Speaker:but they weren't that interested in working with us. And because of all the
Speaker:negative things they were saying about outdoor growers, we were less interested
Speaker:in working with them. And so I think at the very beginning, there was this
Speaker:kind of split, like, you know, and then we started, you know, I had—
Speaker:AeroFarms has always been pretty involved with PMA. And
Speaker:so they were ones that kind of came in. And that makes sense, because
Speaker:I think AeroFarms, more than some of the other companies, came from
Speaker:people who were growers or who understood agriculture. And so it would make
Speaker:sense that they would think of it more as a agriculture and
Speaker:growing, whereas a lot of the other indoor farms thought of it as technology. Yeah.
Speaker:So, it kind of makes sense that that's what happened. But I think, as time
Speaker:has moved on, I think people see that it's
Speaker:not this hugely different world. Like, we're all growing food for
Speaker:people. And if consumers don't want what you grow, and if retailers won't sell what
Speaker:you grow, it doesn't matter how you grew it, you know? And so, I
Speaker:think that's started coming together. More. And so we
Speaker:certainly at IFPA and a lot, just my
Speaker:background from knowing a lot of these different companies, we're starting to be a
Speaker:lot more active in what can we do, you know, are there
Speaker:specific things we need to do to service that part of the industry?
Speaker:In the end, they all need to sell through someone, you
Speaker:know, even if they're, unless they're gonna put out a stand in front of their
Speaker:company, you know, they're gonna, you know, it may be Amazon, it may be whoever,
Speaker:but someone else is going to sell your product. And so we're
Speaker:a conduit to that. We can help with that. And so I think— and we
Speaker:understand what consumers are looking for. And so I think that's a lot of
Speaker:kind of what it's come down to is like what— you're all going to have
Speaker:to sell something. But I am thinking a lot about what
Speaker:can I do from a technology and an innovation point of view? What can I
Speaker:do to help that part of the industry? And some of the
Speaker:early-stage issues are different. What were some of your big
Speaker:takeaways? Was there anything when you attended the conference that you were
Speaker:surprised by, or that piqued your interest that you realized you're going to have some
Speaker:homework when you get back and do some more research into? I think one of
Speaker:the things that I'd been thinking about, and I
Speaker:noticed there as well, was just a lot of
Speaker:the big companies like AeroFarms and Plenty, and
Speaker:that first group developed their own technology because they had
Speaker:to, because there were no vendors. And so they spent a lot of money,
Speaker:spent a lot of time developing their own technologies, their own way of doing things,
Speaker:and that's kind of their point of difference. But, you know, just walking
Speaker:around that exhibition floor that you were talking about, you know, you see
Speaker:all the different types of companies that now have services,
Speaker:either lights or recipes or software or
Speaker:robotics, or there's starting to be this whole service industry
Speaker:to that industry. And so I think that's something
Speaker:that is really interesting. And I'm wondering where
Speaker:that's going and just paying more attention to that.
Speaker:Who are those companies that are kind of— it's the picks and shovels
Speaker:types of the industry. How is that developing?
Speaker:And then the other thing I'm noticing seeing more is companies like
Speaker:IGS, who I know have been on your podcast, that type of
Speaker:model. The actual production of food is the
Speaker:least— you make the least amount of margin there. You make more
Speaker:margin in other parts of the whole chain. And so I think a
Speaker:lot of people are starting to realize that and are like, okay,
Speaker:we may not want to be the producers of food. We maybe want to supply
Speaker:those people. And so I think people like IGS and these different business models of
Speaker:how can we supply the industry and allow more people to grow where we're not
Speaker:the grower. And so kind of seeing those trends start to happen more.
Speaker:And, you know, we don't have an answer like where that's going to go yet.
Speaker:But I think that those were some really interesting things. And then one more thing,
Speaker:the panel that I led was talking about
Speaker:how to— once you've produced a product, how do you sell it to retailers.
Speaker:And we had a— it was on the exhibition floor and tons of people came
Speaker:in. And I got a sense from a lot of people there
Speaker:that had just started either setting up or wanted to grow, that
Speaker:they hadn't thought about who they were going to sell to. And so that's an
Speaker:issue. Yeah. So that's really important. And so
Speaker:was there any takeaways for you with the association? I
Speaker:would imagine there's some people who may or may not have been aware of the
Speaker:Association and would be interested in maybe asking you questions about the
Speaker:benefits of joining? Didn't get that too much. I got— I was in
Speaker:one of the sessions and there was a number of people that I had
Speaker:worked with were in the session and they mentioned me a couple times just in
Speaker:the room, which was great. And I did have a couple people come up to
Speaker:me and ask me. That's right, I did actually have a couple people come up
Speaker:and just ask about the Association and I think that whole
Speaker:area, like I said at the onset, is trying to kind of figure
Speaker:out, do we need to be our own small group? Can we be our own
Speaker:small group inside a bigger group? But the reasons you have
Speaker:associations is to do things that one company can't do
Speaker:and to have a bigger voice and to learn about
Speaker:what's going on when you don't have time to pay attention to everything and sort
Speaker:through. And so that's the reason to be part of an association. So,
Speaker:are the needs of the indoor community so
Speaker:specific that they need to have a lot of their own associations, or is
Speaker:there something they can do within ours where we can help? And I think
Speaker:both is probably true. I think there are some things specific. So, I think those
Speaker:types of conversations are going on. And is the association
Speaker:organized in a way where there's a specific
Speaker:focus on what's happening in vertical farming, or do you sort
Speaker:of treat all members equally? You know, there's different areas. We
Speaker:have like growers-shippers that have different parts of the association. We have
Speaker:retailers that are different parts. We have supply chain. We have people who are really
Speaker:interested in sustainability. You know, we have different councils
Speaker:where people get together and work on their specific issues. So
Speaker:we really do try to hit all the different areas. I'm curious,
Speaker:if you were to wave the proverbial magic wand and we were having this conversation
Speaker:12 months from now, As the VP of Innovation, what do you
Speaker:think you would like to have happened for you to be happy with your progress?
Speaker:I think certainly looking at having a specific
Speaker:group within the association that's focused on— and I would
Speaker:open it up and maybe include some of the greenhouse growers. So,
Speaker:I'd put protected agriculture, kind of put
Speaker:it together, and a more specific group, like a
Speaker:committee or a council or something, that those people had a place to
Speaker:get together and that we could advocate for them. So I think that's one way.
Speaker:I think just having people in that part of the industry, you know,
Speaker:more active in the association so we can hear their voice and hear, you know,
Speaker:what are issues to them. And do you feel because of the connections you've
Speaker:made with your attendance at some of the upcoming conferences that
Speaker:the association will start to get more visibility? I hope so.
Speaker:That's part of the point, besides me learning. A lot of it is me learning
Speaker:and meeting people and understanding what the needs are out there and
Speaker:how I can help with those needs. And
Speaker:I've done a lot with the podcast that I have as well. It's a broader
Speaker:produce podcast that looks at technology across a lot of different
Speaker:issues. But we did a whole season on indoor ag and
Speaker:had some really great, interesting conversations. I have a season coming
Speaker:up. My season that's coming up in May is talking about
Speaker:organic and regenerative and then indoor ag. And so when you
Speaker:look at those 3 ways of growing, say you've
Speaker:got leafy greens and you've got a leafy green case and
Speaker:you've got conventional grown leafy greens in a plastic container and you've
Speaker:got organic and you've got, I don't think there's any
Speaker:that are labeled regenerative, but you've got indoor ag. So you've got those 3 anyway.
Speaker:Are those 3 categories going to stay there? What does the consumer think when they
Speaker:see those 3 categories? Yeah, good point. Are some people—
Speaker:I've heard some retailers say that consumers are really more interested in local than
Speaker:they are organic. And so you may have some consumers and some
Speaker:retailers that start saying, organic, you're off the shelf, and
Speaker:we want to buy from our local vertical farm and have their name
Speaker:up there. And so I'm going to do a whole season talking to different pieces
Speaker:and different parts of that. And, you know, really have the conversation of
Speaker:vertical farms in here, like, this is great stuff. This is all that we're doing.
Speaker:How are we communicating it? What do consumers think when they hear it? And so,
Speaker:I think part of my job is just to, you know, shine a light on
Speaker:those issues within the context of produce, you know, in a bigger
Speaker:scheme. It's important to, you
Speaker:know, sort of dive deep on this idea of clarifying for the consumer what they
Speaker:think, what their perspective is, because at the end of the day, perception is reality,
Speaker:right? And even a word like local, does local mean the farm
Speaker:that's 20 miles away or the indoor
Speaker:shipping container that's like a block away? Yeah, exactly. Those are both
Speaker:local and those are arguably like the vertical farm is
Speaker:fresher because it'll be there within a day. And so,
Speaker:I think educating the consumer as to the benefit, at the end of the day,
Speaker:like taste, price, all these things come into play when you factor those in.
Speaker:But I think anything that can happen to educate folks on it,
Speaker:sort of like the more the merrier, because I think there's a lot of questions
Speaker:being asked. And at the end of the day, there's also limited shelf space in
Speaker:the places where people are going to want to sell this. And so, you know,
Speaker:is it the case that the company with the best marketing gets the space and
Speaker:maybe is further away than the company that's local but just can't get on the
Speaker:shelves? And what can they do to sort of have some parity in terms
Speaker:of, you know, that competition that's going to happen? Yeah, I think that those are
Speaker:all really interesting issues. And I don't even know— I mean, I'm too close to
Speaker:it, but, you know, I look at friends of mine, and even my
Speaker:husband, the way that he shops, it's like, what do you pay attention to?
Speaker:And I think we're going to start seeing things like climate
Speaker:safe. We're going to see regenerative. What is the
Speaker:consumer— what do they make of that? And what's the retailer's
Speaker:role in trying to communicate? Whose role is
Speaker:it to try to communicate these different attributes? And
Speaker:I think organic, stands to lose the most because
Speaker:it's such a set of rules and it takes 3 years to certify.
Speaker:And if you don't get that higher price point, you can't really
Speaker:afford to grow organic. And there's a yield, there's
Speaker:26% less yield if you grow organic
Speaker:because you can't use a lot of the different inputs. And so how is
Speaker:that— how are they going to talk about the
Speaker:differences? And I think it's a really interesting question. time and a really interesting
Speaker:topic of, you know, who wants what and who buys what and what it sells
Speaker:for and all those things. I mean, it's interesting as you were talking about that,
Speaker:the 2 things that pop to me that come to mind being a child of
Speaker:the '80s in terms of industry taglines is beef, it's what's for
Speaker:dinner, and milk, it does the body good, right? Yeah,
Speaker:exactly. You're like, you're just— this stuff was like ingrained in you. And I'm wondering
Speaker:if there's opportunities, you know, as all these industries mature and as these
Speaker:newer industries mature, you know, to To do some of that, because at the end
Speaker:of the day, some of that does come back to like, yeah, really, right? Your
Speaker:association at work right there in your brain. I think, you know,
Speaker:when you read a lot of the research, there's a ton of research that's been
Speaker:done on trying to get people to eat more fruits and vegetables and eat more
Speaker:healthy. And it's hard. It's really hard. You know, I
Speaker:think it's continued, people are, you know, eat less fruits and
Speaker:vegetables. And so I think that in itself is something, you know,
Speaker:and as As we talked earlier on, this difference between indoor and outdoor, we
Speaker:just need to make the pie bigger. We just need people to eat more vegetables.
Speaker:You know, it doesn't matter. And I think that's a lot of what
Speaker:we can do is, you know, help educate and help
Speaker:just get people to have a healthier diet for all sorts of reasons.
Speaker:What's a tough question you've had to ask yourself recently? Oh, interesting.
Speaker:I think, you know, these aren't— this isn't a huge question, but just, you know,
Speaker:in the last week I've been going through these applications for the accelerator.
Speaker:And just thinking about the purpose of the accelerator is to bring
Speaker:technology that's kind of farm-ready or ready
Speaker:to go out into the industry right away. And so, a
Speaker:lot of the companies that I had to turn down that have really exciting
Speaker:technologies and just thinking about what does that mean
Speaker:and how do we get those technologies in, especially things around
Speaker:biological solutions, which is kind of my background. background and what I'm most interested in.
Speaker:So, things like breeding and things like different types
Speaker:of biologicals and soil
Speaker:microbiome solutions and things like that, that take a lot longer.
Speaker:So, if I look at, okay, I want products in the
Speaker:industry next year out of this accelerator, those need more
Speaker:time. And so, how do we support those companies and how
Speaker:do we make sure that those technologies Makes a
Speaker:lot of sense. So, just in closing,
Speaker:what has you most excited as you look forward, you know, in terms of either
Speaker:the association's roadmap or things that are top of mind for you? I think
Speaker:the biggest thing is, as we were talking earlier about making an impact, I
Speaker:think, you know, especially with climate change and some of the
Speaker:health issues, that the way we grow our food and
Speaker:the food we grow is so important right now. And so I
Speaker:just feel like we're at this amazing time of, on one
Speaker:side, we've got all these different technologies that we can bring in that can
Speaker:be a solution to these huge problems that we're
Speaker:facing as a world. And so just getting to work at that nexus and that
Speaker:communication between those technologies and how we apply them, you know, for
Speaker:people to be healthier and have a healthier planet is just, you know,
Speaker:super exciting. Very good. What's the link for the
Speaker:program? Is it an incubator program or— I think you said it's closed right now,
Speaker:but in case people want to learn more about it. Yeah. If you go to
Speaker:freshproduce.com, that's our website. And if you go
Speaker:to— there's a technology link. And at that technology link,
Speaker:you'll see all the podcasts that I'm doing and you'll see the accelerator.
Speaker:Right now, I don't know that there's much on the accelerator because we haven't announced
Speaker:who's in it yet. And but we'll announce the mentors. We have an
Speaker:amazing set of mentors, and then we'll announce the
Speaker:companies. And we're doing our immersion week is May 9th. So
Speaker:pretty quick. So it will— I'll be doing a lot on—
Speaker:I post a lot of stuff on LinkedIn and a bit on Twitter. And so
Speaker:you'll be able to see a lot of great footage, video footage of all the
Speaker:different places that we're going to in California and what we're learning as a group.
Speaker:That is exciting. So we will have a link to Fresh
Speaker:Produce in the show notes. And then for people who want to connect with you
Speaker:directly? LinkedIn is a great place. I spend a lot of time there.
Speaker:It is my second home. For better or for worse.
Speaker:Exactly. We will be sure to include all those links in the show notes. So,
Speaker:Vani, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Was it Jon that introduced us? Yeah,
Speaker:yeah, it was Jon Purcell. Jon Purcell. Shout out to Jon. We just had
Speaker:a great conversation with him a couple of weeks ago, and that will be in
Speaker:season 5 as well. Real excited and hopefully we'll
Speaker:get to connect at an upcoming indoor ag conference as well. Yeah, New York in
Speaker:June. And for folks, there are still tickets available for that, so
Speaker:I'll make sure as of the publication of this episode, I think there will still
Speaker:be time to purchase tickets. So hopefully we can— listeners can connect with you
Speaker:there as well. Great. Thanks again, Bonnie. Thank you. Thanks again
Speaker:to Bonnie for coming on the show and sharing her story. I always appreciate when
Speaker:my guests take an hour out of their day And spend it with me and
Speaker:with you, the listener. I really appreciate it. Special thanks to our season
Speaker:5 title sponsor, Cultivated. If you're looking to a vertical farm and don't know where
Speaker:to start or which technology would suit your needs, reach out to them
Speaker:today. Best of all, their service is still free because they
Speaker:still work on behalf of their partners. Learn more at cultivated.com,
Speaker:and that's spelled C-U-L-T-I-V-A-T-E-D.com.
Speaker:Just leave out that last E. Podcast production marketing provided by
Speaker:Fullcast. If you want to learn more about how a podcast can
Speaker:be beneficial for your brand, head on over to
Speaker:fullcast.co. As a reminder, if you're enjoying the show, please
Speaker:leave us a rating and a review at ratethispodcast.com/vfp.
Speaker:As you heard at the top of the episode, I'll be sure to read those
Speaker:out, and I get a lot of joy out of doing that. So make sure
Speaker:you make my day and you make your day because you're doing a good deed.
Speaker:So make sure you leave that review if you haven't done so already. Tune in
Speaker:next week for my conversation, long-awaited conversation with Viraj Puri,
Speaker:CEO of Gotham Greens, who I did connect with at Indoor AgCon,
Speaker:and we were finally able to make the times work to have him on the
Speaker:show. So that's going to be a really good one. Stay tuned for that. Until
Speaker:we meet again next episode, here's to your health. Thanks for
Speaker:listening. To read the full show notes for this episode, which includes
Speaker:any links mentioned in the episode as well as a full show transcription,
Speaker:Visit verticalfarmingpodcast.com. There, you can
Speaker:sign up for our email list to be notified when new episodes are
Speaker:published.
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