{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F50c0b2ec-1667-47e0-8382-47464c954a99","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"S4E40: Shannon O'Malley - Creating Your Neighborhood Farm","description":"Episode Summary\r\n\r\nJoin Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show, co- founder & CEO at Brick Street Farms, Shannon O\u2019Malley. Brick Street Farms is a hydroponic, indoor city farm that grows leafy greens year-round in technology based, climate controlled environments. Their mission is to grow the most nutritious produce at the heart of consumption.\r\n\r\nToday, Harry and Shannon talk about how Shannon became an \u2018accidental co-founder\u2019 within the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry. Shannon discusses the key differentiating factor of Brick Street Farms and shares some of the amazing work they are doing to educate society on this growing segment. Harry and Shannon talk about the recent extreme weather, most notably the deep freeze in Texas, and how more of these climactic events are impacting how our food is grown, harvested and delivered to us. Finally, Shannon speaks to the initiatives Brick Street Farms is involved with, including combatting food deserts.\r\n\r\nEpisode Sponsor\r\n\r\nCULTIVATD\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n02:58 \u2013 Harry welcomes to the show Shannon O\u2019Malley, who joins the show to discuss her engineering background and her passion for building and creating\r\n13:39 \u2013 An accidental co-founder\r\n17:18 \u2013 Extreme weather and vertical farming\r\n21:11 \u2013 Brick Street Farms\u2019 origin story and a key differentiating factor about them\r\n25:51 \u2013 An amazing reaction from the community\r\n27:32 \u2013 Educating the masses on career opportunities within the vertical farming industry\r\n32:30 \u2013 Challenges that the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry faces, including contamination\r\n35:57 \u2013 Taking on a leadership role at Brick Street Farms and facing new challenges such as COVID-19\r\n41:59 \u2013 Connecting with other CEA companies\r\n44:08 \u2013 What\u2019s next for Brick Street Farms as the grow and expand their team and organization\r\n51:09 \u2013 Harry thanks Shannon for joining the show and let\u2019s listeners know where they can learn more about Brick Street Farms and connect with Shannon\r\n\r\nTweetable Quotes\r\n\r\n\u201cI definitely think my passion for science and engineering laid the foundation for me today to at least have the curiosity to try.\u201d(13:08) (Shannon)\r\n\r\n\u201cA key differentiating factor for Brick Street Farms is that our focus is wholesale hospitality and direct-to-consumer and not mass distribution through grocery stores or food supply companies.\u201d(22:29) (Shannon)\r\n\r\n\u201cWe would not have been able to get where we are today if we didn\u2019t have the amazing reaction and support of our community.\u201d(26:25) (Shannon)\r\n\r\n\u201cWe like to use a phrase called, \u2018Advanced Simplicity.\u2019 We build our machines so that anyone can operate them because you have to be able to build this labor force and this workforce. And we get folks from all walks of life, former delivery drivers and warehouse workers to plumbers to science students. And so we want people to be able to come in and be effective right away.\u201d(30:58) (Shannon)\r\n\r\n\u201cBrick Street Farms is only as successful as we build our Thrive Containers. And Thrive Containers is our manufacturing brand. Brick Street Farms can only be as successful as good of a machine that we build. So, we work to build a machine with highest ROI with the lowest inputs.\u201d (43:00) (Shannon)\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re focused on expanding our brand, our marketing, our consumer outreach and governmental affairs.\u201d(46:03) (Shannon)\r\n\r\nLinks Mentioned\r\n\r\nShannon\u2019s LinkedIn\r\n\r\nBrick Street Farms Website\r\n\r\nBrick Street Farms Twitter\r\n\r\nBrick Street Farms Instagram\r\n\r\nBrick Street Farms Facebook\r\n\r\nThrive Containers Website\r\n\r\nSponsor Info:\r\n\r\nCultivatd Website\r\n\r\nCultivatd Instagram\r\n\r\nCultivatd\u2019s Twitter\r\n\r\nCultivatd\u2019s Facebook\r\n\r\n\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f\r\n\r\nPodcast Production and Marketing by FullCast: https://bit.ly/3sxZ34y\r\n\r\nSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/d7eea710-ca19-4660-9550-094edb34bb7e/image.jpg"}