{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F79d66e38-64b2-4cad-8154-3a5a76a0c3b6","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"S2E24: Alexander Olesen & Graham Smith - Farming for a Better Future","description":"Episode Summary\r\n\r\nJoin Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show co-founders of Babylon MicroFarms, Alexander Olesen and Graham Smith. Alexander and Graham met at the University of Virginia where they first designed a low-cost micro-farm to provide nutritious produce for food-insecure refugees in the Middle East. They were initially inspired by the desire to bring benefits of sustainable hydroponic farming to those who need it the most. In this episode, Harry talks to Alexander and Graham about the genesis of Babylon MicroFarms, why AgTech and vertical farming are critical to the advancement of our society and technological developments that have been made in vertical farming.\r\n\r\nEpisode Sponsor\r\n\r\nCeres Greenhouse Solutions\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n03:22 \u2013 Harry welcomes to the show Alexander Olesen and Graham Smith, co-founders of Babylon, who share their intriguing origin stories\r\n05:41 \u2013 Alexander and Graham discuss their initial educational pursuits and what led them to AgTech\r\n11:41 \u2013 Where the inspiration came from to start Babylon MicroFarms and challenges and obstacles Alexander and Graham faced along the way\r\n18:46 \u2013 How Alexander and Graham decided where to focus their resources in vertical farming\r\n22:38 \u2013 Alexander and Graham share how they\u2019ve grown their team and why they chose to set up shop in Virginia\r\n25:17 \u2013 The impact COVID-19 has had on Alexander and Graham\u2019s business\r\n27:17 \u2013 Alexander and Graham discuss Networking in AgTech\r\n29:09 \u2013 Graham talks about his passion for making products that make people happy and Alexander explains why vertical farming is so important in today\u2019s society\r\n38:06 \u2013 What excites Alexander and Graham the most about the future of AgTech\r\n41:36 \u2013 A tough question Alexander and Graham have had to ask themselves recently and mentors in the AgTech space that they admire\r\n43:48 \u2013 Harry thanks Alexander & Graham for joining the show and let\u2019s listeners know where they can connect with them\r\n\r\nTweetable Quotes\r\n\r\n\u201cWe were just genuinely interested and motivated by the sustainability methods of hydroponics.\u201d(07:53)\r\n\r\n\u201cI think pretty early on we saw that for these smaller scale farms to succeed they required a very different set of problems to be solved than that of a large-scale commercial farm.\u201d(17:50)\r\n\r\n\u201cWe have really benefited from being in a smaller startup ecosystem. Charlottesville and Richmond both have very supportive networks and we\u2019ve benefited from that.\u201d(24:41)\r\n\r\n\u201cFood has always been a really important thing to me.\u201d(30:47)\r\n\r\n\u201cI really think that there is a global opportunity to grow the majority of highly perishable produce indoors. And wouldn\u2019t it be amazing to be one of the companies doing that?\u201d(33:38)\r\n\r\n\u201cI think one of the technology advancements that I\u2019m particularly excited about is using cameras to automate the collection of what we call \u2018target variables.\u2019\u201d(38:46)\r\n\r\nLinks Mentioned\r\n\r\nBabylon Micro-Farms Website\r\n\r\nAlexander\u2019s LinkedIn\r\n\r\nGraham\u2019s LinkedIn\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/d495f6db-0915-4cab-9240-26baa6e4d104/image.jpg"}