{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Fe23e2800-05d3-4e37-a2c2-2edf3d311fa1","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"S3E30: Eric Levesque - Lending Farmers a Helping Hand","description":"Episode Summary\r\n\r\nJoin Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show Eric Levesque. Eric is the co-founder and VP of Business Development and Sales at Cultivatd, an organization that works with a wide range of industry-proven technology partners to provide the best fit for a project\u2019s needs. Cultivatd also offers farming guidance, design consulting, and lending and leasing services to its clients. In this episode, Harry and Eric talk about how the pandemic has impacted our food supply chains and the desperate need for our society to solve these issues. They discuss Eric\u2019s time at ZipGrow, the need for indoor and outdoor Ag to coexist and what the future holds for Cultivatd and the AgTech industry.\r\n\r\nEpisode Sponsor\r\n\r\nCULTIVATD\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n03:29 \u2013 Harry welcomes to the show Eric Levesque, co-founder of Cultivatd, who talks about his organization, how the pandemic has impacted his business and how he got involved in vertical farming\r\n08:44 \u2013 Eric reflects back on his time at ZipGrow and expounds on his sales background\r\n11:58 \u2013 Eric talks about what was different about working for ZipGrow and learning the industry on the fly\r\n14:59 \u2013 The inspiration to start Cultivatd and what the business model looks like\r\n18:13 \u2013 Eric breaks down the three different types of clients that Cultivatd services\r\n21:05 \u2013 The work Cultivatd is doing to educate the world on opportunities in AgTech and other offerings the provide to their clients\r\n27:28 \u2013 How controlled environment agriculture and traditional agriculture co-exis\r\n32:42 \u2013 Eric talks about some of the partnerships between Cultivatd and other companies\r\n34:19 \u2013 Eric speaks to Cultivatd\u2019s plans for growth, strategies he utilizes to grow his team and how Cultivatd is approaching the future of AgTech\r\n36:44 \u2013 How Eric keeps up with the changing trends of AgTech\r\n38:47 \u2013 Mentors who have helped Eric along his journey\r\n40:46 \u2013 A tough question Eric has had to ask himself recently\r\n43:21 \u2013 What excites Eric the most about the future of vertical farming\r\n43:56 \u2013 Harry thanks Eric for joining the show and let\u2019s listeners know where they can connect with him\r\n\r\nTweetable Quotes\r\n\r\n\u201cPeople are really realizing now, there is an issue and the world has to trend in this direction. Obviously the lack of irrigable land and water is an issue. But something like this pandemic sheds light on what the world needs in terms of fresh supply of food.\u201d(06:14)\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s strange, it always kind of came natural to me. It\u2019s my favorite thing. I think I just really like connecting and making new relationships and bonding with people. There\u2019s something to it. There\u2019s a really personal aspect. Obviously with this, there\u2019s a bonus of you\u2019re selling something that\u2019s actually helping to heal the world.\u201d(10:53)\r\n\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s something romantic about this industry where when you see the plants growing indoors it\u2019s the same feeling. I fell in love right away when I saw it and I feel like there\u2019s a lot of that.\u201d(20:22)\r\n\r\n\u201cI think we\u2019ve got some pretty ambitious goals but we want to hit the full spectrum where we can support you head-to-toe regardless of your plan.\u201d(23:50)\r\n\r\n\u201cIndoor Ag was never meant to replace outdoor Ag. It\u2019s something that needs to work in conjunction with outdoor Ag so that we can all get to the common goal of saving the planet and growing more food and being healthier and fixing food supply chains.\u201d(27:56)\r\n\r\nLinks Mentioned\r\n\r\nCultivatd Website\r\n\r\nCultivatd\u2019s Instagram\r\n\r\nCultivatd\u2019s Twitter\r\n\r\nCultivatd\u2019s Facebook\r\n\r\nZipGrow Website\r\n\r\nEric\u2019s LinkedIn\r\n\r\nReadwise App\r\n\r\nBlinkist\r\n\r\nInstapaper\r\n\r\nLink to Houdini\u2019s Biography\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/deabf254-f305-4348-80c5-02a74f22828c/image.jpg"}