Originally published in Issue 15, October 2016 Chris Higgins, general manager at Hort Americas, talks about why he and his company are involved with Tour de Fresh. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Chris Higgins, general manager at Hort Americas, to discuss his recent philanthropic activities, most specifically regarding his important work with Tour de Fresh. Tour de Fresh, presented by The California Giant Foundation, is the first-of-its-kind, collaborative event that unites the most significant brands and influencers in the fresh produce industry for a four-day cycling event that raises funds to benefit the Let’s Move Salad…
Author: Jim Pantaleo
Originally published in Issue 11 What a thrill it was to sit down with venture capitalist and ecologically responsible investor, Will Kain of Rusheen Capital Partners for lunch on a warm Santa Monica afternoon in August. RCP is the brainchild of visionary, Jim McDermott (see his latest venture, Fulcrum BioEnergy). Mr. Kain graciously agreed to meet to discuss the current state of institutional capital flowing into the nascent indoor vertical farming industry, specifically technologies incorporating controlled environment agriculture or CEA. In its most basic definition, CEA is the growing of plants within a closed or semi-closed environment utilizing light emitting…
I had planned to write a doom and gloom piece about the well-known California drought and what golf courses should be doing to manage and mitigate their water consumption. Then, surprisingly, it has rained all week. It is raining as I write this. Cold and constant but a most welcome rain. In fact, one could safely write that midway through this winter California has turned the corner on this most brutal, 5-plus year drought. Still there is no denying that with the growing population and the accompanying increased demand, golf courses in places like the Coachella Valley – my home,…
At Urban Ag News, we’re all about educating our readers with the goal of providing valuable input from a wide variety of industry professionals. Without question, Michael Christian, founder of American Hydroponics, fits that bill. I was delighted to sit down with him recently to learn of his 30-plus year career in the hydroponics industry and how his insight, in particular about the often contentious argument of what actually constitutes the definition of the word “organic,” pertains to growing plants. Does a plant need to be grown in soil to be truly organic? Can all the biological elements required by…
It was a privilege and an honor to be part of the organizing team and also to moderate the “East Meets West” conference held at the California Agriculture Center last month in Salinas, California. The first event of its kind brought together seven member-companies from the JPFA (Japan Plant Factory Association) led by association President and Professor Emeritus from Japan’s Chiba University, Dr. Toyoki Kozai. Known as the “Father of the Japanese Plant Factory,” or what westerners call indoor vertical farms (food production using only artificial lights) he was assisted by Eri Hayashi who assembled actual operators of plant factories…
In my last blog, I wrote that going forward I would be more investigative and more objective in my examination of my subjects and subject matter. It seems like I’m not quite there yet. Tagged as “The Future of Urban Food Systems,” the Grow Local O.C. Conference in Southern California last month left me with only good things to write about. The organizing sponsors, Seedstock’s Robert Puro and Jason Reed, brought stakeholders together for this important gathering and their work is to be commended. Christina Hall from the OC Food Access Coalition rounded out the event’s organizing team. “In the…
Lately I have realized I need to be more objective and less complimentary towards my subjects and subject matter. It’s important I create get-to-the-point reporting, be a little more controversial perhaps and ask the tough questions. I think that it’s time to tell the world who is making a real go of indoor vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture as it relates to precision Ag in particular, and who is not. No more semi-cloaked endorsements of unproven start-ups. No more ink for those operating under the guise of “smoke and mirrors” while bankruptcy looms just around the corner. To…
Viticulture (from the Latin word for vine) is the science, production, and study of grapes. A branch of the science of horticulture, viticulture deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. It never rains in southern California…lie. On this day in late October making my way out of the southland up highway 101 to the central coast, man it poured. But as everyone knows in these parts; we need the rain! Pulling into the agri-college town of San Luis Obispo, the clouds did part and it stayed dry long enough for me to walk my way into the…
I recently had the opportunity to attend an event in Los Angeles hosted by urban farm start-up, Local Roots Farms. It was sponsored by the Larta Institute, Indoor Ag Con and Autogrow Systems. The Larta Institute’s mission is “to energize the transformation of technology ideas into solutions that elevate economic opportunities and make lives better for people around the world.” And digging deeper, the Larta Institute’s Global Ag Innovation Network (GAIN) is a national forum of thinkers and leaders in the agriculture innovation community that utilizes the network to stimulate the creation and implementation of solutions to pressing challenges across…
It’s the middle of August and I’m in San Diego on a balmy Monday evening attending an Ag Tech conference sponsored by attorney Roger Royse and his AgTech Innovation Network (www.royselawincubator.com). Held at Marina Village just beyond Sea World, the palm trees were swaying as the sun slowly set. Not a bad gig for me at all. The event, a first for San Diego was slated as bringing “together founders, investors, educators and government officials who are building the future of Agriculture Technology.” I was pleased to be in the room as I have been aware of Mr. Royse’s work,…
The urban agriculture movement is alive and well in San Diego. With a nod to the San Diego Food Systems Alliance (SDFSA, http://www.sdfsa.org/) Executive Director, Elly Brown, and with her diligent work over the past year and a half, it’s clear that urban ag is carving out a spot in the city by the sea. I was able to personally meet Elly and other proponents of the movement at a recent Ag Fair in downtown San Diego a few weeks ago. Despite the hot temperatures (90+ degrees…rare for San Diego) there was a fine turnout on the grounds of the…
The first thing one will notice about Dr. Sarah Taber is she’s a fast talker – a very fast talker. I attribute this trait to the simple fact that her brain works much faster than her mouth can get the words out. Brilliance can be tough sometimes. I met Sarah in 2015 at Indoor Ag Con in Las Vegas where she was speaking on the subject of food safety in aquaponics, when employed as the primary growing methodology. We later found common ground working together in surveying the nascent indoor vertical farm industry to inquire if a trade association could…
It’s a pleasure for Urban Ag News to blog about and share the new short film from the group Nebraska Loves Public Schools* based in Omaha, Nebraska. The film details how more than 160 students from diverse backgrounds are now taking part in an Omaha Public Schools’ Urban Agriculture Academy. When one thinks of Nebraska, they often think of corn! After all, it is the Cornhusker state but surprisingly, there are many students in Omaha who have never been on a farm, never touched a plant or a chicken or have ever dug in the dirt. What the viewer also…
“Angels among us” was my first thought when I recently spoke to Sam Wells of Project Renewal (http://www.projectrenewal.org/) based in Lower Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. At Urban Ag News we’re all about educating our readers and sharing the good news surrounding controlled environment agriculture, so it was refreshing when I was contacted by Sam who was eager to detail how Project Renewal is incorporating agriculture into their work which seeks to end the cycle of homelessness. “Horticultural Therapy,” as he calls it, with the goal of renewing the lives of men, women and children is also known as biophilia, which suggests…