ep.104: Controlled Environment Ag -ft. Jonathan Webb

– guest: Jonathan Webb –

In this series I speak with leaders fighting climate change, biodiversity loss, malnutrition and hunger through a focus on SYSTEMS CHANGE. Tune-in for a dose of optimism.

JONATHAN WEBB

CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE

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CORE SYSTEMS CHANGE: the 6-part miniseries >>

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ep. 104: Jonathan Webb – where tech embraces nature in controlled growing environments

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“To feed the population of 2050 we’ll need to grow more food than we have in the entire history of agriculture. That’s what keeps me up at night. That’s a need for more food than the previous 10,000 years of human food production combined,” says Jonathan Webb.

A Kentucky native, Webb first made a name for himself in building-out clean energy infrastructure throughout Appalachia. With starting AppHarvest, Webb returned to his Blue-Grass home-state-roots to create a large-scale, state-of-the-art, value-based food production operation that is truly disrupting the apple cart. TuneIn to ep. 104 to learn about the many benefits that AppHarvest is finding in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).

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ep. 104: AUDIOGRAM – 90 sec. video short

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feeding neighbors ✔️

employing communities ✔️

stabilizing the planet ✔️

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With a consistent supply of fresh quality produce, Webb and AppHarvest make inroads within food supply chains. AppHarvest utilizes proven Dutch solutions for large-scale horizontal glass-house production farms to service growing consumer demand for more local fruits & veg. In fact, through affiliations, partnerships and ambassadors – AppHarvest is making headway for the entire CEA industry. Working on both Main Street and Wall Street, the company will have all the capacity that it needs to become real competition to fresh and frozen produce across the US.

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“We need to be looking around the world for where the best ideas are coming from.  The challenge in front of us can be scary at times, but that challenge is the opportunity.   It’s an opportunity for a world where nature meets technology in how we feed ourselves. 

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We’re doing this in Appalachia now – in the region where I’m from – through controlled environment agriculture, at scale.”  

JONATHAN WEBB – CEO & Founder, AppHarvest

New Expectations for the Salad Plate & Fruit Bowl

Something that I found especially insightful from Jonathan was his take on regional food systems. He draws-upon an analogy of shipping coal to spawn progress. Citing how cities in his region first began to thrive thanks to the innovative supply chain that sourced consistent coal-energy from the hills of Kentucky.

After years of learning about decentralized energy production in the solar industry, Webb leveraged his skill-set to build out large-scale infrastructure and establish a company that sources good food, at scale, across his region. Funny enough, it’s once again all about a consistent source of ‘energy-units’ to make these cities thrive and prosper once again. Now coming in the form of a delicious vine-ripped tomato.

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So, look out fellow patriots on both sides of the aisle – you’re about to experience a whole new kind of Green-Energy-Revolution coming straight out of coal-country. A revolution that will feed neighbors, employ communities and have a net positive impact on the planet. It’s CEA, and it’s a CORE SYSTEMS CHANGE in food production that borrows from the best that tech and nature have to offer.

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Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)

Once a regional market has been saturated with all kinds of good veg & fruits grown under glass – AppHarvest will expand its footprint. Then, grow into new regions. The Controlled Environment Ag glass-house model that AppHavest has established can become a turn-key scalable solution that will grow more good food for diverse regions across the United States for decades to come.

For the investors interested in this, new footprints can made available anywhere there’s a market ripe with new consumer expectations. That’s everywhere! From what we learn from Webb, the positive impacts of this better quality, healthier, fresher, smarter, and safer foods can be (and should be) enjoyed by everyone.

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In this 45 min chat, you’ll learn what AppHarvest is doing now to begin to ‘Fight the good Food Fight‘.

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@AppHarvest

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photo credit:  AppHarvest & eatingwell

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the rich & lasting benefits of:

CORE SYSTEMS CHANGE – content series

The thing is… all sorts of folks will be embracing the values gained from good food and its production. Good food is simply an investment in your own personal health and performance. It’s also a venue to take real climate action in every bite, and a daily dose of benevolence for the folks that keep us well. Good food is a boom-town innovation economy that’s ripening to become invasive throughout verticals and global marketplaces. That’ll begin as more local jobs, and with regional food security.

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for related discussions CLICK >>

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ep.103: Regen study on 1000 US farms -ft. Jonathan Lundgren

– guest: Jonathan Lundgren –

In this teaser series I speak to leaders with LAND USE ADAPTATIONS to fight against climate change, biodiversity loss, malnutrition and hunger. Tune-in for a dose of optimism.

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JONATHAN LUNDGREN

The 1000 Regen Farm Initiative

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LAND USE ADAPTATION – Building Regenerative Agriculture

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The planet needs a paradigm shift in our food.  Nature has been shouldering the externalities from our input-based and extractive models of food production.  In the contemporary world, that’s just not going to cut it anymore.  Demand for differentiated value-based food product is skyrocketing, while conventional commodities have begun to melt under new pressures & economic strain.  

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We’re bumping-up against planetary boundaries. That’s a pressure-point which will change food and how we’ll manage regenerative natural resources.  So, it’s time for a change, but what gets us there the quickest? Our guest today says that what’s missing is modern science. That this science must become a pillar in every regenerative effort, and with all thinking in order to gain broader adoption.  

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ep. 103: Jonathan Lundgren || On-farm Scientific Analysis to Fuel the Regenerative Movement 

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Joining for ep.103 is Ecdysis Foundation founder, Jonathan Lundgren. What’s really needed to frame-out mainstream adoption of regenerative – “it’s good data,” describes Dr. Lundgren.  Good and accurate data coming from bleeding-edge scientific study. So, in January 2022, Ecdysis Foundation launched their 1000 (Regen) farm initiative as the most ambitious agroecology experiment ever conducted.  

Scientific analysis on the oodles of rich data being pulled from all kinds of different farms within diverse regions, sizes and crop types is needed to instigate regenerative from a slow evolution – to the revolution. The millions of data-points-of-light coming from the 1000 farms will be used to measure outcomes inline with best regenerative food production principles.  Jonathan explaines that a simple scoring matrix can make some in-tune predictions. What they seen already is that the more regenerative farms have higher values in this desired Regen outcome matrix.

“The 1000 farm study is to establish the scientific spine to support a transition of food systems more regenerative.”

Dr. Jonathan Lundgren

On all studies at the Ecdysis Foundation each scientist must also be a farmer.  Dr. Lundgren believes the scientific community should rethink what applied science really looks like in their space.  That scientists must connect with the problem that are trying to solve. Can an agricultural scientist truly make revolutionary discoveries in food production when only stuck in a lab, or behind a computer?    

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Lundgren says that scientists must once again get their hands dirty in any agricultural domain they’re working in.  Could that type of immersive science accelerate large-scale adoption and grow the regenerative movement? Yeah! More good science from talented scientist is a foundation for growth.

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It’s time for a change. The old stuff is broken. We need a new approach, but this systemic change stuff can be really hard!  There’s all kinds of entrenched interests too.  Lundgren teases us with the notion that this movement could be turned into a revolution with an ecological enlightenment of the scientific community.  

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tune-in to find out what it’ll take to…

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You see, while working at the USDA, Jonathan Lundgren was an award winning superstar scientist bounding his way up the ranks.  Not willing to be silenced for his true and accurate work, Dr. Lundgren kept to his beliefs and stood tall for what’s right.  These types of folks in public roles, those that stick their neck out to fight corruption are often labeled as… a whistleblower. I think you’ll agree that Dr. Jonathan Lundgren would be better described as a guy who just says it like it is.  

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– bring Regen mainstream.

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As for Lundgren’s POV – to instigate a paradigm shift in food and its production, it has to be done on the shoulders of farmers and with the scientific community that are ready to engage in Regenerative. I think he’s got it right. We need this apples-to-apples comparison with conventional. That analysis speaks the proper language to support the large-scale conversion from conventional to Regen. This may very well be the spine for the Regenerative playbook.

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@Ecdysis Foundation

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photo credit:  Ecdysis Foundation

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LAND USE ADAPTATION – content series

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Food produced using innovative REGENERATIVE ADAPTATIONS (like the solutions discussed in this miniseries) will instigate a whole new way of thinking. Eating good food shapes our relationship with nature for the better, and sustains the stomachs of those who influence mindsets well beyond agriculture fields. Demand for this food produced using elevated standards has already skyrocketed. In this series we connect with those in the US leading a paradigm shift towards smarter LAND USE with good food production.

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for related discussions CLICK >>

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