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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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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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A post shared by Sourcing Matters show (@sourcingmatters)

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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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