CropTalk

Dave Vosburg is the Chief Innovation Officer at Local Bounti. On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech we discuss "If you grow it will they come?" (Short answer, NOPE) the importance of unit economics in CEA, understanding what you don't know, you don't know along with the importance of creating industry benchmarking, investor and retail relations and the future outlook for the industry. 

Blake Lange of Signify has been lighting vertical farms since the beginning. On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech Blake and I discuss the evolution of LED horticulture lighting, words of cation for buyers and some of our favorite stories (Spoiler: Don't eat the produce if you don't know the companies food safety standard and your lettuce shouldn't be covered in "seeds") Additional topics i...

What the heck is a sustainability specialist?! What exactly do they do in CEA? Why do I keep seeing job listings for this "new" position within controlled ag. pop up?! In this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech I speak with Kindall Brantley, Sustainability Specialist at AmplifiedAg / Vertical Roots. Our discussion answers the above question while also addressing what exactly is being measured (s...

Indoor Ag-Con is the premier indoor agriculture trade show and conference for indoor | vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture. On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech Suzanne Pruitt, the Director of Indoor Ag-Con runs us through the history of the conference, what to expect at this years show and the group effort that has enabled this event to come together.  If you are inter...

What does the future of vertical farming look like? Will we be able to grow not only food but medicine in the future using this technology?  On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech Sam Burtram, CEO of OnePointOne answers these questions and dives deep into some of the industry challenges and his experience developing a team and system to grow vetically using aeroponics.  Additional topics inc...

A few months ago Shenandoah Growers changed their name to Soli Organic. Why did this change happen? What is the leading provide of organic herbs doing to perfect their branding? What does it take to build a strong produce brand in CEA?  On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech Don Helms, Vice President of Marketing at Soli Organic Inc. does a masterful job of answering these questions, explain...

Tracy Nazzaro is the President & General Manager at Traders Hill Farm. Before joining the farm she worked in banking and her background has proved priceless. Topics for this episode include the importance of branding (even if you are not going through retail) the challenges that come from aquaponic farming and lessons learned along the way.

Buckle up. This #LeadersTalkCrops episode is packed with knowledge. The first time Scott Wall, President and Owner of New Age Laboratories, joined as a guest on CropTalk he blew our minds by sharing the nitty gritty on SAP analysis and its impact on the way Cannabis growers manage their plant nutrition.  This time he and I were lucky enough to be joined by none other than Jenny "Jenny-from-the-Cro...

Everyone knows finance and investing is the easiest part of any CEA venture..  THAT WAS A JOKE. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME AN ANGRY MESSAGE.  On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech I speak with Andrew Howell of Ceres Partners about navigating the wonderful world of investing and finance as it pertains to indoor farming, agtech and the collective CEA industry. Andrew paints a clear picture of some...

Know Better, Grow Better.  Erika Verrier is the newest member of the CropWalk and CropTalk team and #KnowBetterGrowBetter is her mantra.  Words can't describe how pumped up the entire team is to have her spunk, positive attitude, emotional intelligence and technical aptitude on the squad.  Outside of her unique tomato IPM and food safety experience, she brings a wealth of leadership and team devel...

Nick D'Amelio is the cultivation manager and head grower at TerrAscend, who built the first commercial cannabis greenhouse in New Jersey, the state Bobby Shearer grew up in. Nick assisted in the build-out of the facility he now runs and TerrAscend is producing premier cannabis flowers both indoors and in that greenhouse. Nick shares what was required to plan the development of a customized cultiva...

Crops are not nearly as gluttonous as we have traditionally made them out to be.  It seems as if much of conventional agriculture shoves synthetic fertilizers down the soil's throat in an attempt to nourish plants with ever-diminishing returns on investment.  As an industry, we are discovering more about the symbiotic relationships between soil microbiology and the crops that call soil home.  With...

AmplifiedAg is taking container farming to the next level. With multiple locations (Their Columbia, South Carolina location housing 140 containers!) Don Taylor, CEO is delivering consistent, safe and delicious (I can vouch) greens to Publix, Harris Teeter, Food Lion and many more retailers. Take a listen to learn more about Don's journey in Horticulture, the evolution of the company and navigating...

Ever wish you could listen in on industry leaders talkin' crops on a casual call? Pam gave Surendra a ring to talk about biologicals and they accidentally hit record! Lucky us! They define categories of biological agents before they discuss market adoption and the development of new products, best practices for farmers, and what benefits farmers can expect. This isn't a #CropTalk #podcast to miss....

Everyone loves collecting data for their grow operation, until it becomes a tangled web of nonsense. On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech I speak with Jono Jones of BlueLab about the importance of not only collecting data, but putting it to proper use. Topics include using smart tools to collect the right data, turning that data into wisdom and learning directly from your grower customers.

Growing a quality, desirable crop with palatable input costs is an accomplishment.  But, growing a quality crop with palatable input costs that consumers demand and that sells consistently is a whole different beast.  As a fresh produce supplier, it seems developing quality relationships and rapport with produce buyers is the secret sauce to selling through and is something that more suppliers sho...

Let's talk research & development! #LetsTalkCrops. This episode features some incredible insights from the R&D Manager at Square Roots in Brooklyn NYC, Eli Zimmer. He's tasked with designing and executing growing trials to support new product development, recipe optimization, and plant treatments. In this #CropTalk podcast, Eli and Bobby aim to demystify the R&D process by simplifying what's often...

Compared to other crops, there is far less peer-reviewed research and diagnostic resources available for Cannabis plant pathogens; especially the viruses and viroids that infect and impact Cannabis production.  When it comes to pathogens, Cannabis viruses and viroids are the typically the most misunderstood.  That's why we had Dr. Jack Munz of Genie Lab onto the #LeadersTalkCrops series of CropTal...

There is no doubt, aquaponics is hard! Growing plants or raising fish as two separate businesses is hard enough, and I can assure you, combining them does not make things easier. On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech I speak with Brandon Gottsacker, President of Superior Fresh in Wisconsin. If there is any example out there of someone doing aquaponics right look no further then this operati...

PART 2 Fine tuning your irrigation practices may seem like a daunting and ambiguous objective. It may seem futile because you tell yourself you've got plenty of water, and you're already growing quality crops. Water is not an infinite resource. Your bank account is not an infinite resource. Crop inputs cost money.  Herbicide. Fertilizer. Pesticides. Biopesticides. Biological Control Agents.  They...

"Rising consumer demand is accelerating the growth of the greenhouse industry, but the massive shortage of both growers and manual labor requires a scalable machine vision solution to further produce supply. Having a renowned agronomy team, like CropWalk, to assist in deploying state-of-the-art technology like LUNA will have a profound impact on our constantly improving capacity to help growers in...

What does it take to succeed in CEA? On this episode of CropTalk #KyleTalksAgtech Dan Vukevich COO of Revolution Farms talks about the companies journey in horticulture, the pivots they've taken, and what the future looks like not only for their operation but the industry as a whole.

Fine tuning your irrigation practices may seem like a daunting and ambiguous objective. It may seem futile because you tell yourself you've got plenty of water, and you're already growing quality crops. Water is not an infinite resource. Your bank account is not an infinite resource. Crop inputs cost money.  Herbicide. Fertilizer. Pesticides. Biopesticides. Biological Control Agents.  They all cos...

Cannabis growers tend to keep their cultivation insights very close to their chest and rarely do any share the details of their techniques as transparently as David Polley of Preferred Gardens in northern California. David is the founder, CEO, and director of cultivation. And Preferred Gardens consistently distributes high-quality product across the state for the recreational market despite incred...

Controlled environment growers have been inundated with advancements in light technology and new fixtures over the past decade. Many growers have since installed supplemental light or artificial light in their greenhouse or warehouse. Installing the fixtures and paying the energy bill is only a small piece of what a grower must do to get the most return on their lighting investment.  That's why we...