Ep. 104: Where nature meets tech -ft. Jonathan Webb, AppHarvest

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

"To feed the population of 2050 we'll need to grow more food than we have in the entire history of human 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," explains Jonathan Webb. A Kentucky native, Webb first made a name for himself in building-out clean energy infrastructure throughout Appalachia. In starting AppHarvest, Webb returned home to his Blue-Grass state roots to build-out a large-scale state-of-the-art value-based food production operation that is truly disrupting the apple cart. As you'll hear once again in this conversation, 'Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness'.

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NEW EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SALAD PLATE & FRUIT BOWL
Something that I found especially insightful in my conversation with Jonathan was his storyline about regional food systems. He draws-upon an analogy of shipping coal to support growth of cities and spawn progress. Cities in his region first began to thrive much thanks to the innovative supply chain that sourced consistent energy from the hills of Kentucky.

After years of learning about decentralized energy in the Solar industry, Webb leveraged a skill set gained in clean energy production and large-scale infrastructure to build-out and now source good food at scale in that region. Funny enough, it’s once again all about a consistent source of ‘energy-units’ to make these cities thrive and prosper, but now that energy comes in the form of better quality, fresher, tastier, and vibrant fruit and veg. It’s like a whole new green energy innovation economy spawning in the hills of Kentucky. Feeding neighbors, employing communities and having a net positive impact on the planet - this is a CORE SYSTEMS CHANGE in food production that takes the best that tech & nature have to offer.

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With a consistent supply of fresh quality produce, Webb and AppHarvest are making inroads into key supply chains. Through affiliations, partnerships and ambassadors - AppHarvest is also making headway for the entire CEA industry on both Main Street and Wall Street. Utilizing a proven Dutch solution for large-scale horizontal glass-house production farms - AppHarvest will have all the capacity it needs to become real competition for fresh and frozen markets alike across the US. So, look out fellow patriots on either-side of the aisle, you're about to experience a Green-Energy-Revolution coming straight out of coal-country.

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CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE (CEA)
Once a regional market has been saturated with all kinds of good veg & fruits - AppHarvest can expand its footprint and grow into more. The Controlled Environment Ag (CEA) glass-house model that AppHavest has established is a turn-key scalable solution that will grow more good food in diverse regions in the United States for years to come.

New footprints can made available anywhere there's a market ripe with evolving consumer POV and new expectations for food. From what we learn from Webb, the positive impacts for this better quality, healthier, fresher, smarter, and safer foods can be, and should enjoyed by everyone in his region; your region; all regions, really. With this first dip-of-the-chip in Morehead, KY - AppHarvest has only just begun to 'Fight the good Food Fight'.

 

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