Vertical Farming Startup Oishii Raises $50m In Series A Funding

By Sian Yates

03/11/2021

Oishii, a vertical farming startup based in New Jersey, has raised $50 million during a Series A funding round led by Sparx Group’s Mirai Creation Fund II.

The funds will enable Oishii to open vertical strawberry farms in new markets, expand its flagship farm outside of Manhattan, and accelerate its investment in R&D.

“Our mission is to change the way we grow food. We set out to deliver exceptionally delicious and sustainable produce,” said Oishii CEO Hiroki Koga. “We started with the strawberry – a fruit that routinely tops the dirty dozen of most pesticide-riddled crops – as it has long been considered the ‘holy grail’ of vertical farming.”

“We aim to be the largest strawberry producer in the world, and this capital allows us to bring the best-tasting, healthiest berry to everyone. From there, we’ll quickly expand into new fruits and produce,” he added.

Oishii is already known for its innovative farming techniques that have enabled the company to “perfect the strawberry,” while its proprietary and first-of-its-kind pollination method is conducted naturally with bees.

The company’s vertical farms feature zero pesticides and produce ripe fruit all year round, using less water and land than traditional agricultural methods.

“Oishii is the farm of the future,” said Sparx Group president and Group CEO Shuhei Abe. “The cultivation and pollination techniques the company has developed set them well apart from the industry, positioning Oishii to quickly revolutionise agriculture as we know it.”

The company has raised a total of $55 million since its founding in 2016.

The Stock Market Discovers Indoor Ag In A Big Way

Robinhood antics aside, there’s no hotter topic in finance right now than SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies), and even indoor agriculture has become caught up in the buzz.

SPACs, or special purpose acquisition corporations, are a shell company that lists itself on a stock exchange and then uses the listing proceeds to acquire or merge with another company. It’s an attractive route to raising funds for companies looking for a faster and cheaper way to list than the rigours of the traditional IPO process. 

Though SPACs have been around since the 1990s, they have had a reputation for being “the buyer of last resort”, primarily owing to a spate of failures in the early 2000s. The approach has once more taken off in recent years. There was nearly 8x as much raised in 2020 as in 2018, and 2021’s total has already surpassed last year’s[1]. The approach has become so hot that even Goldman Sachs junior investment bankers recently complained that they were burned out by the sheer volume of SPACs they’re working on[2]. 

This newfound enthusiasm is generally traced to a combination of tighter SEC regulations, efforts by cash-rich private equity companies to exit portfolio companies and fewer traditional IPO listings. Higher quality sponsors, such as 40-year old private equity firm Thoma Bravo, lead some to believe that things are different this time around.  The lustre of famous SPAC participants – such as baseball player A-Rod and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal – has helped things along.  

Detractors point to post-listing underperformance by SPACs, high fees to sponsors and opaqueness around the acquisition of companies.  SPAC rules mean that institutional investors sometimes get to see information on potential acquisitions ahead of retail investors.[3] On a recent Clubhouse chat, one investor compared SPACs to the risky no-revenue internet listings of the late 1990s. Another questioned whether retail investors’ appetite for such vehicles would cause greater market volatility[4].

Dan Bienvenue, the interim CEO of mega public pension fund CALPERs, recently described SPACs as “fraught with potential misalignment, potential governance issues”.[5] That said, similar dire warnings have accompanied the rise of many a new approach in finance, most recently equity crowdfunding, and have proven wrong as often as right.

As is so often the case in indoor agriculture, cannabis companies have led the way when it comes to SPACs, generally listing in Canada owing to the US federal prohibition on the crop. One example is Choice Consolidation Corp, which raised $150mm in February, and says that it plans to acquire “existing strong single-state operators”[6].

Historically, food-focused indoor agriculture companies have sourced little of their capital from public markets, preferring instead to work with private equity and strategic investors. To be sure, there is a small cadre of listed CEA firms, such as Canadian greenhouse operator Village Farms (TSE: VFF) and Canadian grow system tech company CubicFarm Systems Corp (TSXV: CUB) are exceptions to this rule.

All of that changed last month when Kentucky-based greenhouse company AppHarvest raised $475mm through NASDAQ listed SPAC Novus Capital. The funds will fuel the expansion of up to a dozen new farms through 2025.

Naturally, the move has led to speculation that vertical farms and greenhouses will follow suit, though it’s worth noting that the rules that govern SPACs aren’t necessarily friendly to CEA companies. They favour large, highly valued companies that easily capture the attention of retail investors, and those are not plentiful in CEA.  

Regardless of whether the SPAC trend becomes a permanent feature of the indoor farm fundraising landscape, one more method of accessing capital for CEA can only be a good thing. For the moment at least.

For more information:
Contain
www.contain.ag

Note: None of the above constitutes investment advice.

Sources:
[1] SPACInsider figures
[2] “Goldman’s junior bankers complain of crushing workload amid SPAC-fueled boom in Wall Street deals”, CNBC, March 18, 2021
[3] For instance, where a PIPE is being considered by the SPAC
[4] “SPACS: IPO 2.0 & Agrifoodtech Exits”, March 4, 2021
[5] “CalPERS’ Bienvenue: SPACs are fraught with potential misalignment”, Private Equity International, March 16, 2021
[6] “New cannabis SPAC raises $150 million in IPO for US acquisitions”, Marijuana Business Daily, February 19, 2021

Publication date: Wed 24 Mar 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com

8 Easy Steps To Start Your Farm

Whether you want to sell to restaurants, hotels, or members of your local community, The Greenery™ makes it possible for anyone to grow local food on a commercial scale.

We’ve worked with farmers across the globe to help them establish successful businesses, so we know what you’ll need to do to launch a successful business.
 

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

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STEP 1
Understand hydroponics and your local food market.

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STEP 2 
Build your business plan.

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STEP 3
Secure financing for your farm.

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STEP 4
Find your perfect farm site and research your municipality’s zoning laws.

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STEP 5 
Get trained - join us at Farm Camp or in Farmhand Academy

 

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STEP 6
Prepare for arrival - our Client Services team will take care of all the logistics!

 

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STEP 7
While your crops start to grow, develop your marketing, packaging and other facets of your business.

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STEP 8
Launch your farm and join the community of growers. Read advice from others like you.

The Freight Farms team will be there to support every step of the way.

Schedule a call today to get all your questions answered

and take the first step towards building a successful business.

Book A Consultation

Plenty Names Former Hewlett-Packard, Heinz Execs To Board

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Chris Koger

October 28, 2020

Vertical farming company Plenty, South San Francisco, has added Ann Livermore and Bill Johnson, former executives at Hewlett-Packard and H.J. Heinz, respectively, to its board of directors.

Livermore brings extensive experience on advising companies during periods of growth and change, according to a news release.

She started at Hewlett-Packard in 1982 and retired as an executive in 2011, and continues as a Hewlett-Packer Enterprise Co. board member. Other companies at which she’s a board member are Qualcomm, United Parcel Services and D2iQ.

Johnson was at Heinz for 31 years in roles that included general manager, and president and CEO. He was named CEO of the Year for the Global Food and Beverage Industry in 2011. He is an operating partner with private equity firm Advent International and is chairman of Sovos Brands, an investment vehicle for food and beverage acquisitions, according to the release.

“The experience and wisdom that Ann and Bill bring to the Plenty board will be critical as we work to grow our platform and increase production to provide fresh, and delicious food to more consumers,” Matt Barnard, Plenty co-founder and executive chairman, said in the release. “They will help ensure that our mission is supported and advanced through best practices in governance and corporate stewardship.” 

Lead photo: ( Photos and logo courtesy Plenty; graphic by Amelia Freidline )

Related stories:

Plenty raises $140 million in investments

Driscoll’s and Plenty agree to grow strawberries indoors

Albertsons to bring Plenty leafy greens to 400-plus stores

Fully Operational, Modern Hydroponic 45,000 sf Greenhouse For Sale In Pennsylvania

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By urbanagnews

September 4, 2019

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BrightFarms, leading grower of hydroponic salad greens and herbs, is set to open a 280,000 sf facility in central Pennsylvania later this year.  At that point its existing Pennsylvania greenhouse in Bucks County will become surplus to requirements.  It will be ready for occupancy by a new user late in the first quarter 2020.  

It is a fully operational automated hydroponic greenhouse with a glass roof, computer controls, sophisticated HVAC and irrigation systems, artificial lighting and cold storage.  

For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at soneill@brightfarms.com.

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• TAGS Business For sale Greenhouse

Urban Farms Could be Incredibly Efficient—But Aren’t Yet

JOHN TIMMER - 12/28/2018, 3:45 AM

The green revolution that transformed modern agriculture has generally increased its scale. There's tremendous potential for efficiencies in the large-scale application of mechanization, fertilization, and pesticide use. But operating at that level requires large tracts of land, which means sources of food have grown increasingly distant from the people in urban centers who will ultimately eat most of it.

In some ways, hyper-local food is a counterculture movement, focused on growing herbs and vegetables in the same dense urban environments where they will be eaten. It trades the huge efficiencies of modern agriculture for large savings in transportation and storage costs. But is urban farming environmentally friendly?

According to researchers at Australia's University of New England, the answer is pretty complex. Within their somewhat limited group of gardeners, urban agriculture is far more productive for the amount of land used but isn't especially efficient with labor and materials use. But the materials issue could be solved, and the labor inefficiency may be a product of the fact that most urban farmers are hobbyists and are doing it for fun.

Urban ag

The researchers—Robert McDougalla, Paul Kristiansena, and Romina Rader—defined urban agriculture as taking place within a kilometer of a densely built environment. Working in the Sydney area, they were able to find 13 urban farmers who were willing to keep detailed logs of their activity for an entire year. Labor and materials costs were tracked, as was the value of the produce it helped create. The energetic costs of the materials and labor were also calculated in order to assess the sustainability of urban farming.

The plots cultivated by these farmers were quite small, with the median only a bit over 10 square meters. Yet they were extremely productive, with a mean of just under six kilograms of produce for each of those square meters. That's about twice as productive as a typical Australian vegetable farm, although the output range of the urban farms was huge—everything from slightly below large farm productivity to five times as productive.

For the vast majority of crops, however, the urban farms weren't especially effective. They required far more labor than traditional farms, and, as a result, the total value of the inputs into the crop exceeded the income from selling it. In other words, the urban farmers were losing money, at least by traditional accounting measures. And the farms weren't especially sustainable, with only about 10 percent of all the inputs coming from renewable resources. Again, labor was a major culprit, as it's not considered very renewable, and urban farming is very labor-intensive.

So that all sounds like a bit of a disaster, really. But as mentioned above, things quickly get complex. The urban farmers, as it turned out, bought compost and fertilizer and used the municipal water supply. Cities, as the authors note, produce large quantities of organic waste that could be used to make compost. While it would require additional labor and land space, it would be easy to make the care of the crops far more sustainable. Combined with the use of collected rainwater, these could get the percentage of renewable contributions up to roughly 40 percent.

Laborious

Then there's the issue of the time spent on labor. The urban farmers don't seem to be especially efficient compared to regular farm laborers, and by all indications they don't necessarily want to be. For many of them, it's more a hobby than career; they put in more labor because they enjoy it or find it relaxing. If you start reducing the labor costs to reflect this, things start changing dramatically. If only the material costs of urban farming are considered (meaning labor was set to $0), then the apparent efficiency improves dramatically.

Not surprisingly, ignoring labor costs also makes a big difference financially, with the profit-to-cost ratio going from a mean of 0.62 up to 2.8, indicating that these urban farms would generally be quite profitable.

Labor also makes a big difference in terms of energy use. As they're now operating, these urban farms aren't very different from rural farms, which means they're not sustainable. Shifting to local sources of materials, like rainwater and compost, would drop the energy use dramatically, shifting the farms into territory that's typically considered sustainable. Eliminating labor considerations on top of that would make urban agriculture among the most efficient means of growing vegetables presently studied.

There are two obvious caveats to this work: the small number of farms sampled and the fact that they were all in a single urban area. This sort of study will obviously need to be replicated in other locations before we can start generalizing about hyper-local produce. But the role of labor in this sort of analysis makes conclusions difficult to generalize. Is it reasonable to discount some fraction of the labor costs when people are doing the farming for pleasure? Do we start considering a tomato plant on a balcony part of an urban farm?

While many of the details are unclear, the overall conclusion seems solid: while urban farms aren't yet there in terms of sustainability and energy use, the potential for them to outpace their larger rural cousins is definitely there. But it will take an entire sustainable support infrastructure for them to truly arrive.

"Cheap Lighting Can Become Really Expensive"

Indoor growing has seen tremendous growth in the past few years, including the addition of new players, particularly in the vertical growing space. However, according to Agrilyst, glass or poly greenhouses still account for 47% of indoor growing facilities. "Regardless of whether a greenhouse or an indoor vertical farm is the right choice for your grow operation, a critical factor to understand is how the right choice in lighting can help address what may otherwise become hindrances to your long-term growth and profitability", the team with LED lighting company Violet Gro says. The company has developed various grow lights.

"In situations where lack of access to working capital or financing for startup costs exist, it can be very tempting to make a lighting choice that is less expensive initially, but this almost assuredly is going to end up causing you problems and costing you more money in total down the road", the team with Violet Gro says. "Lighting is a critical component of indoor farms and seems to be growing in popularity for supplemental use in greenhouses (since mother nature isn’t as consistent and reliable as the electrical grid), though estimates even just a few years ago said only 15-20% of growers used supplemental lighting." 

Many growers have historically turned to high-intensity HPS lighting as their supplemental lighting solution. "While HPS lights may appear less expensive upfront, they require extensive amounts of electricity to operate (up to 1000W each), including a large electrical infrastructure to handle such an amp load", Violet Gro explains their choice for LEDs. "HPS lamps run hot and can raise room temperatures 15-30 degrees (which then has to be managed through large and expensive air conditioning infrastructure). And most of them require pretty regular bulb replacement. All of this downstream cost really needs to be part of the decision making, not just the upfront capital cost." 

According to Violet Gro, LED lights have recently been growing in popularity due to their potential for lower energy costs. "Many of the early options available suffered from poor design and an LED technology that wasn’t nearly as developed as it today (and it just keeps getting better). As such, most of the early LED solutions did not produce the results that growers wanted and were still at the high end of energy requirements." 

The Violet Gro team has developed LED grow lights answering to these problems. "We have demonstrated the ability to grow healthy plants, while keeping energy costs down (100-135W for a 4’ light bar) and producing substantially less heat, often requiring no external cooling infrastructure to keep the grow environment at the right temperature."

The patented technology behind Violet Gro enables direct contact between their specialized lens material and the LED light source. "Thus allowing more photonic energy to transmit to the plants versus being lost as heat. Many of the traditional lenses on the market would actually burn if placed in direct contact with the LED or other light source. Projected cost savings for our lights over traditional lighting can be as high as 70% while still providing the spectrum and intensity of light needed to produce optimal plant growth and vibrancy." 

One of the major advantages to indoor growing is to protect your plants from environmental factors such as extreme heat, cold, and rain that could damage or prevent crops from being grown during certain time periods. However, this same protection is also offered to respective plant pests. Relative humidity inside greenhouses can also lead to mold and mildew issues. With limited pesticides available for safe use in greenhouses and increasing fungicidal and herbicidal resistance, it is increasingly difficult to protect plants against these threats. Unfortunately, noticing a problem too late can mean lower yields for your crops, or even complete crop loss to stop the spread.

"UV light, in addition to its proven ability to drive positive benefits like increased production of flavonoids in plants, has also been shown as an effective tool in promoting healthy growing environments", the Violet Gro team continues. "The UV-absorbing compounds produced by plants to protect them from receiving too much UV can aid in defending plants against infection, injury, and certain pests. Research suggests that, in addition to the direct killing power of UV, the increases in these UV-absorbing compounds might actually be able to change the “attractiveness” of the plants to these pests." 

While more and more lights on the market are starting to claim that they include UV, most of them are only producing near-UV (400nm) in their spectrum, more akin to the old black lights used for posters.

"However, research suggests that UV-B (280-320 nm) light, which is invisible to the human eye, is the most effective in treating powdery mildew and spider mites. Dosages of UV-C (200-280 nm), which is also invisible, have been proven best for targeting Botrytis cinerea, or gray mold. So if you can see the “UV” light – it is probably not really UV. Violet Gro lights, because of the unique ultraviolet transmissive lens in their patented technology, are able to be configured to specifically deploy any of these targeted wavelengths in their lights. And unlike many of these other lighting solutions, the Violet Gro lights will not be subject to the degradation or destruction that comes with trying to combine UV light with traditional lens material such as acrylics or polycarbonates. Learn more about the benefits of UV in agriculture." 

"Ultimately, investing in high-quality energy-efficient lighting can be one of the most important decisions you can make for the long-term success of your operations", the Violet Gro team concludes.

In Q1, Violet Gro will be at the INDO Expo in Denver, January 26-27 and the Michigan Cannabis Business Expo, February 26-27.

For more information:
Violet Gro
407-433-1104 
info@violetgro.com
www.violetgro.com

Urban Farmer Turns to Crowdfunding to Support Growing Business

By Sean Evans | January 10, 2019 at 5:04 PM EST - Updated January 10 at 6:50 PM

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Just blocks from busy Pennsylvania Avenue and not far from the heart of downtown Savannah, there’s a business venture you might not know about, or think could be that close to downtown. In fact, it’s growing so much that its loyal customers and folks who support them are chipping in to help them grow.

“I am the owner and sole employee of Vertu Farm," said Chris Molander.

Molander started Vertu Farm on Savannah’s east side about three years ago after cultivating a passion for farming in high school and college.

“When an opportunity opened up out here at the old dairy farm, I just jumped on it," Molander said, as he picked some of his crops from the ground.

On two acres of leased land, Molander’s farm has grown to provide Savannah’s residents with local greens, on sale at the Forsyth Park Farmer’s Market, as well as at some area restaurants.

“I can’t say enough about our Farmer’s Market. There’s a lot of really dedicated people that come out every single week to support the farmers," Molander said.

About a month ago, Molander realized he had an immediate need for greenhouse space. A loan would take too long to help, and when someone suggested crowdfunding, the urban farmer saw how much further that small business support could go.

“It’s literally past everything that I could have thought would even possibly happen, and all the responses, individual responses, people coming out here to talk to me, they’re just interested in the farm. They want to see it, they want to know more about it, and it’s just awesome," Molander admitted.

With four days left, the Indiegogo campaign goal is more than 90-percent complete.

Funds raised will help this local business owner complete his own greenhouse space, and keep Vertu Farms producing homegrown greens for Savannahians to enjoy.

Local Grown Salads Launches Indoor Vertical Farms In Opportunity Zones

BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES, January 10, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Local Grown Salads is opening Indoor Vertical Farms in Opportunity Zones located in Baltimore, Washington DC, and Nashville.

Local Grown Salads will be providing Ready-To-Eat salads, Ready-To-Use Herbs and vegetables that are GMO Free, Organic, Herbicide & Insecticide free, and certified insect free.

Wonderfully Fresh - Harvested and delivered on the same day.
Massive Selection - 25 different salads.
No prep needed - these are ready-to-eat.
No Food Safety concerns - FSMA & SFQ Quality Code level.
Good For The Environment - Reduced Carbon Footprint, No nasty runoff. No killing the bees.

Local Grown Salads is looking to provide LGS First Account status to a small set of restaurants, caterers, or food delivery companies prior to the official launch.

The LGS First Accounts will have special pricing, guaranteed availability, first access to product, and other advantages.

LGS First Accounts are select food service companies that will use Local Grown Salads' Ready-To-Eat Salads to provide extra-ordinary products to consumers.

LGS First Accounts will be located within 2 hours of one our locations and sell at least 5,000 high quality meals a week.

Local Grown Salads has limited the volume available and will be selective about who will receive this market advantage.

About Local Grown Salads Patent Pending Indoor Vertical Farming technology:
• Grows fresh produce year-round in a controlled environment with the highest standards of food quality and food safety
• Creates product that is organic, pesticide free, herbicide free, and GMO free
• Decreases transportation costs, thereby reducing the carbon footprint
• Helps to address the problem of food deserts
• Allows indoor farming that helps save the planet’s arable land

About Local Grown Salads and Opportunity Zones:
Opportunity Zones are a tax incentive established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. 8,700 Opportunity Zones have been designated. The Opportunity Zones are low-income and food desserts. Local Grown Salads is expecting to create 20 jobs in its farms and provide fresh healthy food at wholesale prices to the community.
The Local Grown Salads farms can re-purpose older (heritage) buildings which are not challenged for other uses.

Zale Tabakman
Local Grown Salads
+1 416-738-2090
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn

Distribution channels: Food & Beverage Industry

Newbean Capital Announces Agreement to Sell Indoor Ag-Con to Event Industry Veterans, Expands to New Locations & Topics

ATLANTA, GA, USA, December 10, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Atlanta, GA (December 9, 2018) – Newbean Capital, a US registered investment adviser, today announced an agreement to sell Indoor Ag-Con LLC to three event industry veterans; Nancy Hallberg, Kris Sieradzki and Brian Sullivan.

Founded by Newbean Capital in 2013, Indoor Ag-Con was one of the first events to recognize the potential in the nascent indoor agriculture industry, the practice of growing crops in containers, greenhouses and warehouses using hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic techniques. The tech-focused events have grown rapidly and are now hosted in Las Vegas, the US East coast and Singapore each year. In 2015, the events became crop agnostic, expanding to cover legal cannabis and alternate proteins as well as leafy greens and non-food crops.

The acquisition sets the stage for a significant expansion of Indoor Ag-Con globally, bringing exceptional talent and experience to the events. Nancy and Kris founded leading event housing group Connections Housing over thirty years’ ago; the Company manages over 250 events annually, some with over 100,000 participants. Brian brings a wealth of experience in event planning and trade show management, with more than 20 years’ experience in managing large scale shows for companies such as Reed Exhibition and Clarion Events. Nicola Kerslake, founder of Newbean Capital, will remain involved in Indoor Ag-Con as Chief Curator, creating agendas and curating speakers for each event. She remains deeply involved in the indoor agriculture industry, thanks to her rapidly growing alternate finance business, Contain Inc, which will provide white papers for Indoor Ag-Con events going forward.

“We see great potential for growth in indoor agriculture, and are excited to bring greater resources to Indoor Ag-Con” commented Nancy Hallberg. “We’ll be rolling out new initiatives, partnerships and event locations in short order” says Brian Sullivan, adding “we’ll again be returning to Las Vegas for our flagship event in spring 2019 and will announce the details of our plans before the end of the month.”

Our next event is the 4th Annual Indoor Ag-Con Asia, a two-day event that will be hosted at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore on January 15-16, 2019. It will include exhibition tables and an exciting lineup of industry-leading speakers, and will be opened by SMS Koh of the Republic of Singapore. We will be covering a broad range of crop types – such as, leafy greens, mushrooms, insects, aquaculture and medicinal crops – as well as technologies ranging from artificial intelligence to LED lighting to control systems. New features for 2019 include a startup alley in the exhibition hall, allowing entrepreneurs to easily showcase their startups, unconferencing sessions, and onsite mini workshops from Singaporean vertical farming equipment company Upgrown Farming.

The event is accompanied by a pitch competition, Indoor Ag-Ignite, whose goal is to find the most innovative new ideas globally in indoor agriculture, and the competition is open to any team or company of under 40 employees developing or deploying technologies for the indoor agriculture industry. Three winning teams will receive prize packages including Startup SG grants of S$50,000 per team thanks to the sponsorship of Enterprise Singapore, as well as substrates and technical advice from Smithers Oasis.

4th Annual Indoor Ag-Con Asia
Date – January 15-16, 2019
Place – Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Registration – currently open to the general public from US$399
Features – Two-day seminar, with keynote speakers, exhibition hall, after-party, and pitch competition
More Info - please visit www.indoor.ag/asia and www.indoor.ag/pitch, email hello@indoor.ag or call +1.775.623.7116

About Indoor Ag-Con LLC
Indoor Ag-Con was founded by Newbean Capital in 2013, and has since grown to the premier event in indoor agriculture, the practice of growing crops, raising fish and insects in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic techniques. Its events are tech-focused and crop-agnostic, covering produce, legal cannabis, alternate protein and non-food crops. It hosts events in Las Vegas, Singapore and the US East coast. In December 2018, three event industry professionals – Nancy Hallberg, Kris Sieradzki and Brian Sullivan – purchased Indoor Ag-Con LLC from Newbean Capital, so setting the stage for further expansion of the events globally.
More information: https://indoor.ag

About Newbean Capital
Newbean Capital is a US-based registered investment adviser that manages an early stage venture capital mandate for the US Treasury and has a consulting practice in indoor agriculture that works primarily with multinationals and large institutional investors. Its founder – Nicola Kerslake – has a longstanding interest in agriculture investment, having previously covered agriculture stocks as a highly-rated equity analyst and managed investment portfolios that covered the sector for large institutional investors. In late 2016, she founded an alternate finance business – Contain Inc – that works with indoor farmers and with lenders to provide lease finance and – through a relationship with an independent broker – insurance.
More information: https://newbeancapital.com, https://contain.ag

Nancy Hallberg
Indoor Ag-Con LLC
+1 404-358-7100

Cockroaches Are Becoming Big Business In China

Thomas Suen and Ryan Woo Reuters - Text

(Reuters) - In the near pitch-dark, you can hear them before you see them - millions of cockroaches scuttling and fluttering across stacks of wooden boards as they devour food scraps by the tonne in a novel form of urban waste disposal.

The air is warm and humid - just as cockroaches like it - to ensure the colonies keep their health and voracious appetites.

Expanding Chinese cities are generating more food waste than they can accommodate in landfills, and cockroaches could be a way to get rid of hills of food scraps, providing nutritious food for livestock when the bugs eventually die and, some say, cures for stomach illness and beauty treatments.

On the outskirts of Jinan, capital of eastern Shandong province, a billion cockroaches are being fed with 50 tonnes of kitchen waste a day - the equivalent in weight to seven adult elephants.

The waste arrives before daybreak at the plant run by Shandong Qiaobin Agricultural Technology Co, where it is fed through pipes to cockroaches in their cells.

Shandong Qiaobin plans to set up three more such plants next year, aiming to process a third of the kitchen waste produced by Jinan, home to about seven million people.

A nationwide ban on using food waste as pig feed due to African swine fever outbreaks is also spurring the growth of the cockroach industry.

“Cockroaches are a bio-technological pathway for the converting and processing of kitchen waste,” said Liu Yusheng, president of Shandong Insect Industry Association.

Cockroaches are also a good source of protein for pigs and other livestock.

“It’s like turning trash into resources,” said Shandong Qiaobin chairwoman Li Hongyi. “ESSENCE OF COCKROACH”

In a remote village in Sichuan, Li Bingcai, 47, has similar ideas. Li, formerly a mobile phone vendor, has invested a million yuan ($146,300) in cockroaches, which he sells to pig farms and fisheries as feed and to drug companies as medicinal ingredients.

His farm now has 3.4 million cockroaches.

“People think it’s strange that I do this kind of business,” Li said. “It has great economic value, and my goal is to lead other villagers to prosperity if they follow my lead.”

His village has two farms. Li’s goal is to create 20.

Elsewhere in Sichuan, a company called Gooddoctor is rearing six billion cockroaches.

“The essence of cockroach is good for curing oral and peptic ulcers, skin wounds and even stomach cancer,” said Wen Jianguo, manager of Gooddoctor’s cockroach facility.

Researchers are also looking into using cockroach extract in beauty masks, diet pills and even hair-loss treatments.

At Gooddoctor, when cockroaches reach the end of their lifespan of about six months, they are blasted by steam, washed and dried, before being sent to a huge nutrient extraction tank.

Asked about the chance of the cockroaches escaping, Wen said that would be worthy of a disaster movie but that he has taken precautions.

“We have a moat filled with water and fish,” he said. “If the cockroaches escape, they will fall into the moat and the fish will eat them all.” 

ZipGrow Helping To Transform Indoor Agriculture

December 13, 2018
By Bob Peters

Cornwall Ontario – A dedicated team of farming pioneers based in Cornwall are helping to bring local fresh food to the table in a growing number of communities.

ZipGrow manufactures vertical growing systems in Cornwall and works with farmers in external markets to install the technology and build economically viable indoor farms.

Essentially plants are grown from seeds in rows that are oriented vertically as opposed to on a traditional horizontal plane. Light, water and nutrients are supplied via a system that maximizes efficiency and crop yield.

“Our towers are designed by farmers for use by farmers,” says Eric Lang, President and Co-Founder of ZipGrow. “Going vertical allows you to grow crops in a relatively small physical area, which makes it ideal for indoor locations.”

The system is scaleable as well, which means that restaurants can grow their own greens, students can learn about agriculture and entrepreneurs can build commercial farm operations are that are climate-proof.

The ZipGrow method of farming is versatile and can accommodate different crops. Indoor farmers have had success with leafy greens such as lettuce, kale and arugula while herbs like basil, mint, and rosemary are perfect matches for growing vertically. With a little extra planning and preparation, you can also successfully grow fruiting plants such as strawberries, cucumbers, and bell peppers.

ZipGrow is located on Fourth Street West in the middle of Cornwall. Demand for their product has led to continuing increases in production, requiring the company to expand its physical footprint. The company now employs 15 people.

“We are selling ZipGrow systems in North, Central and South America and demand continues to increase quarter after quarter,” says Eric Lang. “Each sale paves the way for another as people become familiar and comfortable with the technology.”

Mr. Lang is partners with Eric Bergeron who first brought the concept of indoor farming to Cornwall with SmartGreens in 2014.

“Indoor farming offers solutions to problems that conventional agriculture struggles with – namely environmental impact, timely transportation of perishable goods to distant markets, climate change and more,” says Mr. Bergeron, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer for ZipGrow. “We believe that with right knowledge and the right technology, individuals and communities can help bring farmers and consumers much closer together for the benefit of all.”

About ZipGrow

ZipGrow designs and builds vertical farming technology for installations around the world. Its team of proven leaders in the field educate, equip, and empower local farmers to grow better food for their communities and operate successful vertical indoor farms.

Web: ZipGrow.com

Uber CEO, Temasek Invest in Urban Farming Startup

THU, DEC 13, 2018 - 7:28 AM

The New York-based company plans to announce on Wednesday that it raised US$90 million from investors including Alphabet Inc's GV and Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi, said Bowery's co-founder and CEO, Irving Fain. The company declined to provide its valuation.

PHOTO: REUTERS

[SAN FRANCISCO] Bowery Farming Inc, a two-year-old startup that uses robotics to cultivate crops indoors, is on track for more growth. The New York-based company plans to announce on Wednesday that it raised US$90 million from investors including Alphabet Inc's GV and Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi, said Bowery's co-founder and CEO, Irving Fain. The company declined to provide its valuation.

Bowery is part of a new crop of agriculture technology startups growing leafy greens in controlled environments near cities. Last year, Plenty, a San Francisco-based vertical farming company, raised US$200 million from the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp's Vision Fund.

Bowery grows its veggies in layers of sensor-rich trays that move and react to humidity, carbon dioxide and light. One square foot of Bowery's indoor farm is 100 times more productive than an equivalent plot of arable land, Bowery says. Plenty makes similar claims.

Part of the urgency of Bowery's business plan is the prospect of looming global food shortages. The United Nations says food production will need to double in the next three decades to feed the planet's swelling population. Bowery and its ilk see a business opportunity in building massive indoor farms in and on the outskirts of cities - a costly proposition, but one that could cut down on waste and ensure fresher produce.

"This round is solid validation for the scope of the problem and the opportunity," said Mr Fain. To date, Bowery has raised US$118 million from investors including First Round Capital and General Catalyst.

GV, formerly Google Ventures, led the most recent investment, which includes funding from Singapore's state investment firm, Temasek Holdings Pte.

Mr Fain said Uber's Khosrowshahi became an investor because of his interest in futuristic cities. "Uber is a big believer in cities and the importance of sustainable cities," said Mr Fain.

Bowery currently operates two indoor farms in Kearny, New Jersey. The facilities send greens like kale, bok choy and butterhead lettuce to Whole Foods and salad chain Sweetgreen. Mr Fain said the fresh funding will be used to open new farms in the US and internationally.

Bowery declined to disclose how many new farms are in the works or where they would be located. "There is no question that we intend to have our farms in cities across the world," Mr Fain said.

Andy Wheeler, a Bowery board member and partner at GV, echoed Mr Fain's global expansion ambitions. "The company is poised to have a significant impact on the global produce market," he said.

Bowery is planning to expand its headcount too, Mr Fain said. The company employs 65 people. Some of these employees could come from Amazon, Mr Fain suggested. Though competition for talent will likely be tough as the e-commerce giant ramps up hiring for its new office in New York.

This year, Bowery hired Brian Donato, a former senior operator of Amazon Fresh and Pantry food delivery services; Scott Horoho, a former senior Amazon engineering manager; and Jeff Raines, a former director of data center engineering for Amazon Web Services.

What Bowery’s Latest Funding Round Says About Indoor Farming

By

Jennifer Marston -

December 13, 2018

New Jersey-based indoor-farming startup Bowery announced yesterday that it has raised $90 million in fresh funding. The round was led by Alphabet Inc.’s GV with participation from Temasek and Almanac Ventures, General Catalyst and GGV Capital (Bowery’s Series A investors), and various seed investors.

Bowery produces what founder Irving Fain calls “post-organic produce.” Or to put it more plainly, Bowery produces leafy greens in an indoor environment it controls with proprietary software. The FarmOS system, as it’s called, helps farmers manage crops by collecting data about water flow, light levels, humidity, and other environmental factors that impact the taste of greens. And because the farm is indoors, Bowery can grow its crops without soil, pesticides, or chemicals.

This new investment round brings Bowery’s total funding to $117.5 million. That sounds like a lot until you compare it to Softbank’s $200 million investment in Bowery’s West Coast competitor Plenty, which took place in July of 2017.

Both companies’ raises illustrate the enormous amount of interest in indoor and vertical farming right now. The latter field is expected to have a market valuation of more than $13 billion by 2024, and there are dozens of other companies working on various iterations of indoor farming today.

AeroFarms grows leafy greens inside a 70,000-square-foot facility in New Jersey and has backing from IKEA and Momofuku’s David Chang. Crop One Holdings and Emirates Flight Catering are building what they call “the world’s largest vertical farm.” And Ford Motors operates a farm in Detroit that helps feed the homeless.

Okay, but will leafy greens really feed the homeless? Will butter lettuce and fresh basil help alleviate the global food shortage we’re expected to face as the population nears 9 billion people?

By itself, indoor farming can’t do either of those things, at least not adequately. But that doesn’t render indoor farming an overhyped segment. What it does mean, though, is that we need to start moving beyond the leafy greens and start producing foods with a little more substance. Plenty says cucumbers and strawberries are next on its list. Meanwhile, it’s possible to grow root vegetables like turnips, beets, and sweet potatoes using hydroponics. It’s just more expensive and more challenging than basil.

Bowery says its new capital will go towards “scale its operation in new cities across the country and open multiple farms by the end of 2019.” There’s no word yet on whether those new farms will stick to leafy greens or branch out, though Fain did say Bowery is working on “scalable solutions for an impending climate and food crisis.”

We’ll hopefully see Bowery put those words into action by figuring out how to widen the possibilities of what we can grow with indoor farming.

The 3 Most Important Factors for a Profitable Farm

by Mia Godfrey | Nov 9, 2018 | Farm Management | 1 comment

Regardless of how you grow, the profitability of your farm will depend on three main factors: demand, viability, and profit margin. Lots of new farmers focus the majority of their efforts on their ability to grow a single crop and forget to do research on the other factors. In this article, learn how to appropriately address questions like the following:

1. What can you sell a lot of? What does your market want?

2. What are you good at growing?

3. What has a good profit margin?

For a profitable farm, you must consider all three. Let’s start with how you know you can sell something well.

What can you sell a lot of?

This is the most important thing: if people don’t want it, you won’t make money off of it. It may seem obvious, but it’s easy to get excited and overlook the importance of demand.

Imagine that you’ve just invested a lot of money in starting up a farm. You’ve tried a few different crops but discovered that you’ve been able to grow cilantro especially well. Since you can grow it so successfully, you decided to overhaul your whole farm and plant tons of cilantro. Then you discover that your market does not want to buy cilantro. Now, your whole farm is taken up by rows and rows of cilantro, and you’ve got nothing to do with it. You’re out of money and have no way to make it back.

This is why market research is so crucial. You need to know what people will buy from you not just once, but many times. You also need to know how much they want to consume on a regular basis so you don’t end up with a lot of wasted produce. This is called market volume. Aim for high market volume—lots of people want to consume lots of what you’re growing.

But market research isn’t just looking at numbers. Spend a little bit of time talking to buyers and looking at what other people are growing. Is there a gap you could fill with your unique product? Could you alleviate customers’ pain points by offering a better product at a better price? Take the Market Research for Farmers course to learn more about effective strategies.

In addition to high market volume, you want to choose a product that has low supply competition. If everybody grows cilantro and sells it at the market, you probably don’t want to depend on cilantro for the success of your farm, even if you can grow it well.

Insider tip: Wholesale retailers—think grocery stores and restaurants—are great places to find information on demand because they’ll have consistent records where you can get an idea of what they’ve had success with in the past. This information is slightly more difficult to find in something like a farmers’ market, where different vendors will have different experiences based on a variety of factors.

Low supply competition means that there are fewer people in your area growing it. This leads us to what you can grow well.

What can you grow well?

In your particular climate, with your particular capabilities, what grows best? Are you good at it? Do you understand it well? Are you excited about it?

Now that you know what people want, you’ll need to successfully execute production. Say you find out that the market in your area has a high demand for spinach. You figure it’s a pretty good bet, and throw everything you’ve got into growing spinach but you just cannot get the little buggers to grow. You are not going to make money.

You won’t know what you’re good at growing—or even if you like it—until you give it a try. You will likely experience some error, so when you’re starting out keep it fairly small in order to minimize cost and risk.

That said, this type of success isn’t just dependent on your personal farming abilities. It will largely be influenced by where you farm, what type of farm environment you have, and what type of system you’re growing in.

Additional factors to consider are the costs and resources that are available to you. Do you have affordable access to the resources you need to build a successful farm? Unreliable or inconsistent availability of resources—like nutrients, plugs, and system repair parts—can throw a wrench in your production as well as your relationships with your customers.

Even if you can get reliable access, think about the total cost. Whether or not you have great profitability, you’ll still need to make sure your costs are as low as possible.

Finally, if you don’t like doing it, even if all the other factors are there, it’s possible that you won’t do it well. Find something that you enjoy!

What has a good profit margin?

First of all, what is profit margin?

Profit margin is the money you have left over after you pay to cover all of your costs. Some crops can provide better profit margins than others. Think of it this way:

When you set up a farm, you pay capital expenses (CapEx) to acquire all of your system components, like media, lights, and structural components. Then, when your farm is running, you have operating expenses (OpEx) like water, electricity, and nutrients. The CapEx plus the OpEx is what you pay to create your product (the plants). You then sell the product, and the money you receive in return should be a larger amount than what you originally paid. The difference (what you sold your product for minus what you paid to create it) is your profit margin. Ideally, you have a positive profit margin.

During your market research process, you should also consider discovering what the possible profit margins are for a variety of crops. Research the nutrient and water demand of the crop in addition to the market demand.

Essentially, you want a crop that is cheap to produce, but that people will pay more for. Fortunately, being a hydroponic or aquaponic grower gives you a unique advantage because your product is likely higher in quality than what your customers have had previously.

All of your profit margins contribute to your net profit, which is the total amount of money you’ll keep as a result of your sales. Much of the profit you make from selling your produce will need to be put back into your farm to keep it running and producing.

Business is about trade-offs and compromises, and you get to play the exciting game of finding the most profitable compromise for your business. For example, you could grow and sell a high volume of produce at a lower price, or more specialized produce at lower volumes and higher prices.

There are ways to make all of these cases work, and it will depend on your business model.

Decide based on your business model

Different markets and market types will provide different pros and cons when it comes to profit margin. Think carefully about the trade-offs between high volume versus high prices, and do your research—which works best for you?

Making decisions

If you do decide to focus your farming efforts on a single crop, ensure that:

• your market wants it,

• that you can grow it well,

• and that you can make money off it.

Say you discover that you are really good at growing hydroponic cucumbers, for example, and you have a lot of market demand for them. You may be able to get away with only growing and selling cucumbers. While these are three critical decisions that can lead your farm to profitable success, there are other factors you’ll need to consider as well, such as inputs, seasons, and environmental controls.

Interested in learning more? Take these courses:

• Market Research for Farmers

• Sales for Farmers

• The Four Markets

• The Farm to Food Truck Model

Cannabis Company Tilray Shares Jump as much as 22% After Announcing Deal with Swiss Drugmaker Novartis

Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | @BerkeleyJr

Published 9:36 AM ET Tue, 18 Dec 2018  Updated 6:17 PM ET Tue, 18 Dec 2018CNBC.com

Tilray enters a global supply and distribution agreement with Swiss drugmaker Novartis.

• The marijuana company would work with Novartis' generic drug business Sandoz.

• It may supply non-smokable and non-combustible medical cannabis products where it is legally allowed.

We are betting on both medical and recreational marijuana, says Tilray CEO from CNBC.

Shares of cannabis company Tilray jumped as much as 21.9 percent in intraday trading Tuesday after the Canadian marijuana producer announced it has entered a global supply and distribution agreement with Swiss drugmaker Novartis.

The company plans to work with Novartis' generic drug business Sandoz and supply non-smokable and non-combustible medical cannabis products where it is legally allowed, Tilray announced in a press release. As a part of the deal, Tilray and Sandoz may co-brand certain products as well as develop new ones.

"This agreement represents a major milestone in the movement to provide access to safe, GMP-certified medical cannabis to patients in need across the world," Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy said in a statement Tuesday.

The stock, which was up by about 17 percent in the afternoon, surged by as much as 21.9 percent over Monday's closing price of $65.89 a share to an intraday high of $80.30 a share.

Tilray shares soar on deal with Novartis. Here's what it means for the cannabis industry from CNBC.

In September, Kennedy told CNBC that pharmaceutical companies have to start thinking about partnering with cannabis companies as a "hedge" against the burgeoning marijuana industry. Tilray formed a "strategic alliance" in March with Sandoz to help the drugmaker build this kind of hedge. In return, Novartis would help Tilray co-market and co-develop its products.

Tilray, which has products available in twelve countries, said the deal announced Tuesday builds on the company's mission of making pharmaceutical-grade medical cannabis products available around the world.

Earlier this year, Tilray announced it had become the first and only company to receive regulatory approval in Canada and Germany to export medical cannabis flower for distribution to German patients.

Shares of Tilray are down than 40 percent over the past month.

—CNBC's Thomas Franck contributed to this report.

Dollar Stores Are Taking Over the Grocery Business, and It’s Bad News for Public Health and Local Economies

BY CLAIRE KELLOWAY

Posted on: December 17, 2018  

Today, there are more dollar stores in the United States than all Walmarts and Starbucks combined. These low-priced “small-box” retailers, like Dollar General, offer little to no fresh food—yet they feed more Americans than either Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, and are gaining on the country’s largest food retailers.

Detailing the explosion of dollar stores in rural and low-income areas, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) recently released a report that shows how these retailers exacerbate economic and public health disparities. The report makes the case that dollar stores undercut small rural grocers and hurt struggling urban neighborhoods by staving off full-service markets.

ILSR also argues that the proliferation of dollar stores is the latest outgrowth of an increasingly concentrated grocery sector, where the top four chains—Walmart, Kroger, Ahold-Delhaize, and Albertsons—sell 44 percent of all groceries, and Walmart alone commands a quarter of the market. These dominant chain stores have decimated independent retailers and divested from rural and low-income areas, as well as communities of color.

A Dollar General in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo credit: Taber Andrew Bain)

“Earlier trends in big box store [growth] are making this opening for dollar stores to enter,” says Marie Donahue, one of the report’s authors. “We’re seeing a widening gap of inequality that’s a result of wealth being extracted from communities and into corporate headquarters… Dollar stores are really concentrating in communities hit hardest by the consequences of economic concentration.”

“Before this report, I had no idea that dollar stores were proliferating in this way,” says Dr. Kristine Madsen, Faculty Director of the Berkeley Food Institute. But, she adds, “it doesn’t surprise me that these incredibly cheap stores may be the only choice for people [who] may be choosing between medicine and rent and food.”

Dollar General did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

Profiting Off Customers in “Food Deserts”

Two companies, Dollar Tree (which acquired Family Dollar in 2015) and Dollar General, have expanded their footprint from just under 20,000 stores in 2010 to nearly 30,000 stores in 2018, with plans to open yet another 20,000 stores in the near future. Dollar General alone opens roughly three stores a day.

Most of these new stores are in urban and rural neighborhoods where residents don’t often have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. In 2015, in fact, Dollar Tree and Dollar General represented two-thirds of all new stores in “food deserts,” defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as low-income areas where a third or more of residents live far from a full-service grocery store. Dollar General predominantly targets rural areas, though it s beginning to compete with Family Dollar, which is ubiquitous in urban food deserts.

Profiting off these left-behind places is baked into dollar stores’ business plan. In 2016, low-income shoppers represented 21 percent of Dollar General’s customers but 43 percent of their sales. Dollar General executives publicly described households making under $35,000 and reliant on government assistance as their “Best Friends Forever.” When discussing growing rural-urban inequality, Dollar General’s CEO said “the economy is continuing to create more of our core customer,” i.e., more struggling rural families.

Undercutting Independent Grocery Stores

Some, including dollar-store executives themselves, argue that a low-cost retailer seeking to go where no one else will benefits underserved communities. But ILSR argues that dollar stores are not a true solution to hunger or food insecurity. Furthermore, the group says, they do nothing to promote food sovereignty, or people’s right to control the production and distribution of their own food.

Inside a Dollar General store in Eldred, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Random Retail)

“To the extent that dollar stores are filling, in some ways, a need in communities, I think that is true in the short term,” says Donahue. “But really our research is demonstrating … those foods aren’t as good quality as full-service grocers or independent local stores, which may be able to connect to local farmers and the larger food system.”

Dollar stores sell predominantly shelf-stable and packaged foods. Four-hundred-and-fifty Dollar General locations are experimenting with an expanded refrigerator section to respond to a demand for more fresh fruits and vegetables. But, to date, the fresh and frozen offerings that do exist in these stores consist of processed meats, dairy products, and frozen meals. In other words, customers don’t have the same wide selection as they do in a traditional full-service grocery store.

“Grocery stores have more variety and a higher quantity of healthy foods than do dollar stores,” says Dr. David Procter, director of the Rural Grocery Initiative, a program of Kansas State University’s Center for Engagement and Community Development.

Despite their reputation, dollar stores don’t provide the best deals either. They often sell products in smaller quantities to keep a low price tag and draw in cash-strapped buyers. But when comparing per-ounce prices to a traditional grocery store, dollar store customers tend to pay more. Reporting by The Guardian found that the prorated cost of dollar store milk cartons comes to $8 per gallon, for example.

Dollar store customers do, however, find genuine value in things like greeting cards, pasta, coat hangers, and other everyday home goods. But this very cost-cutting is what makes dollar stores uniquely brutal competitors for smaller independent grocers.

“There’s very little money made on all kinds of segments of the [independent] grocery store, but where [grocers] do make their most money … is in paper goods and dry goods,” explains Procter. “That is really the heart of Dollar General … and it’s cutting into the largest profit area of the grocery store, that’s the real challenge.”

By sucking away this source of revenue, dollar stores tend to drive out the few independent grocers that remain, especially in rural areas. ILSR’s report found that “it’s typical for sales [at local grocery stores] to drop by about 30 percent after a Dollar General opens.”

Additionally, a survey by the Rural Grocery Initiative found that competition from large chain stores is the single largest challenge facing independent rural grocers. In the ’90s, Walmart was their main challenger; now Dollar General is moving in where even Walmart wouldn’t go, pushing out more local businesses.

The Benefit of—and Fight for—Small, Local Stores

Residents lose more than fresh foods when their local grocery store disappears. They lose jobs, local investment, and a voice in their food choices.

According to federal data, small independent grocers employ nearly twice as many people per store when compared to dollar stores. “When you have a hometown grocer owned by people who are committed to that community, not only are all the decisions made locally, but all of the profits stay in that town,” says Procter. “Some of the money that’s being generated in Dollar General stores is going to their headquarters in Tennessee, and the decisions about whether or not that [store] stays open or what they offer is being made by out-of-state corporate decision makers.”

A Dollar Tree store in Cheshire, Conn. (Photo credit: Mike Mozart)

In addition to undercutting existing stores, the proliferation of dollar stores can shut out new entrants. This is a particular concern in low-income urban areas and communities of color. ILSR’s report features the case of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where there’s a 14-year life expectancy gap between residents in the predominantly Black north Tulsa neighborhood and residents in the predominantly white south Tulsa neighborhood. ILSR found that dollar stores have “concentrated in [Tulsa] census tracts with more African American residents,” and community members are not happy about it.

“I don’t think it’s an accident they proliferate in low socio-economic and African American communities,” Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper told ILSR. “That proliferation makes it more difficult for the full-service, healthy stores to set up shop and operate successfully.”

However, Tulsa’s story also provides a glimpse of hope into what some communities can do to halt the invasion of dollar stores. Hall-Harper worked to pass zoning ordinances that would limit dollar store development and encourage full-service grocers to set up shop. She rallied residents to protest the opening of a new Dollar General and join city council meetings to show support for a temporary dollar store moratorium. City council passed the moratorium and the zoning changes seven months later. North Tulsa will soon have a new grocery store, operated by Honor Capital, a veteran-owned company that has a food-access mission. Rural communities in Kansas have similarly organized and leveraged city council to halt a proposed Dollar General.

“It’s great to see a community really fight for this ordinance and show up to public meetings and hearings and challenge those traditional systems that would have just approved development for more dollar stores in the area,” says Donahue.

Top photo: Outside a Dollar General in Fort Hancock, Texas. (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)

Disruptive 'Precision Farming' Spells Opportunities for This AgTech Company

Jon Markman Dec 19, 2018 9:00 AM EST

The world is going to run out of food. Don't worry, the best minds are on it. They are using robots, better seeds, lighting and irrigation systems to reimagine farming.

Bowery Farming Inc. calls the process precision farming. According to a report from Bloomberg, the indoor agriculture technology company is about to secure $90 million in funding.

It is a larger opportunity for investors with vision.

Like many technology startups, Bowery founders are determined to solve the big problems confronting the world. The United Nations projects that the world population will swell to 10 billion people by 2050. To keep up, global farmers will have to produce 70% more food. Unfortunately, most of the world's water resources are used for food production, and 30% of arable agricultural land has been lost to poor planning, pesticides and urbanization.

There is not enough water or land to possibly meet future demand.

Engineers are Bowery set out to do more with less. The solution began with controlling as many variables as possible. Crops are grown indoors under ideal conditions, without pesticides. Complex, LED lighting mimics the full spectrum of the sun. Irrigation systems deliver nutrients with exact specificity, resulting in 95% less water use than traditional farming and a 100x improvement in crop yields.

The urban farm company is using all of the tools of modern technology -- robotics, machine learning, computer vision and data science - to fine tune the entire process.

Bowery is not the only company in the game. Last year, Plenty, another indoor farm company from made headlines when it secured $200 million in financing from Softbank (SFTBY) , the Japanese firm led by billionaire Masayoshi Son, and investment companies associated with former Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The gigantic investment in the tiny San Francisco startup sent shockwaves through the burgeoning ag-tech community. Early investors understood the potential of marrying sensors, robotics and data science with agriculture. The Softbank vote of confidence underscored the urgency.

The latest $90 million round was led by GV, the new name of Google Ventures. Alphabet (GOOGL- Get Report) , the parent company of Google, has made a cottage industry out of developing businesses models around machine learning. Its investment in Bowery is on brand.

Farming has not changed much in centuries. Yes, there are now self-driving tractors and even drones to monitor the growing process, but the basic premise still involves sowing seeds and waiting patiently for mother nature to bless the soil with bountiful crops. Companies like Bowery and Plenty completely disrupt that notion.

They want to control every aspect of the growing environment. They are cutting mother nature out of the loop in an effort to reduce costs, speed up growing cycles and reduce the footprint of farms. It's a revolution made possible by automation, better information and data science.

Even five years ago the economics of this revolution did not make sense. However, falling prices for cloud computing, robotics, sensors and machine learning have opened new doors. Information technology is being commoditized, just like fruits, vegetables and livestock.

Cognex Corp. (CGNX - Get Report) is the leading maker of sensors and vision systems for smart, industrial robots.

For a long time, truly smart machines were a pipe dream. Robots were impressive for their might. They stamped or welded or pushed items along a precision conveyor belt. But they were dumb. They didn't have eyes. They could not make sense of their place in the process.

The Cognex Insight Vision system gave industrial robots eyes. Machine learning and better software systems gave them intelligence. These attributes that are in high demand as factories get smarter, and ambitious startups push the limits of ag-tech.

The Massachusetts company has an impressive history of growth. Since 2013, sales are up 2.2x to $748 million. During fiscal 2017, the last full year of financial data, revenues shot up 43.5% while income ballooned 18% to $177 million. These metrics are certain to increase as more industrial robots gain sight, and smarts.

Cognex shares have been cut in half amid concern about the health of the global economy. The stock has fallen from a high of $73 in October 2017, to the lower $40s, bringing the market capitalization to only $7.2 billion.

At 29x forward earnings, Cognex shares are still expensive, but not ridiculous, for a unique, patent-protected, cutting-edge tech company in a growing field. Long-term investors with vision should consider using weakness in the weeks ahead to establish positions.

Trump Jr. Invested in a Hydroponic Lettuce Company Whose Chair Was Seeking Trump Administration Funds — “Trump, Inc.” Podcast Extra

by Jake Pearson and Peter Elkind

December 4, 2018 THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The 45th President and His Administration

TRUMP, INC.

Exploring the Mysteries of the President’s Businesses

Find “Trump, Inc.” wherever you get your podcasts.

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, took a stake last year in a startup whose co-chairman is a major Trump campaign fundraiser who has sought financial support from the federal government for his other business interests, according to records obtained by ProPublica.

The fundraiser, Texas money manager Gentry Beach, and Trump Jr. attended college together, are godfather to one of each other’s sons and have collaborated on investments — and on the Trump presidential campaign. Since Trump’s election, Beach has attempted to obtain federal assistance for projects in Asia, the Caribbean and South America, and he has met or corresponded with top officials in the National Security Council, Interior Department and Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Beach and others at the startup, Eden Green Technology, have touted their connections to the first family to impress partners, suppliers and others, according to five current and former business associates. Richard Venn, an early backer of Eden Green, recalls the company’s founder mentioning “interest from the Trump family.” Another associate said Beach bragged about his ties to the Trumps in a business meeting.

The investment is one of just a handful of known business ventures pursued by Trump Jr. since his father moved into the White House almost two years ago. In addition to being a top campaign surrogate and public booster, Trump Jr. serves as an executive vice president of his father’s company and one of just two trustees of the trust holding the president’s assets.

Ethics experts have consistently criticized these arrangements, arguing that they invite those seeking to influence the government to do so by attempting to enrich the president or his family members with favorable business opportunities.

Trump Jr. invested in the startup, a company that grows organic lettuce in a hydroponic greenhouse, last year, records show. Those records don’t state how much money — if any — Trump paid for his 7,500 shares. But the shares would have been worth about $650,000 at the end of last year, based on a formula used by another shareholder in a recent court filing. Neither Trump Jr. nor the company have disclosed his investment publicly. Trump Jr. obtained the stake through a limited liability company called MSMDF Agriculture LLC, which was set up by a Trump Organization employee last fall.

The key ethical question, said Virginia Canter, chief ethics lawyer at the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is whether Beach’s involvement with Eden Green, and Trump Jr.’s investment in it, are based on the business merits — or on the possibility of cashing in on connections to power. “Why is Trump Jr. being given this opportunity?” she asked. “It definitely has the appearance of trying to gain access by any means to curry favor with the administration.”

The willingness of Eden Green to invoke the Trump name in its business dealings raises further ethical concerns, experts said, particularly if potential customers understand that they are giving contracts to a startup whose success could enrich the president’s son.

Neither Trump Jr. nor his spokesman responded to messages seeking comment on his relationship with Beach and investment in Eden Green. A White House spokeswoman didn’t respond to emailed questions. Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s top lawyer, said in a statement that Trump Jr.’s investment is a personal one. The entity through which it was made “is not owned or controlled by, or affiliated in any way with, The Trump Organization,” Garten said.

Last fall, Eden Green concluded a deal with Walmart. Today, the giant retailer sells the company’s lettuce, kale and other greens at about 100 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. (Eden Green’s sole facility is a 44,023-square-foot greenhouse outside Fort Worth, where it grows the greens in 18-foot vertical tubes.)

Walmart interacts with government regulators on an array of matters — everything from labor practices and land use to securities filings — but there is no indication that Walmart is aware of Trump Jr.’s connection to Eden Green. (Separately, Walmart contributed $150,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee. Beach was a finance vice chair of that committee, but a Beach spokesman says he has never met with Walmart executives.)

Molly Blakeman, a Walmart spokeswoman, declined to comment on Eden Green or its investors. “We don’t talk about our relationships with our suppliers,” said Blakeman, who added that Walmart has “supported inaugural activities” in the past.

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Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for Beach and the other Eden Green executives, said it’s “categorically false” that the Trump name was invoked by Eden Green officials. Kolvet cited a corporate policy that forbids discussing investors “with any current or potential client.” He also said Trump Jr. isn’t involved with company operations and bought into Eden Green during “U.S. friends and family fundraising efforts.”

A recent lawsuit asserts that Eden Green is in financial trouble. In October, the company’s largest shareholder, an entity controlled by a wealthy oil and gas family from Midland, Texas, filed suit in state court in Dallas, alleging “gross project mismanagement.” The suit accused Beach and six executives, all of them board members, of paying themselves extravagant salaries (allegedly $250,000 to $300,000 per year) and putting the company “on the precipice of failure.” A financial consultant hired to examine the company’s books asserted that Eden Green executives spent more than $19.4 million in the first nine months of 2018 — a daunting sum for a company that reported having raised a total of $22 million as of June — while generating $9,000 in revenues.

In late November, less than a month after the suit was filed, it was settled on confidential terms. Kolvet disputed the compensation figures asserted in the litigation, saying that the company’s pay is “in accordance with industry standards.” He maintained that Eden Green’s prospects are good. As with many startups, he said, “things don’t go in a straight line.” Kolvet asserted that the company has plenty of operating cash.

Trump Jr., now 40, and Beach, now 43, met at the University of Pennsylvania two decades ago. Both are the sons of wealthy businessmen, one in real estate, one in oil and gas. Beach’s father has since been laid low: Last month he was sentenced to four months in federal detention, plus two years of supervised release, for bankruptcy fraud.

Beach was a groomsman at Trump Jr.’s wedding (Trump Jr. and his wife recently separated). Beach and Trump Jr. like to hunt and once considered buying a hunting preserve in Mexico together. According to a 2010 deposition testimony by Trump Jr., they talked business during lunches at Rothmann’s steakhouse in New York.

Both have struggled in business at times. In 2009, Trump Jr. and others (including one person who pleaded guilty to an unrelated criminal fraud charge in 2010) formed a company that would sell concrete panels for home constructions out of a warehouse in North Charleston, South Carolina. The business quickly became mired in lawsuits seeking payment for unpaid bills. Trump Jr. made the situation more precarious by personally guaranteeing a $3.7 million loan for the project. Days before the note was due, the Trump Organization purchased the debt, eventually taking over the warehouse and selling it all back to Trump Jr.’s original business partner, according to press accounts.

For his part, Beach’s career path has also included some travails. He spent a year or so at Enron and then moved into finance. Beach worked for a hedge fund and remains locked in litigation with it more than a decade later. (He claims he wasn’t paid his full compensation; the fund claims he was “responsible for the destruction of millions of dollars of investor capital.”) Beach now runs a “family office focused on private equity investments” out of a Dallas office that Eden Green uses as its corporate address.

Trump Jr. has at least twice before invested with Beach in deals that didn’t pan out. Trump Jr. put $200,000 in a dry Texas oil well managed by Beach’s father, according to testimony by Trump Jr. He also lost an unknown sum in a failed African mining company affiliated with Beach’s uncle.

But Trump Jr. stuck with his friend. The Associated Press reported this year that the two formed a company last October to pursue technology investments.

Then there was Eden Green. By the time Trump invested last fall, the company had already run into problems. It first launched in 2013 in South Africa with an ambitious mission: to feed the world through a highly efficient indoor farming system deploying patented technology intended to yield 10 to 12 harvests a year, compared with two or three for conventional agriculture.

Butter lettuce and other leafy greens at a Eden Green vertical farm on June 27, 2018, in Cleburne, Texas. (Brandon Wade/AP Images for Eden Green)

There’s a market for vegetables grown in controlled greenhouse environments as big retailers increasingly push for cleaner, more reliable and locally grown alternatives. But the challenges are significant. Energy costs run high, and there are myriad difficulties associated with scaling up to an industrial-size system.

That’s what happened in Eden Green’s first iteration, according to a half dozen early backers and associates. The produce may have been sustainable — but the business model wasn’t. The CEO of its European unit wrote in an October 2017 email obtained by ProPublica that the company had “been bleeding money and resources for almost 2 years now.” In the fall of 2017, Eden Green’s founders cemented a deal to hand over majority control to a group of U.S. investors led by Beach, current and former business associates said.

This was the company Trump Jr. bought into. He used an innocuous-sounding limited liability company, called MSMDF Agriculture LLC, to make the investment. ProPublica discovered MSMDF after the Trump Organization listed it in New York City filings among dozens of other entities it controlled. (Because the Trump Organization has contracts with the city to run the Wollman skating rink in Central Park and a golf course in the Bronx, the city requires the company to file disclosures.) The Trump Organization told ProPublica that MSMDF is not in fact owned by the Trump Organization but was included in the disclosure form because it’s controlled by Trump Jr., who was described in the form as MSMDF’s president, secretary and treasurer.

MSMDF was formed by a Trump Organization employee in September 2017 in Delaware, according to incorporation papers. Eden Green Holdings UK, Ltd., an affiliate of the Texas-based company, then listed MSMDF among its roughly two dozen shareholders in a 2018 report filed with British regulators.

The Trump Jr.-Beach connection has been most visible in the political arena. Last year, for example, Trump Jr. publicly thanked Beach and their mutual friend Tommy Hicks Jr., another wealthy investor from Dallas, for their fundraising during the 2016 campaign. “We couldn’t have done it without you guys,” Trump Jr. said of his buddies to a crowd of Republican donors in March 2017. “It was just absolutely incredible.”

In the foreword to a recent book, Trump Jr. reiterated the message, writing that a “rag tag army” — Trump Jr., Beach, Hicks and Charlie Kirk, the firebrand chief of the pro-Trump organization, Turning Point USA — barnstormed the country in 2016, raising “over 150 million dollars in ninety days.”

Watch Donald Trump Jr. Thank Gentry Beach, Tommy Hicks Jr. for Trump Campaign Fundraising

Trump Jr. mentioned Beach and Hicks Jr. at a dinner hosted by the Dallas County Republicans in March 2017 and invested in Beach’s company Eden Green through an LLC created months after President Trump’s inauguration.

Since Trump’s election, Beach has met with top administration figures on multiple occasions. For example, according to the AP, he lobbied National Security Council officials to relax sanctions against Venezuela to create opportunities for U.S. companies. He attended a private lunch with Republican donors and Interior secretary Ryan Zinke.

Beach has denied leveraging his ties to the first family. Last month, Beach told a TV interviewer in Croatia, where he said he was exploring a “truly spectacular” $100 million real estate development, “I don’t need anything from the government, thankfully, except normal police protection in my hometown.”

But newly obtained emails show that Beach wanted government backing for his private business interests at the same time he was running Eden Green. In October 2017, Beach pitched Ray Washburne, who heads the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a government agency that offers loans and guarantees to American companies looking to expand into emerging markets, according to emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. (Before joining OPIC, Washburne was a Dallas investor and a top fundraiser for Trump. He and Beach move in the same circles and have friends in common.)

“The Dominican Republic could really use some US investment and support,” Beach wrote in one email to Washburne, describing his various projects there, which included “a power plant upgrade to an existing tin mine” as well as liquid natural gas infrastructure. He invited OPIC officials to travel with him to the Dominican Republic “If permitted, we would be happy to handle all transportation from DC to DR and back,” he wrote in a follow-up note. (Such a trip never occurred, according to an OPIC spokesperson.)

A month later, the emails show, Beach also lobbied on another project, arranging a call with his business partner and one of Washburne’s top deputies regarding an “India Oppty,” which appeared to involve an energy fund. Separately, Beach also introduced Washburne to the head of oil giant Exxon Mobil’s Africa operations, with whom Beach said he had gone shooting at Blenheim Palace in England, where the Churchill family resided for three centuries. And Beach connected another Washburne aide with a South African mining executive who Beach described as “one of my partners.”

OPIC spokeswoman Amanda Burke said Beach has not submitted any formal applications for agency funding. “OPIC routinely meets with a variety of businesses and stakeholders,” she said, adding that formal applications trigger background and credit checks and “go through several levels of agency vetting and approval.”

Asked whether having a Trump connection would disqualify a person from receiving OPIC support, Burke emailed that “in general, an individual’s personal or legal business interests would not disqualify them from applying. However, certain relationships may cause board members or other decision makers of OPIC to be conflicted out of the decision-making process on potential projects.”

Retail Executive Michael Kramer Joins MedMen as CFO

A veteran finance executive with more than three decades of experience in the retail industry, Michael Kramer has a proven track record at retailers such as Apple Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch, and Forever 21.

Now he will bring that knowledge to MedMen, where he is tasked with advancing the company’s growth plan, focusing on execution, maintaining a strong balance sheet, and moving toward profitability.

“Michael’s extensive experience, and his success in scaling high-growth businesses will be instrumental as MedMen moves to operationalize the balance of our footprint,” said Adam Bierman, MedMen co-founder and chief executive. “Today, we have the most talented and experienced leadership team in the industry to drive strategy, growth and competitive advantage.”

Kramer’s experience includes serving as CFO of Apple Retail, where he developed successful brick and mortar retail strategies. While at Abercrombie & Fitch, he oversaw 12 quarters of increased year-over-year earnings.

Kramer has been on advisory boards for organizations such as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and Kansas State University’s Business School.

“I cannot imagine a more exciting time to join the MedMen team,” said Kramer. “Rarely do you find an opportunity to build an industry that could truly define future generations. It was immediately clear to me that MedMen has the vision, the strategy and the talent to capitalize on the tremendous growth opportunity in the sector today."

For more information 

MedMen

www.medmen.com

Publication date : 12/19/2018