There are many bright minds looking at how we can improve the food supply chain and ensure that everyone has access to fresh vegetables and fruit. I am often asked who our “competitors” are – and my response is always the same: There’s a lot that needs to be done; the more of us working on it the better.
At AgriFORCE, we are focused on improving the taste, nutrition and freshness of vegetables and fruits, while increasing access to this kind of food for consumers. We believe that our proprietary facility design and automated growing system is a potential answer because it is not only being designed to get good, clean food to people, but also to reduce the costs to produce it with a much lower impact on the environment compared to typical indoor or greenhouse growing. And it will produce food even in extreme climates. This is a combination that is needed these days.
When we think of competition, it’s important to remember that there are billions of people in the world and they all deserve to have access to fresh, delicious and pesticide-free food. As much as we are focused on establishing AgriFORCE as a market leader, we also know that others have good ideas. In fact, a key aspect of our business plan is around creating strong relationships, whether through mergers and acquisitions or with strategic partnerships with other companies that are also doing great work in this sector.
I spend a lot of time on video calls these days with some very smart people, talking about topics from lighting design to propagation to facility innovation and more. There is a growing movement of collaboration and partnership that, I think, will mean exceptional success for many companies and that will create the urgent shift we need to fix the food supply chain.
We’re always open to a conversation. If you’re in this sector and want to talk, please let me know. I would love to get on a call with you. At AgriFORCE, we know that we’re better when we work together.
Ingo Mueller, CEO for AgriFORCE Growing Systems, is currently working from his home office in West Vancouver, British Columbia. He continues to connect with the AgriFORCE team, strategic partners and others around the world – whether that is in California, New York or several other states where AgriFORCE has business interests. He is also in constant contact with our partners in Europe, as we raise the flag there for AgriFORCE and the company’s unique (and proprietary) facility design and automated growing system.
The Notes from the CEO happen when Ingo gets a bit of time to share his perspective on the world of AgTech, the AgriFORCE team, work/life balance and his vision for creating positive change in the world.