This is the direction in which the world is going, so companies better get on board [laughs] or get out of the way. That's, for us, again, there's a piece where we need to be very close to the product and that's we're optimizing for the plant. Yes, today, we met our quarterly earnings projection, we hit our guidance, but we're making the hard investments and spending the hard time to set an organization up that's going to thrive 10 and 20 years from now. A specialist in knee surgery, Jonathan Webb was a rugby union fullback for the English national team from 1987 to 1993. A SPAC is formed with the sole purpose of raising capital through an IPO in order to acquire an existing privately-held company and take it public. The Motley Fool recommends AppHarvest, Inc. One, our geographic location. A former England international, he reached the World Cup Final in 1991 and was a two-time grand slam champion in the Five Nations. But the futuristic pieces, we've combined a technology team with a great plant science group. The applied technology company is developing and operating some of the worlds largest high-tech indoor farms. But in its entirety not only do we have a problem we want to solve, we have a place in the world that wants to solve it with us., A crop care specialist carries boxes of tomatoes through a column of crops, pruning as she goes, I got to visit AppHarvest in November, and the sheer enthusiasm Webb has built in his staff is phenomenal. We dont see it as losing money for losing moneys sake; developing that tech is investing in our future.. The project aimed to help achieve an Obama-era goal of ensuring the militarys hundreds of installations develop resilient on-site power generation and receive 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. He also has experience in civil litigation and Title IX proceedings. I was very fortunate. By being able to have robotics and AI they can have more real-time information. CSC Leasing: Non-dilutive Funding for AgTech Startups, Americas Cultivation Corridor: We Grow AgTech Innovation, As demand for protein grows Sustainable Planet bets on water lentils as a viable alternative to soya, How not to fail in vertical farming: Be on guard for hubris, say Indoor Ag-Con speakers, International Fresh Produce Association launches 2023 Fresh Field Catalyst Accelerator program, BREAKING: Perfect Day animal-free dairy patent in US challenged, What is the role of biotech in an ethical food system? Again, for their CEO, for their team to say to them not just about money, we can have more impact at scale with AppHarvest and achieve our mission and achieve our goals by working together. We want to be at Wendy's, we want to be at Walmart. You have labor concerns. His military experience allows him to leverage private capital for his projects. Jonathan Webb's Appharvest shares are currently valued at $20.96M. Thank you for accessing our content on the Topio Networks Market Intelligence Center. I mean, I think that kind of speaks for itself. To access all the content for free, please sign up by entering your email. This is becoming really a hot-button topic for a lot of investors, rightly so. We're in that classic scenario of demand exceeding supply. That might sound straight from science fiction, but AppHarvests CTO Josh Lessing, who designed many of these universal harvesting systems says we only think that because farming has been so slow to innovate. We'll talk a little bit about your quarterly results here in a minute because I want to get into that, but one of the things that stood out to me in the earnings call. But I think there are a lot of benefits that come with that. Why? Growing up in Appalachia, Jonathan Webb watched the slow decline of the coal industry firsthand. All Rights Reserved. That's not the conversation at all. But its confident in its approach. On Twitter, the actor shares his personal experiences with his followers. We have one farm right now thats 2.8 million square feet. We take that long term approach, we don't view things by quarter. That greenhouse is just the proof of conceptAppHarvest has broken ground on two more that will be just as impressive. We have high demand for U.S.-grown and pesticide-free produce already, and when you combine that with the taste, color, and freshness of the AppHarvest model, on top of their social mission, it's driving our customers to ask for more." Webb is a highly-respected knee surgeon in the United States. Two years into production, AppHarvest already provides 500 living wage jobs, is a second chance employer, and aims to hire a team as diverse as our nation and then empower them as individuals. Plus, the company is a B corp, a public benefit corporation, and its publicly traded. We need to change the profits versus purpose narrative; purpose drives profit and, ultimately, is what makes an organization durable and resilient for decades to come, Webb told Fortune. If people remember that ice storm back in February, our facility operated, ramping up into full capacity with no issues in the middle of a global pandemic and the middle of an ice storm. People at large tech companies question what theyre actually building. Then I got to mention the area we're in, Eastern Kentucky has been known for coal mining for decades, it was known as the whole country, so to speak, and empowering the U.S. through the industrial revolution with low-cost coal. Eventually, he found the right problem to solve. We're feeding our country with people in Mexico who are making $5 a day. The president and CEO, Paul Mastronardi said, "We want every AppHarvest tomato they can grow. You've taken a lot of steps early on in the development of your business to address a lot of those ESG concerns. Jonathan received his bachelors degree from the University of Kentucky. He was made a Fellow of the British Association of Surgery on the Knee (BASK), and has since taught many international and national athletes in sports medicine. I've tried to say, we have a team that looks at this as this is our 30-year journey here at AppHarvest. He holds a legal degree from the University of Natal as well as the University of Cape Town. I hope you enjoy our conversation. We thought in order to build an organization that's going to be selling to the top grocers. Founder of AppHarvest, Inc., AppHarvest Morehead Farm LLC and I go directly into the facility and talk to entry-level employees and people sweeping the floors. You start to do the math, and realize you might need two planet earths to have enough land and water to grow that food.. It sounds like there's a lot of potential there. Project Access, Inc. was founded by Mr. Webb in 1999. The regulators are pushing that direction. A Bull Market Is Coming: 3 Reasons to Buy Costco Stock, 3 Top Stocks to Buy Now to Prepare for a Bull Market, 2 Exceptional Growth Stocks to Own in 2023, 2 No-Brainer Stocks to Buy During a Stock Market Plunge, 3 Robinhood Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever, 2 Reasons to Avoid a Roth 401(k) for Your Retirement Savings, Want $1 Million in Retirement? Why is that important? But if you look at the current food system today, it's high fructose corn syrup, it's sugary food that has low nutrient density. Let's force that rigor early. All rights reserved. Executive Vice President and Head of Enterprise Development, Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry, Contract Support (U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives), Intelligent Assistance and Bots Ecosystem. You look at California and the Southwest of the U.S., drying up, drought-stricken, flagged by wildfires. But if you look at the world, China and India account for 40% of the world's population. AppHarvest raised over $475 million in a public IPO, but it is not over. Once operational, it will ship 45 million pounds of fresh produce annually to grocery stores in the Midwest and Southeast. Kentucky has been experiencing record amounts of rainfall in recent years, so for Webb, the location was obvious. Now, his company AppHarvest (the name is a play on both Appalachia and the high-tech nature of what they do), operates a sixty acre greenhouse in Morehead, Kentucky that grows hydroponic tomatoes up to the ceiling. But I wanted to ask you before we do, the Root AI acquisition. Now, we want to turn this region into an area of the country that's known for sustainable food production, but beyond just loving the place, I'm from Kentucky, beyond just loving this area, we can get to three quarters of the U.S. on a day drive. I think they certainly will be. Just wondering if you could share some of the highlights, some of the things you're proud of in regard to this earnings release, and your excitement here for the year to come. We're ramping up and scaling quickly. Again, the private markets get a very bad rap socially. We can have all the technological tools in the world, but at the end of the day we have to put people at the center of the equation.. Webb made a second appearance for England, and reached the final. This year alone, more than 50 SPACs have been formed in the US, collectively raising. We have to figure out how to grow a lot more food with a lot less resources and we can use that by utilizing technology and infrastructure to grow fruit and vegetables with 90% less water and get about 30 times yield per acre. Dr. Webb graduated at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Webb founded AppHarvest in 2017, and the company was certified as a B Corp two years later. Appharvest has But with that said, what we have at AppHarvest is fairly unique. Are you going to have drought? Most people every day are just concerned about can they put food on the table? If I'm a grocer and I'm saying U.S.-grown in a controlled environment we solve for all that. The history of the world is in many ways the history of technology, and of our reactions to it. Talk a little bit about what ESG means to you and some of the things that you've done, because corporately you set your business up to be able to account for some of that transparency and whatnot. Fresh Take: A Make-Or-Break Food Trade Show, Inside The Food Labor Movement: An Update From Starbucks Front Lines, Its The Gourmet Toast Driving Expansion At Toastique, Fungi-Based Protein Company Meati Launches Scientific Advisory Board To Support Scale-Up, Nutrition Research, City Saucery Takes Pride In Its Ugly Tomato Sauces, By Helping The Ukrainian Community In Manhattan, Veselka Earns A James Beard Nomination For Outstanding Restaurant, French Wine Region Bourgogne Should No Longer Be Translated To Burgundy. Moser: Well, you said it on the call. Director recently sold US$216k worth of stock Nov 24 AppHarvest, Inc. WebGet Chad Hill's email address (c*****@appharvest.com) and phone number at RocketReach. WebFounder & CEO, AppHarvest Kentucky native and University of Kentucky graduate Jonathan Webb is turning his dream of a high-tech farming hub in Appalachia into reality with AppHarvest. Investors look at that, Peter Halt, AppHarvests newly appointed chief financial officer, told AFN. Jonathan Webb is the Founder and CEO of AppHarvest, a company that combines conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology to address To learn more about AppHarvest, you can visit appharvest.com. Even though you entered at such a young stage of your business, You essentially were pre-revenue coming into the public markets, and now, you're just getting that started. Everybody has full healthcare. WebJonathan Webb, the CEO of AppHarvest, says water scarcity is a growing national security concern as a heatwave continues to wreak havoc on the West Coast. By us running on completely recycled rainwater, we have no water cost. Moser: Yeah, absolutely. AppHarvest knows its far from being the only player in the CEA game. In February 2018, encouraged by investors, advisors including Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. We talk about how, My background was a part of building some of the largest solar projects in the U.S. David Lee, who joined us from Impossible Foods, joined impossible foods five years ago as their CFO and COO raised them nearly over $1 billion in the last five years and turned them into what was a boutique idea, into a mass-market product on store shelves. We're selling to Kroger, we're selling in fast food chains like Wendy's. Get 5 free searches. Jonathan Webb currently follows over 1 million people. "You look at renewable energy 20 years ago, electric vehicles 10 years ago, if we want to get CEA to be institutional at scale, not only in households with consumers, you really need that rigor of the public markets and that attention of the public markets to help institutionalize an industry," he said. People are becoming more and more aware of where they get stuff and for people that question how quickly a sector can transition, I have a lot of friends that worked in the coal industry. ", "It's easy to be a CEO that's looking for the next three months," Webb stated. When people and robots work together, its actually more productive than robots alone or people alone. On a traditional farm, there are a seemingly infinite number of tasks to do at any given moment, so adding some computers to make it more efficient doesnt mean that human farmers will be anywhere near obsolete any time soon. In order to do that, you have to have rigor. Investors look at that, Peter Halt, AppHarvests newly appointed chief financial officer, told, Step aside, alt-protein: Bioplastics are the real agrifoodtech opportunity, The rise of the reused machines: Germanys E-Farm raises $5.3m Series A. As founder and CEO of AppHarvest, Ive been listening to a podcast called The Future of Farming and Investing, where Jonathan Webb discusses how AppHarvest has built a three-million-square-foot indoor farm, twice as large as Amazons largest distribution center. There's a lot of different ways to go public and at the time and we did it, and I think it was definitely the best decision for us at the time. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com. The Art of Self Meditation: What Are the Benefits? We've had one of our wettest decades on state record. But really its water and food first. We look at them over the course of time, years, and hopefully, decades we can be a part of that journey with you all. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. We want to be selling to 90% of America. It was clear that their work culture is infused with a pioneering mentality, and that Webb feels strongly about keeping that culture consistent as the company expands. Jonathan strives to work alongside the hard-working men and women of Eastern Kentucky and build an inclusive economy for the future. According to AppHarvest's earnings report released Feb. 24, the company had net sales of $9.1 million and net loss of of $166.2 million in 2021. Which is important, because AppHarvest employs well over 300 people in its Morehead facility alone. Earlier this year we did get listed on the Nasdaq. Almost every company in the coal industry has gone bankrupt over the last 10 years. *Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Moser: Yeah. ", As a CEO, Webb admitted that this focus on the long-term outlook has not been easy to prove to Wall Street, especially when compared to those who are "selling a worthless product that's not good for people and not good for planet and arguably questionable for shareholders. Jonathan Webb is a specialist knee surgeon and a former English rugby union fullback. That world will look pretty different from the one we live in now, but Lessing assured me that even as AI gets firmly integrated into agriculture, AppHarvests robots are, fundamentally collaborative. You mentioned your children. Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman at the 2022 SXSW Conference, 3 big things in investing you might have missed this week, UPDATE 1-North Korea says US causing international arms control collapse, EU releases funds, prepares aid flight for eastern Congo, Rheinmetall in talks on building tank factory in Ukraine - report, Ukraine Latest: Metsola Urges More Sanctions Pressure on Russia. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice| Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information| Ad Choices But one thing we'd like to talk about is competitive advantage, what makes a company special? It's about getting the industry to turn the corner at scale globally," Webb said. I think you really keyed in on something important there, a 30-year journey. We're laser-focused on getting this right here. Below, we look at some of his most popular tweets. Public asset : 44,698,475 USD. I want to know what the problems are from them, not just our executive team. I cant say this was the exact plan but what accelerated all of this was Covid-19, AppHarvest CEO Jonathan Webb told AFN. We've been very fortunate and humbled that the Root AI team is fully a part of the AppHarvest team building robotics that's operating on AI, collecting data. That's how quickly the energy industry shifted. Running AppHarvest this way definitely creates extra workthe company even has facilitators who help employees navigate unexpected life events that might prevent them from coming to workbut its work Webb considers essential. I'd tell you, we go through tomatoes, handover, [] in my house alone, I'm sure. WebJonathan Webb. We have a lot of work to do ahead of us over the years to come. "We have the capital we need and we're focused on building and operating, and just head down on execution," Webb said. You may opt-out by. S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. Webb founded it in 2017 in his native Kentucky; it became a certified B Corp two years later. Webb, a Kentucky native and University of Kentucky graduate, says he remains committed to his goal of employing large numbers of people at high-tech farms around the eastern half of the state. The private markets don't need to be a part of the problem, but we can't just be quarterly earnings focused. Let's let the consumer of our product also be the buyer in our company. Theyre looking at a company and even though its pre-revenue it has all the necessary ingredients to succeed.. Karrie, on the other hand, has not disclosed her salary or income. No one else in America is doing something at that scale. Moser: Yeah, I'd tell you, I think you're right. Thats why AI scares people, we know tech can be used just as coldly as anything else. I don't know that we're going to have enough time, but let's just start first and foremost this is one of our most recent recommendations in our service. We're building large facilities to grow fruit and vegetables running completely on recycled rainwater using LED lights, software, and sensors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla. Similarly, she owns yachts and private planes and serves on the board of the Women Golf Club Foundation. Remember, you can always reach out to us on Twitter at @MFIndustryFocus, or drop us an email at [emailprotected] As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. That's because of our inefficient systems in the supply chain. The estimated value when the deal closes will be about a billion dollars for the company. Jonathan Webb poses in front of his giant greenhouse, When you look at human civilization, what do you need? You have food safety concerns. Dr. Jonathan Webb, a specialist knee surgeon at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, is the doctor. They ask themselves, Did we help five people today? Now, our job is to make sure it's at around the same price. He has also held roles in movies and television series. This year alone, more than 50 SPACs have been formed in the US, collectively raising around $36.2 billion as of last month. Webb is a consultant orthopaedic physician and a board member of World Rugby. We could've raised capital privately on the balance sheet and kept building. AppHarvest raised $500 million on its balance sheet this year, went public on the Nasdaq, hired 400 people to work in its first facility, and brought its first product, beefsteak tomatoes, to grocery stores including Kroger, Walmart, and Publix. When he says sustainable, he doesnt just mean that in an environmental sense. Youre reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fools Premium Investing Services. My answer to that is always; sustainability is profitability. Despite the off quarter, Webb has much to celebrate. more. The mission-driven approach Webb has prioritized is the companys main selling point both for investors and potential employees, whom he works to lure away from billion-dollar conglomerates. We just want to be one of those and we're cognizant that there's going to be plenty of large players. "In less than Is there a benefit? Later, in 1993, he relocated to the United Kingdom, where he completed his LLM. All of our water is captured on our roof. We're one of four companies that are publicly traded that have both of those as a company. Location: Pikeville, KY. Add to My Lists. Visualize this, down the rows of our facility, we have a robust that's going to take thousands of photos of a tomato plant. I know you're busy. Yes, maybe we're paying marginally more in the short-term, but that workforce is the one that's beating production targets daily. Terms & Conditions. These food companies today are like the cigarette companies 40 years ago. Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services. It means transparency. When is it going to be able to ship? He has over 100 civil and criminal jury trials and has represented clients in counties across Georgia. Also referred to as blank check companies, the mechanism has existed for several years but has received increased attention of late. There's a level of rigor that comes with that, and so for us, the SPAC was just a vehicle. The fired Google engineer who thought its A.I. They're not going to be solved in a month or a year or a quarter and we just want to build an organization that's going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the larger incumbents out there, and the best way to do that is to have that rigor of being a publicly traded company. what jerma985 emotes are you quiz, sandy's big scott sauce recipe,

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