In the 1992 Five Nations, England won the title back-to-back for the first time since 1924, thanks to Webbs brace. We've had one of our wettest decades on state record. If we're going to be working with the largest players in the world, then we need to be in the big leagues, and the only way to do that is to be a publicly traded company. "Tech for good the consumer wants it. could be sentient says Microsofts chatbot feels like watching the Shark Tank investor Kevin OLeary says a new generation of employee has never worked in an officeand its totally I cant afford to sell because I dont want to lose that rate: 3% mortgage rates will loom large over the U.S. CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. 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. Moser: Yeah. His grandmother grew up in Whitley County, where a coal mining accident killed his great-grandfather. He completed a fellowship in Australia at North Sydney Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Centre and has worked in many high-profile clinics in the area. Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Flipboard, and LinkedIn. He has published numerous papers on the topic of knee ligament injuries, arthroscopic surgery, and other techniques. 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. You start to do the math, and realize you might need two planet earths to have enough land and water to grow that food.. The company is building some of the largest indoor farms in the world, combining conventional agricultural techniques with todays technology to grow non-GMO, chemical-free produce to be. Kentucky has been experiencing record amounts of rainfall in recent years, so for Webb, the location was obvious. Webb is an expert in reconstructive and arthroscopic surgery. 20years ago it was renewable energy. WebJonathan Webb. Yes, maybe we're paying marginally more in the short-term, but that workforce is the one that's beating production targets daily. Very excited about the Root AI transaction. Its flagship facility is a 60-acre indoor farm in Morehead, a town of 8,000 in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and it solely uses rainwater for its irrigation. This year alone, more than 50 SPACs have been formed in the US, collectively raising around $36.2 billion as of last month. Its the single largest LED installation in the United States despite using constant passive solar, waters its plants using recycled rainwater, employs an integrated pest management system to avoid any pesticides, has a 30x higher production yield than traditional open field agriculture, and has the ever so modest goal of transforming the future of agriculture. This is becoming really a hot-button topic for a lot of investors, rightly so. Again, for us, it's about keeping our head down, growing good fruit and vegetables. He practices at Mayo Clinic Hospital Eau Claire. 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. While living in Washington D.C. developing sustainable energy farms, Jonathan researched another type of farming the Netherlands and its high-tech greenhouses that in a single acre yield as much as 10 outdoor acres and virtually eliminate the use of chemicals. The fired Google engineer who thought its A.I. 95% of a fruit and vegetable is water. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*. What's that Harvest's secret sauce? I don't think anybody thinks of farming from this perspective. We've had record amounts of rainfall. He also received his medical license from Minnesota. Most of those employees were hired in the midst of 2020, something that Webb considers a testament to the trust his community has placed in AppHarvest. 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. 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. I think you really keyed in on something important there, a 30-year journey. We're laser-focused on getting this right here. If you want to know how wealthy he is, read on! Why locate in Appalachia? On today's show, AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb talks about AgTech (agriculture tech), the third wave of sustainable infrastructure. 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. Your email address will not be published. "In less than We're ramping up this first facility in the middle of a global pandemic, we had an ice storm. Growing up in Appalachia, Jonathan Webb watched the slow decline of the coal industry firsthand. We're really in the business of packaging up water and then shipping that out to major markets and then beyond that execution at scale. Thank you for accessing our content on the Topio Networks Market Intelligence Center. This is still a very new space though. I'm sure it was an exciting time. He acknowledges that scaling up so quickly in the middle of a pandemic is, almost unheard of in the current world. We pay every employee at AppHarvest a living wage. Since joining HFW in 2004, Mr. Webb has specialized in P&I and FD&D for ship owners. You have illegal chemical pesticides where the EPA cannot track the chemicals being used on these farms in Mexico. "We see this as a couple-decade journey, and really, we're in our first decade," Webb told Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman at the 2022 SXSW Conference (video above). Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com. He also has experience in civil litigation and Title IX proceedings. Webb: Regulators are pounding on them, consumers are pounding on them. I mean, all of the stuff that you just talked about really does matter. Moser: Well, you said it on the call. The greenhouse will cost $97 million and span 60 acres. In February 2018, encouraged by investors, advisors including Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. He often sleeps in an RV outside the construction site of its second facility. I graduated from the University of Kentucky. The president and CEO, Paul Mastronardi said, "We want every AppHarvest tomato they can grow. It's about getting the industry to turn the corner at scale globally," Webb said. 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? 10 stocks we like better thanWalmartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have an investing tip, it can pay to listen. A universal harvester robot at AppHarvest's Morehead, Kentucky greenhouse, AppHarvests crops are monitored for quality control 24/7 and harvested robotically, a labor-saving advancement that lets the staff treat farming almost like a manufacturing process. We're building large facilities to grow fruit and vegetables running completely on recycled rainwater using LED lights, software, and sensors. Webb: Well, I'll start by saying, anyone that is growing good, clean produce, without harsh chemical pesticides, I try to call them my colleagues, not competitors. I feel like with AppHarvest, at least, my takeaway, I found a lot of things that make you all special. Those robots have collected the worlds largest data set of tomato images, and each one is equipped with cameras and a laser that creates a 3D scan of the crops in front of it to determine what needs to be done at any given moment. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Again to some of your viewers that aren't aware of Root AI just look them up and take a look at some of those videos. We had 22 meetings and had almost 20 yeses. Very few passed on this deal and we eventually had to cancel meetings.. 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. To do that and look out for the long term is true sustainability, or resilience., Webb, who began his career developing renewable energy projects for the U.S. Army, believes any company is either part of destroying the planet or part of rebuilding its industry to align with the planet: I think its our obligation as CEOs to build companies that create long-standing values.. The actor regularly posts photos and videos of himself, as well as engaging with his fans. It's so cool to think about what you guys are doing there. You said that we're a technology company working to disrupt agriculture. We hit our Q1 guidance, $2.3 million in revenue. He is also becoming more involved with green shipping and is a council member of the London Shipping Law Centre. Similarly, she owns yachts and private planes and serves on the board of the Women Golf Club Foundation. You've taken a lot of steps early on in the development of your business to address a lot of those ESG concerns. That to me, was in a nutshell what it's all about. Theyre looking at a company and even though its pre-revenue it has all the necessary ingredients to succeed.. It sounds like there's a lot of potential there. Who were the most active food and agriculture technology venture capital firms in 2022. We could've raised capital privately on the balance sheet and kept building. I did want to know here because I saw this in the earnings release and I just thought it was one of those quotes that stood out to me from Mastronardi, your distributor. For us, this year, it's less about the dollars and more about hitting our targets and we were able to hit our Q1 guidance and ramp up our facility to, later on, this year by Q4, we'll be at full capacity in Q3 and Q4, selling tomatoes out of this facility in more Kentucky. This helped the Army reach its goal of 20% renewable energy by 2025. 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. 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. He played against Australia on 23 May. He holds a legal degree from the University of Natal as well as the University of Cape Town. You have to judge yourself internally. Part of it is that building big stuff fast in the US is very hard. No one else in America is doing something at that scale. "It's hard to be the one that's looking two decades down the road while thinking of the here and now.". His extensive experience and knowledge in the field have led to his reputation as a leading knee surgeon in the UK. I mean, I think that kind of speaks for itself. We're investing in our workforce. Growing up in Appalachia, Jonathan Webb watched the slow decline of the coal industry firsthand. Public asset : 44,698,475 USD. But in order to prove to our investors and prove to our shareholders and broader stakeholders, for us, it's about meeting our targets, and I've tried to say AppHarvest, we're in the business of delivering on our promises. One of AppHarvest's Crop Care Specialists operates a tomato-picking robot. You are speaking our language here at The Fool. 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. www.vbprofiles.com is now www.topionetworks.com. AppHarvest which raised $28 million in its Series C round in August is launching what it describes as the worlds largest greenhouse later this year, consisting of a 2.76 million square foot facility in Morehead, Kentucky. They ask themselves, Did we help five people today? Moving forward, AppHarvest is focused on bringing its beefsteak and on-the-vine tomatoes to market. 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. There's going to be a lot of companies hopefully working to solve our food and agriculture problems. We always talk about investing for the future because that's really what investing is all about. The system it uses reportedly reduces water usage by 90% compared to traditional open-field agriculture, while also eliminating runoff. 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? I know you're in the DC area. A 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. WebAppharvest (: ) is owned by 29.32% institutional shareholders, 30.67% Appharvest 40.01% retail investors. Webb was also the first LPGA player to win $1 million in a single season, finishing first on the year-end money list. Jonathan strives to work alongside the hard-working men and women of Eastern Kentucky and build an inclusive economy for the future. No one else in America is doing something at that scale. Moser: That's going to do it for us this week, folks. Well, you need water you need food, and you need energy. But with that said, what we have at AppHarvest is fairly unique. To make the world smarter, happier, and richer. Webb made a second appearance for England, and reached the final. 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. monitored for quality control 24/7 and harvested robotically. Despite IPOs last year having the worst returns in a decade, Webb said he believed 2021 was an important time for the company to go public and stood by the decision to take the company's mission "directly to the Street" and to receive the "rigor of Wall Street early," which he claimed will only make the company "stronger in the long run.". The Kentucky-based agriculture tech company, which was founded in 2017, began trading on the Nasdaq in late February 2021 after completing a SPAC merger with Novus Capital Corporation. Brooke DiPalma is a producer and reporter for Yahoo Finance. I don't want to keep you all day, but before we wrap it up, I did want to talk to you a little bit about ESG, environmental sustainability governance issues. Webb is a consultant orthopaedic physician and a board member of World Rugby. For us, we're looking at metrics, how can we be more sustainable? 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. We'll talk a little bit about that in just a second. There's not going to be one food company feeding the world. We're in our first decade and we're going to try to look at judging the company on decade one, decade two, and decade three. When youre building tech for techs sake, you start to question what youre doing. These food companies today are like the cigarette companies 40 years ago. A specialist in knee surgery, Jonathan Webb was a rugby union fullback for the English national team from 1987 to 1993. 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. When is it going to be able to ship? But to our investors the question and I got this on the roadshow, I'm in this to make money, great. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Jonathan about the growing opportunity in the AgTech space. Terms & Conditions. Although his net worth is impressive, its important that you remember that he doesnt have to act alone to be wealthy. He scored 296 points for England and played in two Rugby World Cups including the 1991 final. Once operational, it will ship 45 million pounds of fresh produce annually to grocery stores in the Midwest and Southeast. Consumers are pushing back. I know that you're not the only one focused on controlled environment agriculture. Moser: Yeah. Dr. Jonathan Webb, a specialist knee surgeon at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, is the doctor. We're going to be headquartered in Central Appalachia, execution at scale here in the U.S. but this is a global problem that we've gotten phone calls from around the world about how and when we can take our solution and go elsewhere. In the back of his mind, he wondered what he could do to help. 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. Webb is a consistent presence at the companys flagship greenhouse in Morehead. Then Jeff Obin, who is on our board and has been an early investor. But if you look at all the problems in the agriculture system, this industry really solves most of those problems. The Art of Self Meditation: What Are the Benefits? Webb founded AppHarvest in 2017, and the company was certified as a B Corp two years later. One of AppHarvest's mobile units ready to fight the food fight, outside of AppHarvest's offices in [+] Lexington, Kentucky, If we cant treat people with dignity and respect who put food on our table, where do we think humanity is going to end up? In order to do that, you have to have rigor. To me, at least, it feels like we are at the [] of a disruptive phase here, and a lot of that is thanks to technology. more. Visualize this, down the rows of our facility, we have a robust that's going to take thousands of photos of a tomato plant. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Other AppHarvest investors include TV cook Martha Stewart, VC veteran Peter Thiel, ValueAct Capitals Spring Fund, Revolutions Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Equilibrium Capital, and Narya the new VC firm co-founded by JD Vance, author of best-selling Appalachian memoir Hillbilly Elegy. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Jonathan Webb currently follows over 1 million people. WebThe combined company will be led by Jonathan Webb, AppHarvests Founder & Chief Executive Officer. That narrow focus on societal good is what has kept AppHarvest fully staffed throughout the pandemic. There are many sources of information on Jonathan Webbs networth. Before founding AppHarvest, Jonathan worked with the U.S. Department of Defense on the largest solar project in the Southeastern United States. Its first crop will be non-GMO tomatoes, which will be provided to a number of US grocers. Webb is from Kentucky, where 16% of residents are below the poverty line, and when the coal jobs dried up, nothing came in to replace them. As part of that, in order to bring trust and transparency to agriculture, you have to be a public company. Did we help them reach their goals? What are you trying to accomplish? It means being a little bit more upfront with your investors. The system it uses reportedly reduces water usage by 90% compared to traditional open-field agriculture, while also eliminating runoff. Since then, AppHarvest shares have plunged 70%. He actively engages with his followers through his various social media accounts, including Instagram and Twitter. Jonathan Webb, a specialist in knee surgery, was once a prominent player on the English rugby team. In its Nov. 7 filing, AppHarvest reported net losses of $83 million for the first nine months of the year and net sales of $10 million, with an accumulated deficit of $270 million. Look at how many times in the last few years you've had leafy greens yanked off store shelves. But for us, it's not a back-and-forth, it's not OK, well, I'm going to invest in an ESG company and I'm going to sacrifice profitability. We'll head down here and then I would start or I would end with what I started with. Most countries in the Middle East import nearly all of their fruit and vegetables. 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.. It doesn't need to be one or the other, it needs to be both, and we're happy to be a bit of a public benefit corporation and B Corp certified. You have labor concerns. Also referred to as blank check companies, the mechanism has existed for several years but has received increased attention of late. By us running on completely recycled rainwater, we have no water cost. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. My answer to that is always; sustainability is profitability. Typically, you would do 40 to 60 meetings to get a couple of investors. We just want to be one of those and we're cognizant that there's going to be plenty of large players. The human spirit is willing to do a lot. Is that drought going to impact yield and you don't end up being able to get product to the grocery store? Founder of AppHarvest, Inc., AppHarvest Morehead Farm LLC and Which is important, because AppHarvest employs well over 300 people in its Morehead facility alone. We thought in order to build an organization that's going to be selling to the top grocers. Were investing heavily The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla. My competition in Mexico, you have people getting paid $5 a day. To get started investing, check out our quick-start guide to investing in stocks. AppHarvest, which went public in February in an IPO that brought it $475 million in gross proceeds, is an ambitious venture. "The public market needs to have a robust category of companies that are building stuff that matters," he stressed. After serving as an assistant public defender in Marylands Office of the Public Defender, Webb joined Ethridge Quinn for 2020. He is a senior partner in the shipping litigation practice group, focusing on hull insurance claims, charter party disputes, and dry shipping issues. AppHarvest raised over $475 million in a public IPO, but it is not over. His final international was against Ireland in March 1993. We're in that classic scenario of demand exceeding supply. The other thing is scale. As I was listening, there was a quote, you said, "We are farmers and futurists." WebInside is a tightly controlled environment that uses 90% less water than open-field agriculture and only rainwater to produce crop yields up to 30 times that of traditional 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. All of our water is captured on our roof. It's the workforce that we're going to use to grow the organization. I mean I'm glad you keyed on the fact this is a global situation, it's a global issue. Jonathan was named one the Top 30 Most Influential Lawyers in Washingtonians 2018 list upon graduation. We are about to plant our first crop in a 60-acre, controlled environment, chemical-free farm. When he says sustainable, he doesnt just mean that in an environmental sense. According to Webb, going public has helped the company focus on the big picture. Photo credit: US controlled environment agriculture (CEA) startup, has announced a merger with NASDAQ-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), The deal is slated to bring in $475 million in gross proceeds for Kentucky-based AppHarvest, including a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction worth $375 million from existing and new investors including, I cant say this was the exact plan but what accelerated all of this was Covid-19, AppHarvest CEO Jonathan Webb told, . Look at the open fields in Mexico. Not only picking, pruning, harvesting, being able to actually get the tomato off the vine, and ultimately, shipped out, but also the predictive analytics that we can use. Dr. Webb graduated at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Jonathan Webb grew up in Kentucky and has been committed to developing sustainable projects from Central Appalachia. It made good logistical sense since Kentucky is within a days drive of 70% of the United States, plus there was an untapped labor force there ready and waiting to be hired. Tomatoes will be the first fruit rolling out of AppHarvest's soon-to-launch facility in Morehead, Kentucky. Webb grew up in Kentucky, and founded AppHarvest in 2017 after years in the solar development industry, based in New York. Now, our job is to make sure it's at around the same price. Required fields are marked *. This will result in a $1.7 billion return of investment for the company. Get the latest news and research from AFN & AgFunder in your inbox. I fundamentally do not think its a tradeoff. AppHarvest is recovering from a challenging third quarter, in which it reported a net loss of over $17 million; Webb attributes it to hyper-growth. 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. We were just talking earlier and you mentioned how you're in the DC area, it was fortunate that we had Steve Case, the founder of AOL, and he fundraised the rest. in August is launching what it describes as the worlds largest greenhouse later this year, consisting of a 2.76 million square foot facility in Morehead, Kentucky. WebJonathan Webb. "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. One, our geographic location. Theyre designed to be safe around people. We're focused on bringing that production back from Mexico that has been shifted outside of the U.S. and bring that back into the U.S. in a controlled environment. We dont have two planets though, so Webb got creative. Jonathan Webb, CEO of agricultural technology and indoor farming startup AppHarvest, wants investors and founders alike to know that he doesnt struggle to balance purpose and profit; if a company loses track of the former, its only a matter of time until it loses the latter. Jonathan Webb poses in front of his giant greenhouse, When you look at human civilization, what do you need? In the 1987 Rugby World Cup, Webb made his debut for England. Webb: Well, the last great technological revolution in American farming is really when the tractor was introduced. I'm looking forward to being able to find more and more of these AppHarvest products in our grocery stores as we move forward. The Motley Fool recommends AppHarvest, Inc. But then what have we done with Root AI? Get 5 free searches. Karrie, on the other hand, has not disclosed her salary or income. I want to know what the problems are from them, not just our executive team. The SPAC opportunity, let you, I think, become a publicly traded company maybe sooner than you really felt like you needed to. The agriculture-tech startup raised $250,000 in its first round of seed capital in February 2018, AppHarvest CEO and founder Jonathan Webb told Insider. People, planet, wonderful, but I'm trying to make money. I have no doubt that we will. Non-planned trade are trades that sold to the top 25 U.S. grocers. Jason Moser has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Invest better with The Motley Fool. Our job at AppHarvest, we need to make sure that we're keeping prices at a fair, good place where we're at today. Moser: Yeah, I'd tell you, I think you're right. *Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Thank you for your continued support. AppHarvest has invested in a 2.76million-square-foot greenhouse in Morehead (Ky.) to help meet this goal. The history of the world is in many ways the history of technology, and of our reactions to it.
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