I love your long-term focus. Were investing heavily in our future, so were spending heavily today, he said. We take that long term approach, we don't view things by quarter. Prior to founding AppHarvest, Jonathan supported the Executive Director of the Army Office of Energy Initiatives to help meet the White House goal of supplying 20% of the Department of Defenses electricity usage from renewable sources by leveraging private sector capital for the projects. Founder of AppHarvest, Inc., AppHarvest Morehead Farm LLC and AppHarvest Operations, Inc., Jonathan Webb is an entrepreneur who is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of AppHarvest, Inc. and Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of AppHarvest Operations, Inc. (a subsidiary of AppHarvest, Inc.). Offers may be subject to change without notice. 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.. We're feeding our country with people in Mexico who are making $5 a day. Thanks as always to Tim Sparks for putting the show together for us. He played against Australia on 23 May. Most people every day are just concerned about can they put food on the table? We're going to be based in Central Appalachia. "For us, being transparent with not only the consumer, but having that transparency of a public company as we build a large global food company, we think the long-term benefits are great.". WebGet Chad Hill's email address (c*****@appharvest.com) and phone number at RocketReach. 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. 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. One of the things we like to discuss as investors and when we find companies, we find businesses that we like and we want to be owners of. We use bees to pollinate our plans. Because our services are focused on technology, 5G connectivity, and all of the different benefits we're going to get from that. 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. That's not the conversation at all. 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. I was very fortunate. He is an ex-rugby player who represented England from 1987 to 1993, reaching the World Cup Final and winning two Five Nations grand slam titles. 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. How excited are you to bring that Root AI company in their leadership into your family? It sounds like there's a lot of potential there. Once operational, it will ship 45 million pounds of fresh produce annually to grocery stores in the Midwest and Southeast. In February 2018, encouraged by investors, advisors including Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. To get started investing, check out our quick-start guide to investing in stocks. Is that drought going to impact yield and you don't end up being able to get product to the grocery store? Same platform but with new and improved features. Many of our early investors have been very helpful with the company, and we knew that we are not just building one facility, we're building an organization that's going to go toe-to-toe with agriculture and food, globally. Jonathan Webb is an actor with a large following on Twitter. In the same year, he scored his second try after just 23 seconds. San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley), Total number of current Jobs the person has, CB Rank (Hub): Algorithmic rank assigned to the top 100,000 most active Hubs, Number of news articles that reference the Person, How AppHarvest Is Investing in the First Generation of High-Tech Farmers, AppHarvest May Not Be a Tasty Investment Yet, Agtech company AppHarvest debuts produce in select grocery stores, AppHarvest hires Impossible Foods David Lee as president, AppHarvest hires chief communications officer, Watch NASAs James Webb Space Telescope do high-tech origami, Varsity Spirits Webb on Bolstering the Middle Class, Jimmy Webb, Purveyor of Punk Fashion, Is Dead at 62, James Webb Space Telescope Successfully Deploys Its Mirror for the First Time. I want to know what the problems are from them, not just our executive team. 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. I'm really excited to have you all as a recommendation in our service and hopefully, our members are too after talking with you today. Look at the open fields in Mexico. The companys first greenhouse will span 60 acres and open in 2020 in Morehead, Ky.The greenhouse will operate entirely on rainwater using a 10-acre retention pond, reducing water usage by 80% compared to a typical farm. What weve proven through a global pandemic is that we can build one of the largest facilities in the world on time, on budget, at a record pace.. Visualize this, down the rows of our facility, we have a robust that's going to take thousands of photos of a tomato plant. It feels like this is something that really is just getting some traction here. The same way there won't be one energy company powering the world. Tomatoes will be the first fruit rolling out of AppHarvest's soon-to-launch facility in Morehead, Kentucky. That's because of our inefficient systems in the supply chain. We want to be at Wendy's, we want to be at Walmart. Announces Separation of Julie Nelson as Chief Operating Officer Nov 16 Price target decreased to US$5.33 Nov 16 See more updates Shareholder Returns See full shareholder returns Return vs Industry: APPH underperformed the US Food industry which returned Jonathan, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to see just more about AppHarvest to talk about all the stuff that you're trying to accomplish there. I asked on a call earlier today, well, have you had issues hiring people? Its first crop will be non-GMO tomatoes, which will be provided to a number of US grocers. A specialist in knee surgery, Webb has performed countless surgeries in elite rugby union teams. But its confident in its approach. In our first month or two, we're already at all those outlets. Webb: To put this in perspective, this was our first facility under operations, our flagship facility. No, weve made some mistakes. David and Tom just revealed what they believe are theten best stocks for investors to buy right now and Walmart wasn't one of them! 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. 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. Sometimes, it can even get us a few steps closer to saving he world. AppHarvest CEO envisions 'couple-decade journey' after going public No. If I were an investor, Id want my CEO on the ground with the team, not just in an office tower, he said. The show also discusses the benefits of Martha Stewart being on their board and how they plan get their products onto shelves. The SPAC opportunity, let you, I think, become a publicly traded company maybe sooner than you really felt like you needed to. 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. WebThe combined company will be led by Jonathan Webb, AppHarvests Founder & Chief Executive Officer. 95% of a fruit and vegetable is water. The system it uses reportedly reduces water usage by 90% compared to traditional open-field agriculture, while also eliminating runoff. The actor regularly posts photos and videos of himself, as well as engaging with his fans. 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. Other AppHarvest investors include TV cook Martha Stewart, VC veteran Peter Thiel, We are about to plant our first crop in a 60-acre, controlled environment, chemical-free farm. Moser: Yeah. That lowers transportation costs by 75%, allowing AppHarvest's fresher produce to better compete against low-cost foreign imports. This will result in a $1.7 billion return of investment for the company. I know you're in the DC area. Part of it is that building big stuff fast in the US is very hard. Invest better with The Motley Fool. We dont see it as losing money for losing moneys sake; developing that tech is investing in our future.. He is also becoming more involved with green shipping and is a council member of the London Shipping Law Centre. ESG should be at the core of profitability and it should be at the core of building a resilient company. We have one farm right now thats 2.8 million square feet. 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. Jonathan received his bachelors degree from the University of Kentucky. We dont talk about this at all in the US. We're investing in our workforce. Were building important stuff with long-standing value, so the Great Resignation has actually helped us acquire talent.. Moser: Well, you said it on the call. He represented his country in 33 Test matches and played for Bristol and Bath. This is the direction in which the world is going, so companies better get on board [laughs] or get out of the way. WebJonathan Webb - Founder & CEO @ AppHarvest - Crunchbase Person Profile Person Jonathan Webb Overview Number of Founded Organizations 1 CB Rank (Person) 4,704 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. Become a Motley Fool member today to get instant access to our top analyst recommendations, in-depth research, investing resources, and more. We're in that classic scenario of demand exceeding supply. AppHarvest is a unique and compelling investment opportunity that is redefining American agriculture by improving access for all to fresh non-GMO produce, growing more with fewer resources, and creating an agtech hub from within Appalachia, Novus chairman Bob Laikin said in a statement. These food companies today are like the cigarette companies 40 years ago. Vance, and politicians of both parties, Jonathan left Washington and came home to Kentucky, where he now works tirelessly to make the eastern part of the state the AgTech capital of America. For example, we use integrated pest management, good pest to kill bad pest. 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 All Rights Reserved. You have illegal chemical pesticides where the EPA cannot track the chemicals being used on these farms in Mexico. Again, if you look at the U.S. right now, this is a USDA statistic, nearly 40% of fresh fruit and vegetables end up in a landfill. They have 10% of the world's freshwater. Webb founded it in 2017 in his native Kentucky; it became a certified B Corp two years later. S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. But then it's pulling technology in to drive nature from behind. Why locate in Appalachia? Instead of just being able to tell a grocer 24-hours in advance here's the quality of product and here's when it will be shipped, with robotics going down the rows scanning the plants, we'll be able to get to days out and weeks out of being able to predict the yield, predict the quality, give more information to the grocer on when that product is going to be coming. You said that we're a technology company working to disrupt agriculture. 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? To me, this feels like just that, a growing market opportunity that is global in nature, and really the opportunity, just getting started. Look at how many times in the last few years you've had leafy greens yanked off store shelves. Well, I mean speaking of a publicly traded company, you just released your first-quarter results, and I think this was your first full quarter as a publicly traded company. Terms & Conditions. I want to talk with you about in regard to AppHarvest. The private markets can be a part of every solution we have that we're seeing today. 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. St John Greek Orthodox Church Easter Schedule, 7 Residential Solar Maintenance Errors and How to Avoid Them, 4 Errors with Kitchen Renovations and How to Avoid Them, An Informative Guide to Livestock Transportation, A Tool That You Need If You are Into Live Stream.