Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
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Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#2Most, if not all, companies involved in the sector are unprofitable in what is still a relatively nascent industry requiring scale and investment to remain viable and compete with traditionally grown crops.
Many countries think food security is national security, so it will continue even if it requires government subsidy.
Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#3> By curating a diverse microbiome with genetic capacity for key functions, Upward Farms achieves an autonomous, self-optimising, and highly productive biological manufacturing platform.
I think this is MBA for they farmed animals
Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#4Surely they threw in the trowel?
I'll see myself out...
Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#5We built a company around this very problem- indoor farming (including vertical indoor farming) is pretty complex and by default it's energy hungry. In theory, indoor farming is very efficient for commercial food production though. I thought we could be the company that does all the plant biology, automation complexity magic for growers, and growers just do seedling and harvesting in a super basic mechanical setup.
We are working with growers in EU, and they are all actually profitable growing normal veggies (lettuce, kale, etc.) as usual. But whenever we talked to some of the fancy VC-backed vertical indoor farming companies, they would usually not entertain us and would always claim that they were going to build everything by themselves. Almost always, the leadership in these companies was the type that didn't know anything about plants, software, status quo of AI, etc.
Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#6Most, if not all, companies involved in the sector are unprofitable in what is still a relatively nascent industry requiring scale and investment to remain viable and compete with traditionally grown crops. Many countries think food security is national security, so it will continue even if it requires government subsidy.
Many countries have been forced into mono culture plantation crops by IMF and World Bank, due BS globalisation comparative advantage policies.
There is plenty of arable land it's just devouted to non staple production. And so they're stuck buying food with dollars they have no control over.
Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#7Most, if not all, companies involved in the sector are unprofitable in what is still a relatively nascent industry requiring scale and investment to remain viable and compete with traditionally grown crops. Many countries think food security is national security, so it will continue even if it requires government subsidy.
Many countries have been forced into mono culture plantation crops by IMF and World Bank, due BS globalisation comparative advantage policies. There is plenty of arable land it's just devouted to non staple production. And so they're stuck buying food with dollars they have no control over.
Did you meant WTO? I don't think the IMF can force a country to specialize, but a 'free' market will (at least according to Smith).
Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#8We built a company around this very problem- indoor farming (including vertical indoor farming) is pretty complex and by default it's energy hungry. In theory, indoor farming is very efficient for commercial food production though. I thought we could be the company that does all the plant biology, automation complexity magic for growers, and growers just do seedling and harvesting in a super basic mechanical setup. W…
This sounds like an interesting intro, but tell us more!
What exactly do you offer / sell / solve?
How are you different from “VC-backed vertical indoor farming companies”?
It’s unclear from your message.
Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#9Neuroscience, architecture.
No farmers. At least the marketing dude sold food before.
"How hard can it be?"
Re: Upward Farms throws in towel ten years after founding vertical-farming business
#10Surely they threw in the trowel? I'll see myself out...
Seed funding wasn't enough?