Episode 30
S3E30: Eric Levesque - Lending Farmers a Helping Hand
Episode Summary
Join Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show Eric Levesque. Eric is the co-founder and VP of Business Development and Sales at Cultivatd, an organization that works with a wide range of industry-proven technology partners to provide the best fit for a project’s needs. Cultivatd also offers farming guidance, design consulting, and lending and leasing services to its clients. In this episode, Harry and Eric talk about how the pandemic has impacted our food supply chains and the desperate need for our society to solve these issues. They discuss Eric’s time at ZipGrow, the need for indoor and outdoor Ag to coexist and what the future holds for Cultivatd and the AgTech industry.
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Key Takeaways
- 03:29 – Harry welcomes to the show Eric Levesque, co-founder of Cultivatd, who talks about his organization, how the pandemic has impacted his business and how he got involved in vertical farming
- 08:44 – Eric reflects back on his time at ZipGrow and expounds on his sales background
- 11:58 – Eric talks about what was different about working for ZipGrow and learning the industry on the fly
- 14:59 – The inspiration to start Cultivatd and what the business model looks like
- 18:13 – Eric breaks down the three different types of clients that Cultivatd services
- 21:05 – The work Cultivatd is doing to educate the world on opportunities in AgTech and other offerings the provide to their clients
- 27:28 – How controlled environment agriculture and traditional agriculture co-exis
- 32:42 – Eric talks about some of the partnerships between Cultivatd and other companies
- 34:19 – Eric speaks to Cultivatd’s plans for growth, strategies he utilizes to grow his team and how Cultivatd is approaching the future of AgTech
- 36:44 – How Eric keeps up with the changing trends of AgTech
- 38:47 – Mentors who have helped Eric along his journey
- 40:46 – A tough question Eric has had to ask himself recently
- 43:21 – What excites Eric the most about the future of vertical farming
- 43:56 – Harry thanks Eric for joining the show and let’s listeners know where they can connect with him
Tweetable Quotes
“People are really realizing now, there is an issue and the world has to trend in this direction. Obviously the lack of irrigable land and water is an issue. But something like this pandemic sheds light on what the world needs in terms of fresh supply of food.” (06:14)
“It’s strange, it always kind of came natural to me. It’s my favorite thing. I think I just really like connecting and making new relationships and bonding with people. There’s something to it. There’s a really personal aspect. Obviously with this, there’s a bonus of you’re selling something that’s actually helping to heal the world.” (10:53)
“There’s something romantic about this industry where when you see the plants growing indoors it’s the same feeling. I fell in love right away when I saw it and I feel like there’s a lot of that.” (20:22)
“I think we’ve got some pretty ambitious goals but we want to hit the full spectrum where we can support you head-to-toe regardless of your plan.” (23:50)
“Indoor Ag was never meant to replace outdoor Ag. It’s something that needs to work in conjunction with outdoor Ag so that we can all get to the common goal of saving the planet and growing more food and being healthier and fixing food supply chains.” (27:56)
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