The Rise of Vertical Farming Around the World
On this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast, we sit down with Brooke Smith from Freight Farms. Freight Farms empowers individuals to start farming anywhere with their hydroponic shipping containers. Brooke shares the history behind Freight Farms and how individuals from all over the world use containers to grow produce for their local communities, year-round.
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[00:00:27] Rory Loughran: Welcome to the Direct Farm Podcast. I'm Rory, your host for today's episode. We've got a great conversation for today With Freight Farms. Freight Farms is dedicated to making fresh food accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime, with a complete platform of products and services, including their Greenery S. A shipping container built to house acres of produce using hydroponic and vertical growing. I'm delighted to welcome Brooke Smith, an account executive at Freight Farms to the podcast.
[00:00:52] Welcome, Brooke.
[00:00:54] Brooke Smith: Thanks for having me Rory.
[00:00:55] Rory Loughran: Yeah, thank you for joining. We've had a freight farms farmer on before, but I'm excited [00:01:00] hear your perspective on it. To start out, could you share with us a little bit of the story behind Freight Farms and how the company came to be?
[00:01:08] Brooke Smith: Yeah, absolutely. So we are a Boston, Massachusetts based company. Our origins really got started in around 2010. Our co-founders met actually doing some rooftop garden consulting in the city. And if anyone knows Boston or anywhere in the northeast in general, it's pretty cold in the winter.
[00:01:31] Not exactly hospitable for rooftop gardens, at least not in any case. That's. Simple to roll out. You need a lot of insulation and infrastructure. They just realized it wasn't really a viable or accessible way for people to grow food anywhere. And that is what got them thinking about alternatives.
[00:01:50] From there you got the container idea. There's a lot of empty insulated. Refrigerated containers that are lying around a lot of cities. So they [00:02:00] noticed a lot of those laying around. Got the idea to repurpose one started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for our prototype and the rest is history.
[00:02:10] Rory Loughran: Wow. I'm curious because I've seen lots of farmers use these same shipping containers, like almost as a shed that they can put somewhere on their farm. But like just knowing that these are lying around, how did that, how did they come across that and why did they think, okay, shipping container, that's the way we should go with this.
[00:02:27] Brooke Smith: Yeah, I think it's, it's really a matter of what the goals of the founders were in getting together and starting freight farms. I don't think that they necessarily knew that they would get into what they got into, but, um, if you know the history of urban agriculture, you know, that people have been farming in places where that are not traditional farmland for a long time.
[00:02:50] And ultimately the vertical farming and indoor farming industry has grown a lot in the last decade. And they were kind of there in the beginnings of a lot of these companies that we [00:03:00] now notice as like household names. And their main idea was how do you bring year round growing to people in a place where it's just not otherwise possible?
[00:03:12] So our infrastructure as a country relies on insulated shipping containers, refrigerated containers. That's how we get our food from different parts of the country. It makes the trip across. So having the idea of bringing that that tool to a spot that is just housed in one place in the community.
[00:03:31] And is able to bring product to a community year round, but keep it local and fresh always. I think that was how it developed, just those thought processes coming together.
[00:03:45] Rory Loughran: That's so interesting and cool because it's like you're taking the shipping container. Historically used to bring things from food, perhaps from other countries and things like that. Using like that very, uh, [00:04:00] equipment to then instead fuel a local food system, which is really interesting. Kind of a cool kind of flip on it, I guess.
[00:04:07] Brooke Smith: Totally. Yeah. I mean, we think of like trucking as, I mean, it's commonly known as the the backbone of America, right? So it's funny that, you know, the way that we're seeing a lot of the local agriculture scene change is, the backbone of previous infrastructure, just not on a, not on a bed.
[00:04:28] Rory Loughran: Yeah, same tool, different use. Yeah. Um, well, so since the founders had this idea, how have things grown and, and changed since then?
[00:04:38] Brooke Smith: Yeah. I actually came on board in in 2019, so I have not been around to witness all of this, but I mentioned 2010 as kind of the, the beginning ideation of, of freight farms. The first prototype was built in 2012. And from there we started to go into more of a commercial production scale. So actually getting some of the first [00:05:00] customers, you know, people who are innovators interested in getting into something new.
[00:05:05] And then I think it was in, 2016, we reached the a hundred Farm Benchmark, 20 18, 200. And now we've sold over 500 farms to people in the US, Canada, all over the world. There's been, I believe, eight different iter iterations of the technology since then. So there's been a lot of improvement in the actual, the hardware of it.
[00:05:29] Rory Loughran: Wow. You mentioned the US and as well as, internationally. Have you guys seen like kind of a place in the world that these have been, more common or, or more popular or has it been able to span any geography?
[00:05:43] Brooke Smith: Yeah, so the US is definitely still our most popular market. Just that's where we got started. So definitely the most farms are in North America. But I think what's interesting is at first, You know, I mentioned urban agriculture [00:06:00] being kind of at the, the roots of freight farms. We really thought that the technology was gonna be most popular in urban areas or cities, and that actually didn't turn out to be the case.
[00:06:11] I mean, there's a lot of these farms located in cities, but there's also a lot of these farms located in more remote or rural areas that, maybe you would. Food deserts. They don't have a lot of, grocery stores or just, you know, food takes a while to get that far north or that remote, whether that's, you know, islands in Alaska or in the Caribbean where they're dealing with, hurricanes and different weather.
[00:06:37] So I'd say we see them go everywhere. People have them in their backyards. Even residential communities, other folks are adding them onto existing farm operations. Breweries, cis restaurants use them. And then just your, common person wanting to start a business will find a way to do it, whether that's in a city, or[00:07:00] a just a town that that needs more local food.
[00:07:04] Rory Loughran: Yeah, you mentioned like, you know, wanting to start a business and I think, you guys do a good job of kind of preparing people for that, but it, it is really, a big investment, to get started, as is any farming. It's always a big investment, whether that be with land access or, or equipment and pretty much only equipment in the case of freight farmers. But how, why do you think some people are kind of starting or leaning and choosing to go the freight farms route, and doing farming that way as opposed to more traditional or standard methods?
[00:07:34] Brooke Smith: Yeah, that's a great question and I think that it's, there's probably a lot of ways to answer it. The part of the matter is, We need all sorts of different types of farming in order to get enough food to people where it's needed. So indoor farming is definitely a piece of the puzzle. And I'd say container farming is a piece of that indoor farming puzzle.[00:08:00]
[00:08:00] I think people are seeing, especially in the last couple of years, the instability of our food supply chain. And it, this probably sounds like a broken record at this point. We're all used to hearing about supply chain issues. Seeing it in food is a little shocking because when you're used to just going to a grocery store and you know, getting whatever it is that you need at any time, you, you're pretty detached from the way your food is grown.
[00:08:27] We just are, we are very detached from the way our food is grown, and I think that the last couple of years made people realize that in a way that got a lot of people thinking about how they could maybe change that for their community. And that's, at least from my experience, being one of the people that talks to folks when they come to Freight Farms, interested in our technology and how they can use it.
[00:08:53] That's a very common thread in the conversation for folks who are starting businesses, is that [00:09:00] they see the need. They don't like, , there's not great quality produce on their shelves, or sometimes there's none available because of some interruption in the supply. And they wanna be able to change people's, understanding of the food that they eat, the healthy food that they eat, where it comes from, how it's grown, and how enjoyable it can be when it is, when it is fresh and local and just support small and local economy.
[00:09:27] And I'd say it's the same for even institutions, you know, schools, nonprofits, they are dealing with a lot of the heart of the insecurity issues that we've seen in the culture just kind of get highlighted in the last couple of years. People are just more aware of all of the issues that our institutions have been handling in, in food supply and security for a long time.
[00:09:49] They're also on the front lines, making sure that children's and families have meals, whether that's secondary and higher ed, or it's, you know, community focused [00:10:00] organizations.
[00:10:00] Rory Loughran: Yeah, no, that's definitely something we've seen on our end too. Just the, the shift of, from these, they're typically reliable food sources I guess. But then when something does go wrong, it can go very wrong and things can be really delayed. And so the shift towards, okay, how can I get that, that, how can I get my food locally and not have to worry about that as much?
[00:10:21] But, as you, you mentioned earlier, all the different changes that kind of the product and the, and the software really, that have, that you guys use and sell alongside the greenery as to, to kind of manage all this, that's changed a lot over time. What have I think you mentioned there are like hundreds of changes, but what have been some of those kind of major ones, that you, that Freight Farms has, made those adjustments over time and how has the product really improved?
[00:10:44] Brooke Smith: Yeah, that's, a great question. So the greenery s is, is our flagship. Product. You know, it, it is the culmination of the last decade of research and development, from our team and getting to [00:11:00] a point where we are, really excited about the capability of this product and, how it's going to be able to shift and change with the customer as they grow their business.
[00:11:11] A lot of that is due to. Flexibility and capability that's provided in our new software, and controller capabilities. So, previously we had used third party. Environmental controllers and computers for the farm. And with the greener Es we, we've developed our own called Farm Hub. So that is a huge win for the customer and for freight farms because we're no longer limited in terms of the capabilities from the control side of things.
[00:11:41] You know, how many inputs and outputs do you have available to you as a farmer? Maybe you wanna add on some things to your farm and it's really quite straightforward in terms of how you can do that. And it also creates a lot of flexibility from our support, structure for customers being able to, walk [00:12:00] folks through any kind of, Just aftermarket things they wanna add, whether that's a camera or sensors.
[00:12:06] As well as allowing us to be able to build out, new product potential for customers in the future. Whether that's on just the software and, interface side of things for customers, just the simplicity of using things like your iPhone and iOS updates, or if it's more from a how can this software.
[00:12:26] Translate to other industries, not just, you know, the container farm, sub-industry of vertical farming.
[00:12:34] Rory Loughran: What are some of those things that you guys are, or that Freight Farms is really eager to kind of tackle next in terms of future improvements for, on either side, the software side or the greenery as the shipping container side of things.
[00:12:45] Brooke Smith: Yeah, I think the software is one of the, just we don't talk about it enough, almost at Freight farms and, it is really powerful the way that you are able to farm through the capabilities of Farm Hand. [00:13:00] So just for all the listeners like Farm Hand is essentially a seamless way for you to be able to program and manage your Greenery S Container Farm.
[00:13:10] So the container farm itself is just fully contain. Indoors, you've got your lighting, your climate control, your hydroponic systems, the nutrient delivery, pH regulations, CO2 humidity, all these things. And all of that can be set to, essentially recipes in through the software, through through the farm hand software, so that you can essentially one click and have everything growing, according to the conditions that are best for your certain crop matrix that you've chosen for your farm.
[00:13:46] Or, um, you can, you know, mess around with each of those individual settings. Change your CO2 to a different level. Change your nutrient. And density for your seedlings tank and for your main [00:14:00] tank for plants at different stages of growth or even change the intervals and strengths of lighting to get different outcomes for your crops.
[00:14:08] Whether that's different flavors, different textures, different colors, which can be especially interesting depending on the type of customer that you as a farmer are working with. maybe some of your chef customers want to see a brighter red or a deeper green in their crops. You're able to work through those kinds of customizable traits.
[00:14:29] And we have a crop research and development team that works on that every single day. Trying to come up with new recipes that our customers can implement for those outcomes. So that's kind of the crux of what the, the cool parts of farmhand are, but it's also task management and farm mapping. Being able to keep all your notes in your activity log all in one place.
[00:14:51] So if you're organizing or if you're managing a larger organization with multiple folks that work in your farm, you're able [00:15:00] to to view that. It's essentially a task management tool and a programming tool for, for your business. We hope to be able to build out on that to create more tools for customers in the future.
[00:15:12] And we're always talking with our customers to see, you know, how we can make it more powerful for them and what they'd like to see in the development as well.
[00:15:20] Rory Loughran: That's incredible. The amount of things that you can adjust and play with and make adaptations to and you can do it all from your phone. Um, are there
[00:15:30] Brooke Smith: all from your phone.
[00:15:31] Rory Loughran: Are there any things like that on the actual container side of things? I know, you guys definitely have, have a lot has gone into that and how it's laid out and what all is in there.
[00:15:40] And, and it's pretty incredible to see if you haven't heard of Freight Farms, definitely go to their website and check out. They've got a lot of really cool, videos and, and pictures of these shipping containers and how they're laid out on the inside. But, are there any things that you guys are looking to add or adapt or change with, with the layout and how the shipping container is assembled.
[00:15:59] Brooke Smith: Yeah, that's a great [00:16:00] question. So as far as the assembly of the container, the space of the container, a lot of the changes that we wanted to make have happened. So just to give you some history, the leafy green machine, our, you know, initial model farm had about half the production capacity of our existing.
[00:16:19] Farm model the greenery s and that was due to just a change in the hardware design, getting rid of a lot of unnecessary plastic framing, creating our own plant panel. The actual frame of what holds the channels that your plants grow in, until they're ready to harvest. So just upgrading things like that over the years have hugely increased the actual physical space that you have for planting in the farm, as well as just general updates that happen in the LED industry and being able to design our own proprietary plant panel, which, has you know, directed right at the plant canopy as opposed to previous string lighting that wasn't as [00:17:00] precise.
[00:17:00] So a lot of those little things along with air circulation and ventilation and things like that have been upgraded, over the years. And I think now our main focus is on the capabilities in the software and how we can serve our customers through that, of hardware improvements are, are always on the table, but I think it's a lot more fine tuning, according to what customers are asking for, to make the actual tasks and the physical labor of it easier for them.
[00:17:32] Because at the end of the day, the container. Gives them kind of the framework to build out their business and, and the farm hand software gives them all the tools that they can do use within that framework, which is where we see a lot of the power.
[00:17:48] Rory Loughran: Yeah, it's really, it's cool to hear about too. It's from the sounds of it, like early on in this, there were like some, some third party building and some bringing in of other parts, and now you guys have really [00:18:00] started to build out almost the entire thing yourselves and create your own software, have your own patented designs in the shipping container.
[00:18:06] That's really cool process is that kind of the, where we're at now with the shipping containers and the software that it spreads pretty much all in house.
[00:18:15] Brooke Smith: Yeah, yeah. We manufacture in New England, so everything is is local. We work on design and, all the capabilities in house. We've got a wonderful software team. We brought on our, chief technology officer, back in, I think 2020. So since then he's been, a huge part of the product development and just, seeing it through to where we're at today, and what we hope to do in the future.
[00:18:47] Rory Loughran: Yeah. Uh, it's really cool too, just like getting back to the software side of things, but just how much it can do. I know sometimes, especially with farming and in agriculture there's a lot of these like different things that [00:19:00] might add another technological burden. How have you guys kind of, um, combated that or, or how do you guys go about that, that onboarding or that, that education of how to use these products for your guys' customer?
[00:19:12] Brooke Smith: Yeah, so I mean, we have three main offerings for our customers. The first of which is the hardware, the greenery, s the container with the physical container farm. You need yourself, the software, farm hand tools to help you run that farm. And then the third thing is our client services and support.
[00:19:32] So all of our customers receive Lifetime Farm technical support from our client services team. And that is something that is there for them from the point of sale through the rest of their farm operating lifetime. And what that looks like is, A suite of resources. So someone that's helping you plan for, delivery and site preparations when you're trying to figure out where is this container gonna go?
[00:19:58] All the, just little [00:20:00] logistics there, but then also getting them set up for training. We have two major training options. Our most popular is our HQ Boston. We call it farm camp. But it's in-person training typically and class sizes around 30 folks that are All in a similar position of getting ready to launch their farms, doing a lot of hands on learning in our headquarters, container farms, classroom learning, just getting to kind of have their own graduating class, if you will, of folks that they're gonna go on and essentially, I'll be starting their businesses and operations around the same time.
[00:20:37] So it also creates a bit of a network community to get started. And we do also offer onsite training services too, for folks that want it instead. So there's definitely a physical, you know, in-person training aspect and we pair that with online materials and resources as well, including our knowledge base, which is.
[00:20:58] Database of online learning materials [00:21:00] that customers have access to at any time, through their, their farm hand account. Very easily searchable for keywords if they have questions on technical troubleshooting. As well as our online academy, which is essentially self-paced learning modules that our customers can have as many people as they want, get on it. So it's a great educational tool, especially for schools or nonprofits that wanna have their, their programs, utilize some of the learning materials to just understand the basics of container farming in the Greenery S. And my personal favorite part of the support is our farmer community.
[00:21:37] So all of our customers are a part of our online farmer forum, which we call farmhand community. People are able at to ask questions of each other, message each other, share just insights about the business, the technical side of farming, just crops in general, that that they are growing and how well they've grown.
[00:21:58] And our support team can also chime [00:22:00] in. Add, you know, comments there too. So it's just a very collaborative space where you get access to people who have more experience than you, not just corporate freight farms.
[00:22:11] Rory Loughran: That's, that's really cool. And we have, we, it reminds me of a program that we do because we do we found the same thing. It's like the farmers and a lot of times the questions that they have are best answered by other farmers. And so yeah, we have, it's called Barn2Door Connect, where you can get in a virtual room and sit down with folks and ask each other questions and go over best practices and things like that.
[00:22:31] And they're always really helpful. It's cool that there is such an emphasis though. In person learning and doing the farm camp and getting on site cuz I'm sure especially, does that usually take place before they've gotten their container and before things have kind of gotten started?
[00:22:46] Wherever they're gonna be locating their freight farm?
[00:22:48] Brooke Smith: Yeah, typically, I mean, you want it to be fresh in your mind when you're starting something new and different, like farming in a container, which most people haven't done before, you want it to be fresh. So,[00:23:00] we try and schedule people in for a farm camp that's, you know, plus or minus a couple of weeks out from when they have received their farm.
[00:23:08] Rory Loughran: Okay, cool. So that's kind of what I wanted to dive into next because, we've had Blake Bennett on the podcast before from B3 Roots, and he's over in North Carolina, and I remember talking with him about, cuz he, he did a great job of kind of advertising or not advertising, but showing the whole process on his social media and starting his business, but then the process of actually getting the shipping container on site and operational, at his property.
[00:23:31] And so I was curious, what is that kind of, what is that process like from going from ordering your freight farm to things actually growing out of it?
[00:23:41] Brooke Smith: Yeah. So, my job is essentially I'm a on, I'm a part of the sales team. So everyone is talking to someone, that is on the business development side before they're purchasing their farm. So, in that part of the relationship, you're developing your business plan, [00:24:00] you know, figuring out how you wanna get started, and then ultimately placing an order, signing a contract, putting your deposit down.
[00:24:07] Jump it in. So from that point, as I mentioned, you get introduced into our client services team, so you get a direct contact with someone on the support side of things as well. so we try to keep that personal line of communication open even after the point of sale. And in that process, we call it, you know, your onboarding process.
[00:24:29] We set up an onboarding call with customers where they're, you know, going through just the general things that they're gonna wanna be thinking about, like ordering their supplies. We have a farm hand shop that people can buy their growing supplies and cleaning supplies. Pretty much everything except for seeds.
[00:24:48] And you know, getting just all the to do items of what to do ahead of ordering your farm, which is pretty much making sure your site is ready, laying a foundation, getting an [00:25:00] electrician hired to hook it up, ordering your supplies, and then working with client services. Once all of that is, you know, in place and you have a spot to drop the container, to have us coordinate with you for logistics and get a delivery date set, have that farm physically delivered on site, hooked up to the power.
[00:25:18] Put water in your tanks and start growing. Which ultimately, once you, you know, unboxed your farm, set up everything inside, which we provide instructions on and hook up to power and get water, you're able to start growing, right then and there. And then from planting your first seed to reaching your first harvest.
[00:25:40] For most standard crops, you're looking at about six to eight weeks.
[00:25:44] Rory Loughran: Wow. That's, that's pretty, I mean, I'm kind of impressed. I feel like that's like just the infrastructure alone, like you said, you gotta be able to power this thing. And then getting everything set up, it sounds like the greatest Lego project ever. And then
[00:25:58] Brooke Smith: Yeah.
[00:25:59] Rory Loughran: and then [00:26:00] within that, that timeframe, you're so six to eight weeks, um, in total, or basically like once it's on site to when you'll start actually getting produce out of it.
[00:26:09] Brooke Smith: Yeah. So from once it's on site and hooked up to power, you plant that first seed, that's six to eight weeks till you have your first harvest. And then after that six to eight week period, you, you're harvesting every week, week after week, pretty much indefinitely, unless you plant a pause in your production.
[00:26:28] The actual order from, from like placing your order to receiving your farm. Right now, our lead time is just about two months. So it's a also a pretty quick process if you're able to get everything, in place essentially for farm, farm delivery. You could be looking at, yeah, four months or less till from today until, you know, your first harvest.
[00:26:49] Essentially, based on our current timeline.
[00:26:52] Rory Loughran: Wow, that's really impressive and, and I'm sure that kind of varies a little bit based on the setups that people have where they're putting it but yeah, that's really [00:27:00] impressive how quickly that can kind of all turn around. What are the, some of the practices that you guys have seen farmers use to be really successful with these when they're kind of in that launching phase?
[00:27:09] Cuz obviously, like, like you said, you commit to it, but you might not actually be producing produce for another four months. So what are some of the things that, that farmers have done to be really successful in preparing and then being ready to launch their business once they can, you know, start selling produce.
[00:27:25] Brooke Smith: Yeah. There's, as you've mentioned, there's a lot that goes into starting a business, let alone a farming business. I, that's kind of the business you guys are in, at Barn2Door, right? So a lot of our customers, at least the folks that I see do the best, are, um, in essentially the relationship business.
[00:27:46] They are, you know, working on developing relationships in their community that are then going to turn into customers. There's a lot of tools out there to help folks do that. We like to provide tools, whether that's [00:28:00] collateral that they can use in their outreach. Flyers about the crops, educational material, about the value of hyperlocal produce that's pesticide free, harvested and delivered in the same day so it has a longer shelf life.
[00:28:13] You can grow more variety cuz you're not limited by, you know, major farms that are only sticking to a couple types of produce. those kinds of things, and then using that to develop those relationships in their community. So it's definitely a collaborative process with our team in the planning phase of, you know, getting from purchase to actually selling your produce through.
[00:28:35] And I think that that's where, tools like Barn2Door come in for a lot of our customers. I mean, we have seen this is no news to you or probably anyone who's familiar with you. People are buying their food online. They're looking for new ways to shop, and to find local businesses that they can support, and that they feel they can trust in a way that, that, you know, we just don't really see that we [00:29:00] can't, with a lot of just standard supply, larger brands.
[00:29:07] I'm not saying that you know they're not needed, but people wanna support local and buy local. We definitely point people your way as well to Barn2Door, being able to set up a website, get on social media, start, you know, educating people about what it is that you offer, getting people signed up on newsletters.
[00:29:28] You know, going and participating in local community events where you can, so that the word gets out. It's a lot of grassroots initiatives at first. I think for a lot of our small business customers, you know, it, it is a grind. That first three to six months is a grind. You need to get out there and represent your brand so that people know about you.
[00:29:47] And I'd say your platform definitely helps, especially when people get to the point of sale and wanting to have a way for people to buy it.
[00:29:55] Rory Loughran: Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely that, I think saying it's a grind, that's a perfect way of kind [00:30:00] of summing it up. And I think that's something that we are always you have to be upfront with farms about, and I think a lot of 'em are kind of eager to jump into that, which is great but, you know, building out an email list, for example, is a big one for us that we're always, trying to help farmers, start getting or get started on is who, who are your friends?
[00:30:16] Who are your family? Who are all the people you can throw on your email list to get started so that you're at least starting to communicate with people who are maybe current customers or people that have expressed interest. They maybe heard you're putting a shipping container on your property and you're gonna be growing lettuce out of it.
[00:30:30] And they're like, how the heck does that work? So yeah, leaning on all those people, and starting to get 'em kind of into your branding, into your marketing loop is definitely key.
[00:30:39] Brooke Smith: Totally. And being okay with the idea of doing something that's a little uncomfortable. I think, like even for me, the idea of. You know, getting videos or reels on Instagram or TikToks out there into the world sounds pretty overwhelming. But there's a lot of ways that you can get into spaces that you don't [00:31:00] necessarily have expertise in to, to spread the word, that aren't necessarily, too daunting.
[00:31:06] You just kinda have to be okay with trying, trying new things, and putting yourself in your business out there. It's not, that's not gonna backfire on you if you can get the word out right?
[00:31:18] Rory Loughran: Yeah, definitely. Uh, I was also curious, I know we talked about some of the support and the ways that you guys are working with farmers as they're getting this set up. But what's the long term, kind of support look like for people as they maybe run into challenges or as things continue to develop, I'm sure there's software updates that happen.
[00:31:37] So as those things kind of occur, what is the support available to the freight farmers as they kind of continue with their product?
[00:31:44] Brooke Smith: Yeah, so most folks are talking to our support team very regularly throughout their first, you know, harvest up to the first harvest point that like six to eight week period I mentioned, when folks are working on getting to that successful first [00:32:00] harvest. So there's a lot of communication that happens there.
[00:32:04] After that they can continue to keep in touch with Fright Farms as needed. All customers receive ways to, to communicate with us, whether that's through the Farmhand community, email and phone. They have direct contact with us that way. So being able to send an email, when they have a question or an issue that they'd like to raise, that's always available.
[00:32:26] Same with the support line, being able to call into that. I maintain relationships with my customers after sale, so, you know, they feel they have someone they can reach out to as well. But I can't help with all the farm technical things like our support team can. But it's definitely a community of people as far as freight farms goes, that really wants to help our customers succeed. So we, we keep the door open.
[00:32:48] Some people don't call us cuz they feel like they've got it. They, you know, we hear from them every now and again, and for the most part they're up and running on their feet. And then some people need a little bit more handholding and that's okay. We try [00:33:00] to create the resources that help them to get on their on two feet, but, as they need us, they need us and, and we're there to help.
[00:33:06] And we also, you know, we try to create spaces for customers to connect, whether that's quarterly round table events on Zoom for farmers in different areas to talk about, you know, a certain sales channels that maybe they're trying to get into and one farmer's very experienced in and others would like to hear some tips from them.
[00:33:28] Those kinds of things, are definitely, resources that we try to create space for our customers to be able to take advantage of when they.
[00:33:36] Rory Loughran: Yeah, that's really, that's really cool. and I feel like that long term support is always necessary and helpful and it's always great to not have that relationship or that connection and you know, once you're kind of on your own two feet, to still be able to have someone to go back to is really great.
[00:33:52] Are there any recent, innovations or product improvements or software updates, that Freight farm has kind of debuted recently that you're maybe [00:34:00] most excited about? Or you're, you're excited for people to hear about and start using?
[00:34:04] Brooke Smith: Yeah. So this is definitely. More on the software side, but again, I think that's really where a lot of our development is. So something that I am really excited about is what we would, essentially call farmhand as a standalone product from the Greenery S. So a big part of, bringing the, farm hub to market, essentially in the Greenery S which is our controller for the farm, is to be able to allow other indoor farming operations to use our controller and software to manage their systems.
[00:34:45] So whether that's greenhouses or warehouses, On a large or small scale, being able to, to use our software, to manage those places. So we actually have a customer of ours out in Pinedale, [00:35:00] Wyoming, that has a container farm, but they've also built a small indoor warehouse that they are.
[00:35:05] Creating different growing spaces in, and they're controlling it using our software. So that I think has huge potential because, I mean, the indoor farming industry is going to continue to grow as we need more food and have a less hospitable climate to grow it outdoors. So being able to get into that industry is, I think, really exciting for freight farms and really exciting, hopefully for all of the potential customers out there that could use a, powerful tool like farmhand.
[00:35:40] Rory Loughran: Yeah, that's really cool to hear. And kind of growing your footprint beyond just your own shipping containers , is really exciting. Another thing I wanted to touch on was you guys have some really cool kind of customer testimonial videos, some spotlights, in a series that you guys do on your website.
[00:35:54] And again, I would encourage listeners to go check those out cuz they're really awesome videos just where in [00:36:00] the world, people are using and feeding their communities using freight farms. But are there any kind of success stories for you that come to mind of a freight farmer who's built a really solid and thriving business, using freight farms products?
[00:36:12] Brooke Smith: Yeah, great question. I'll, I'll stick with a local customer, local enough anyways.
[00:36:18] Rogue lettuce in our home of with Massachusetts is a great one. They are a family run business. Check them out on , they have a great website, and they have, built a really good community operation. I know that they work with some restaurants in the Providence area.
[00:36:35] They work with a number of just like community- based, sales points, whether that's, you know, their online csa, or tabling. So they've got a great business, a very cool brand. Love their logo. and they're a great Massachusetts based business, but, there's so many more.
[00:36:56] So definitely recommend if people are curious. The [00:37:00] website's a great place for case studies. We're always trying to put out more, but also just following us on freight farms, Instagram, or LinkedIn or whatever. You know, your favorite social media is YouTube. We are always posting customer highlights that way, so people can see what folks are doing.
[00:37:19] Rory Loughran: And you mentioned, them working with, with restaurants and I, I figured that's gotta be a pretty, common practice for a lot of freight farmers is, restaurants must enjoy one the, the freshness of the produce that they're able to provide and that it's coming from somewhere local. And also probably the variance in it.
[00:37:36] I know another thing that I think Blake, who's been on the podcast before with B3 Roots, he talked about was being able to use subscriptions because it is such a consistent production cycle. Maybe you can just talk about those, but are there any other kind of practices like that, that freight farmers are using and having a lot of success in terms of selling and moving their product?
[00:37:56] Brooke Smith: Yeah, absolutely. I'd say a lot of customers are [00:38:00] using subscriptions for their product. I know many use it through barn to door. I know that just me personally, there's plenty of things that I purchase on a subscription basis. People en enjoy the ease of it, so being able to offer people that option for their produce, makes it very attractive.
[00:38:20] So definitely utilizing online platforms like Barn2Door, to enable subscriptions for your consumers, especially if you are selling directly to community members. I know with restaurant accounts, their purchasing patterns can be different. but a lot of our customers do sell to a number of restaurants because of the, the needs that they meet for them and I know that I, I believe Barn2door also has purchasing options for like restaurants or larger wholesale accounts too. So being able to just make it a simpler point of sale for the customer is, I think [00:39:00] great. And also, my stress to everyone is to always look for the right kind of customer.
[00:39:05] Rory Loughran: Mmh.
[00:39:06] Brooke Smith: There's gonna be certain businesses that aren't gonna align with what it is that you sell as a product. So being okay with, you know, understanding that is very important. And knowing where to look for the right, account, one that appreciates the quality first and then can work with you on the right number for your business and theirs is super.
[00:39:30] I um, I would imagine you guys see that a lot in your cus conversations with customers.
[00:39:36] Rory Loughran: Definitely, and I think you, you hit the nail right on the head. It's that someone that's gonna recognize the quality. Recognize that what you are producing as a product is much higher quality than what they will typically find anywhere else. And so yeah, definitely always making sure that, and that the farmer isn't trying to compete with, Walmarts of the world, but, if you're doing regenerative practices, sustainable practices, and [00:40:00] you're producing a really high quality product that, that you're not trying to compete with the lowest, uh, rung of the equivalent food.
[00:40:09] Brooke Smith: Yeah. Yeah. There's, it's a, it's, in some cases it's a niche product. It doesn't mean that it's not for everybody. It just means that, in order for your business to work, you need to try and find the right people.
[00:40:20] Rory Loughran: Yeah, definitely. I guess just to wrap things up, what is ahead for freight farms and how do you see the company growing and improving in the year ahead?
[00:40:29] Brooke Smith: Yeah, well, I think ahead for Freight Farms is a lot of continued growth. Hopefully a number of new locations that we see container farms get into. I didn't really get into this much, when we started the podcast and you were asking me about where people are, but. Just so folks understand we're at like in other places.
[00:40:47] We've got customers in Egypt, in, Pharaoh Islands, Sweden, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Thailand, like all over the world. So we hope to see, some farms get to some new [00:41:00] places. So, keep an eye out. We always send an update out on our end of year newsletter. So hopefully some new locations. Definitely a lot of improvements in the software space.
[00:41:10] And hopefully, farmhand getting to some alternative growing spaces, warehouses and greenhouses. We'd love to see that industry grow too. And then, you know, we are always trying to improve our products, so, I don't have a lot of information on any new product offerings that we have outside of that, but I highly recommend that folks, stay tuned, follow us on socials, check out our website for any updates, cuz we'll definitely, let people know that.
[00:41:41] Rory Loughran: Yeah. Awesome. I'm, I'm excited to see what's ahead and what you guys are doing next. I love always seeing like there's some really cool just pictures even of where people have put their freight farms all around the world and how they're making it fit with wherever they are and that could be covered in snow or almost on the beach, or stacked [00:42:00] on top of each other in a city landscape.
[00:42:01] It's kind of all over the place. It's really cool to see.
[00:42:04] Brooke Smith: Yeah, absolutely. Gotta be able to grow food anywhere.
[00:42:07] Rory Loughran: Yep.
[00:42:08] Brooke Smith: that's, that's what we're trying to do.
[00:42:10] Rory Loughran: Yeah. Awesome. Well I wanna extend my thanks to Brooke for joining us on this week's podcast episode. Here at Barn2Door, we're humbled to support thousands of farms across the country, and we're honored to get the opportunity to learn from our most successful farmers who share the tactics and resources and tools that they use to grow and manage their farm businesses.
[00:42:28] For more information on freight farms, if you want to check out all these different things that we've talked about, you can check out their website, freightfarms.com, or you can follow them on social media. It's just at Freight Farms. Thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.
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