An interview with David Rosenberg, Marc Oshima, Dr. Ed Harwood, the founders of Aerofarms, one of Forward Fooding’s top 500 Food Tech startups.

David Rosenberg, Marc Oshima, Dr. Ed Harwood, the founders of Aerofarms

It’s time to put a face to the name…

We asked our FoodTech 500 top-runners to give us a bit of insight into how they started out as a company and their thoughts on the role of technology in Food innovation. Meet David, Marc and Ed, the powerhouse behind Aerofarms, a company that builds, owns, and operates indoor vertical farms that grow safe, healthy, and flavorful food in a sustainable and socially responsible way, setting a new standard for totally protected agriculture from seed to package. Let’s see what he had to say.

So tell us a little bit more about you! Where did the idea for your FoodTech company come from?

David: AeroFarms patented growing technology and expertise was initially developed in Ithaca NY in 2004 by Dr. Edward Harwood, a former professor at Cornell University, one of the top agriculture science research universities in the world. In 2011, Ed joined forces with me and CMO Marc Oshima to scale AeroFarms’ technology and fundamentally transform agriculture in the process. Ed currently serves as AeroFarms’ Chief Science Officer, where he leads key research and development initiatives.

How is tech central to your business?

David, Marc and Ed: AeroFarms is fundamentally both an agriculture and technology company. We are not just a farm–we are a group of full-stack, world-class agriculture experts changing the way plants are understood and food is grown with technology at the core. Our horticulture intersects with engineering, food safety, data science, and nutrition, giving us the unique capability to understand plant biology in a way that has never been understood. We utilize and have developed cutting-edge approaches to machine vision, machine learning and IoT integration, bringing agriculture into the future at a rapid pace. From last year to this year, we have grown over 500 million plants alone and over 800 different varieties, celebrating a rich biodiversity. More importantly we are able to harvest not just the plants but also the insights to ensure high quality through-put all year round.

Why do you think it’s important to see the food industry embrace tech?

David, Marc and Ed: Over the last 40 years, we have lost 30% of our arable land, and globally, 70% of freshwater contamination comes from agriculture. Moreover, in the leafy greens category, most of our fresh leafy greens supply comes from California or Arizona and must be transported over thousands of miles every day to reach its destination, emitting harmful carbon emissions and leading to up to 76% food waste along the supply chain. We see the food industry embracing technology and innovation through collaboration as a way to create new solutions to help solve some of these global issues on a scalable level.

Want to know more? Check out Aerofarms’ full profile here.

Congratulations again to Aerofarms for ranking first overall and first in the category “Agtech” of the Foodtech 500 list.

To find out who else made it into the FoodTech 500; the top Food Tech companies in the world, click here.

For more FoodTech news, join our Food Revolution community here.