To make the world smarter, happier, and richer. AppHarvest has invested in a 2.76million-square-foot greenhouse in Morehead (Ky.) to help meet this goal. WebAppharvest (: ) is owned by 29.32% institutional shareholders, 30.67% Appharvest 40.01% retail investors. You can also compare Dr. Webb with other orthopedic surgeons in Eau Claire to find the one that best suits your needs. A Kentucky native and University of Kentucky graduate, Jonathan Webb is turning his dream of a high-tech farming hub in Appalachia into reality with AppHarvest. That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Jonathan Webb is a specialist knee surgeon and a former English rugby union fullback. Is that drought going to impact yield and you don't end up being able to get product to the grocery store? He holds a legal degree from the University of Natal as well as the University of Cape Town. He has successfully completed over 200 operations using the Mako machine. That's, for us, again, there's a piece where we need to be very close to the product and that's we're optimizing for the plant. The Art of Self Meditation: What Are the Benefits? When he says sustainable, he doesnt just mean that in an environmental sense. In light of the challenges AppHarvest has faced in its early stages, Webb expressed hope that younger generations like Gen Z and millennials would continue to innovate and "fight through" any obstacles in their way. Moser: Yeah. Offers may be subject to change without notice. With a 19% stake, CEO Jonathan Webb is the largest shareholder. Same platform but with new and improved features. Moser: I guess you're saying, and a lot of us would agree, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Webb is from Kentucky, where 16% of residents are below the poverty line, and when the coal jobs dried up, nothing came in to replace them. At one point, we were thinking of putting up a billboard in front of several large tech company offices saying, Come build tech that matters, Webb said. ", As a CEO, Webb admitted that this focus on the long-term outlook has not been easy to prove to Wall Street, especially when compared to those who are "selling a worthless product that's not good for people and not good for planet and arguably questionable for shareholders. The private markets can be a part of every solution we have that we're seeing today. His extensive experience and knowledge in the field have led to his reputation as a leading knee surgeon in the UK. Webb doesnt mince words on the specifics; the most valued companies in 100 years, he said, will be the ones that allow humanity to survive. He names a few: electronic vehicle manufacturers, renewable energy companies. He studied history and economics at the University of Cape Town, and obtained a Bachelor of Laws and post-graduate diploma in maritime law from the University of Natal. I mean, I think that kind of speaks for itself. Webb is a consultant orthopaedic physician and a board member of World Rugby. Also referred to as blank check companies, the mechanism has existed for several years but has received increased attention of late. Investors look at that, Peter Halt, AppHarvests newly appointed chief financial officer, told, Step aside, alt-protein: Bioplastics are the real agrifoodtech opportunity, The rise of the reused machines: Germanys E-Farm raises $5.3m Series A. Your email address will not be published. Again to some of your viewers that aren't aware of Root AI just look them up and take a look at some of those videos. Putting a retention pond, we filter it with no chemicals and we're able to run our facility. But one thing we'd like to talk about is competitive advantage, what makes a company special? To me, at least, it feels like we are at the [] of a disruptive phase here, and a lot of that is thanks to technology. Its first crop will be non-GMO tomatoes, which will be provided to a number of US grocers. My answer to that is always; sustainability is profitability. We can have all the technological tools in the world, but at the end of the day we have to put people at the center of the equation.. With significant tailwinds from heightened investor focus on ESG initiatives and the secular shift to plant-based foods, we believe AppHarvest is well-positioned to execute on its strategy for rapid growth and value creation, he continued. It's the workforce that we're going to use to grow the organization. Jason Moser has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Part of it is that building big stuff fast in the US is very hard. We can also do it by returning investors to our shareholders. It's so cool to think about what you guys are doing there. This helped the Army reach its goal of 20% renewable energy by 2025. Founder & CEO at AppHarvest. He noted that in traditional agriculture, most everything happens incrementally, But now is not a time for incrementalism the thing that needs to be added to that recipe is folks [like Webb] that want to be aggressive in getting us ready for a world where its hard to grow crops.. In the back of his mind, he wondered what he could do to help. Webbs England career totaled 67 points, breaking Hodgkinsons 60-point record. The estimated value when the deal closes will be about a billion dollars for the company. Webb is a highly-respected knee surgeon in the United States. Earlier this year we did get listed on the Nasdaq. We need to change the profits versus purpose narrative; purpose drives profit and, ultimately, is what makes an organization durable and resilient for decades to come, Webb told Fortune. [laughs] This is something I'm very passionate about. Webb founded AppHarvest in 2017, and the company was certified as a B Corp two years later. But being true to our ESG values, we think it is a competitive advantage and going to make us more competitive in the years to come. I write about the future of food, business, and culture. The Great Resignation has not affected AppHarvest, because people who were leaving companies were leaving worthless companies that added no value to society, or were destroying society, Webb said. I think it's clear that investors should really be excited for the future of AgTech. We dont talk about this at all in the US. This is the direction in which the world is going, so companies better get on board [laughs] or get out of the way. Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services. I was very fortunate. Invest better with The Motley Fool. To me, this feels like just that, a growing market opportunity that is global in nature, and really the opportunity, just getting started. That narrow focus on societal good is what has kept AppHarvest fully staffed throughout the pandemic. Most countries in the Middle East import nearly all of their fruit and vegetables. Jonathan was named one the Top 30 Most Influential Lawyers in Washingtonians 2018 list upon graduation. We've been very fortunate and humbled that the Root AI team is fully a part of the AppHarvest team building robotics that's operating on AI, collecting data. When is it going to be able to ship? You have labor concerns. If people remember that ice storm back in February, our facility operated, ramping up into full capacity with no issues in the middle of a global pandemic and the middle of an ice storm. 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. ESG should be at the core of profitability and it should be at the core of building a resilient company. Theyre looking at a company and even though its pre-revenue it has all the necessary ingredients to succeed.. I made the point at one point in regard to AppHarvest. You have food safety concerns. AppHarvest raised $500 million on its balance sheet this year, went public on the Nasdaq, hired 400 people to work in its first facility, and brought its first product, beefsteak tomatoes, to grocery stores including Kroger, Walmart, and Publix. I graduated from the University of Kentucky. The show also discusses the benefits of Martha Stewart being on their board and how they plan get their products onto shelves. AppHarvest raised over $475 million in a public IPO, but it is not over. In 1985, he joined Bristol Rugby and won the John Player Cup. 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. But then it's pulling technology in to drive nature from behind. We're ramping up and scaling quickly. We could've raised capital privately on the balance sheet and kept building. The greenhouse, completed in 2020, yields up to 30 times the crops a traditional farm would, Webb said. Two years into production, AppHarvest already provides 500 living wage jobs, is a second chance employer, and aims to hire a team as diverse as our nation and then empower them as individuals. Plus, the company is a B corp, a public benefit corporation, and its publicly traded. All Rights Reserved. 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. We don't want to be selling just to the high-end. You have to get permitting, communities [buy-in], state and federal support, infrastructure, inspections. You've taken a lot of steps early on in the development of your business to address a lot of those ESG concerns. There has been nothing more impactful on farming since that time, and now, it's AI robotics and using data to make decisions. Then by the end of the year in 2022, we'll have five facilities operating. The private markets don't need to be a part of the problem, but we can't just be quarterly earnings focused. I mean, all of the stuff that you just talked about really does matter. A SPAC is formed with the sole purpose of raising capital through an IPO in order to acquire an existing privately-held company and take it public. You may opt-out by. Webb supported a large-scale solar project in Virginia while he was employed by the U.S. Department of Defense. We're one of four companies that are publicly traded that have both of those as a company. WebGet Chad Hill's email address (c*****@appharvest.com) and phone number at RocketReach. Were building robotics and software that will ultimately be able to service the entire global agriculture industry. The Kentucky-based agriculture tech company, which was founded in 2017, began trading on the Nasdaq in late February 2021 after completing a SPAC merger with Novus Capital Corporation. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*. Let's let the consumer of our product also be the buyer in our company. I want to talk with you about in regard to AppHarvest. With that difficult work that in mind, Webb has designed his company to grow as much produce as possible as sustainably as possible. The world's food and agriculture problems are not going to be solved overnight. He has become a prominent social media star. Here, we've had three years out of the last ten years in Kentucky have been our wettest years on state record. I know you're in the DC area. I think they certainly will be. Director recently sold US$216k worth of stock Nov 24 AppHarvest, Inc. *Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Why is that important? In February 2018, encouraged by investors, advisors including Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. But if you look at all the problems in the agriculture system, this industry really solves most of those problems. 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. No. Get 5 free searches. If I were an investor, Id want my CEO on the ground with the team, not just in an office tower, he said. Originally from Kentucky, Webb is dedicated to sustainable projects in Central Appalachia. 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. 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. My competition in Mexico, you have people getting paid $5 a day. My background was a part of building some of the largest solar projects in the U.S. David Lee, who joined us from Impossible Foods, joined impossible foods five years ago as their CFO and COO raised them nearly over $1 billion in the last five years and turned them into what was a boutique idea, into a mass-market product on store shelves. 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. Then we'll be able to give that data over to the grocer in more real-time. Project Access, Inc. was founded by Mr. Webb in 1999. We're going to be headquartered in Central Appalachia, execution at scale here in the U.S. but this is a global problem that we've gotten phone calls from around the world about how and when we can take our solution and go elsewhere. Jonathan Webb is an actor with a large following on Twitter. No, weve made some mistakes. The president and CEO, Paul Mastronardi said, "We want every AppHarvest tomato they can grow. Even with the help of AI, farm work at AppHarvest is still hard, manual labor. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. He has a particular interest in knee surgery and sports medicine. They're not going to be solved in a month or a year or a quarter and we just want to build an organization that's going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the larger incumbents out there, and the best way to do that is to have that rigor of being a publicly traded company. I did want to know here because I saw this in the earnings release and I just thought it was one of those quotes that stood out to me from Mastronardi, your distributor. As I was listening, there was a quote, you said, "We are farmers and futurists." Below, we look at some of his most popular tweets. After serving as an assistant public defender in Marylands Office of the Public Defender, Webb joined Ethridge Quinn for 2020. 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. Webb grew up in Kentucky, and founded AppHarvest in 2017 after years in the solar development industry, based in New York. He was born into a medical family. Of course, the future is what really matters. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Jonathan about the growing opportunity in the AgTech space. That might sound straight from science fiction, but AppHarvests CTO Josh Lessing, who designed many of these universal harvesting systems says we only think that because farming has been so slow to innovate. It hopes to expand into leafy greens, berries, cucumbers, and bell peppers in the future. On this week's episode of Industry Focus: Wildcard, host Jason Moser chats with AppHarvest (APPH) founder and CEO Jonathan Webb about the growing opportunity in the agtech space, what makes AppHarvest unique, his vision of the future of farming, and much more. What are you trying to accomplish? Project Access offers ESL/ESL classes, after school programs, and computer literacy. We believe controlled environment agriculture is the third wave of sustainable infrastructure. He acknowledges that scaling up so quickly in the middle of a pandemic is, almost unheard of in the current world. But in its entirety not only do we have a problem we want to solve, we have a place in the world that wants to solve it with us., A crop care specialist carries boxes of tomatoes through a column of crops, pruning as she goes, I got to visit AppHarvest in November, and the sheer enthusiasm Webb has built in his staff is phenomenal. We pay every employee at AppHarvest a living wage. Webb started his professional career in 1989 as a Durban maritime lawyer firm. All of our water is captured on our roof. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Moser: Yeah, absolutely. AppHarvest is an indoor farming company, so has massive greenhouses We have a phenomenal growing team. They ask themselves, Did we help five people today? WebAppHarvest salary income and net worth data provided by People Ai provides an estimation for any internet celebrity's real salary income and net worth like AppHarvest based on real By being able to have robotics and AI they can have more real-time information. Webb founded AppHarvest in 2017, and the company was certified as a B Corp two years later. Similarly, she owns yachts and private planes and serves on the board of the Women Golf Club Foundation. Despite IPOs last year having the worst returns in a decade, Webb said he believed 2021 was an important time for the company to go public and stood by the decision to take the company's mission "directly to the Street" and to receive the "rigor of Wall Street early," which he claimed will only make the company "stronger in the long run.". For the fourth quarter It's nearly impossible to have full transparency. I could be in a penthouse in New York City, managing AppHarvest from the 32nd floor of some high-rise. In the 1987 Rugby World Cup, Webb made his debut for England. This is still a very new space though. Jonathan Webb poses in front of his giant greenhouse, When you look at human civilization, what do you need? I feel like with AppHarvest, at least, my takeaway, I found a lot of things that make you all special. We want to make sure you get the most out of our platform. His military experience allows him to leverage private capital for his projects. But with that said, what we have at AppHarvest is fairly unique. 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. Get the latest news and research from AFN & AgFunder in your inbox. Look at the open fields in Mexico. "The public market needs to have a robust category of companies that are building stuff that matters," he stressed. I asked on a call earlier today, well, have you had issues hiring people? That greenhouse is just the proof of conceptAppHarvest has broken ground on two more that will be just as impressive. Ten years ago, Tesla made electric vehicles popular in the mainstream, and right now, it's controlled environment agriculture. He is also becoming more involved with green shipping and is a council member of the London Shipping Law Centre. The regulators are pushing that direction. To access all the content for free, please sign up by entering your email. Required fields are marked *. I know that you're not the only one focused on controlled environment agriculture. 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.). "For us, at AppHarvest, this isn't just about a company. What's the technology that you are looking toward to help you change this space? We were just talking earlier and you mentioned how you're in the DC area, it was fortunate that we had Steve Case, the founder of AOL, and he fundraised the rest. monitored for quality control 24/7 and harvested robotically. "We have the capital we need and we're focused on building and operating, and just head down on execution," Webb said. That's our headquarters. He has many impressive accomplishments. Were investing heavily Webb is a consistent presence at the companys flagship greenhouse in Morehead. Those are always famous last words as we move into some disruptive phase. Thanks as always to Tim Sparks for putting the show together for us. Jason Moser: It's Wednesday, May 26th, I'm your host, Jason Moser, and we've got a terrific interview to share with you on this week's Wildcard Wednesday show. He has published numerous papers on the topic of knee ligament injuries, arthroscopic surgery, and other techniques. It sounds like there's a lot of potential there. You can also follow him on Instagram. There's not going to be one food company feeding the world. Appharvest has We use bees to pollinate our plans. But if you look at the world, China and India account for 40% of the world's population. US controlled environment agriculture (CEA) startup AppHarvest has announced a merger with NASDAQ-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Novus Capital, enabling it to go public. could be sentient says Microsofts chatbot feels like watching the Shark Tank investor Kevin OLeary says a new generation of employee has never worked in an officeand its totally I cant afford to sell because I dont want to lose that rate: 3% mortgage rates will loom large over the U.S. CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. While living in Washington D.C. developing sustainable energy farms, Jonathan researched another type of farming the Netherlands and its high-tech greenhouses that in a single acre yield as much as 10 outdoor acres and virtually eliminate the use of chemicals. 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? He actively engages with his followers through his various social media accounts, including Instagram and Twitter. His Twitter account is one of the most popular on the social network. It feels like this is something that really is just getting some traction here. 10 stocks we like better thanWalmartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have an investing tip, it can pay to listen. I think we have seen some other players in the space that are starting. Once operational, it will ship 45 million pounds of fresh produce annually to grocery stores in the Midwest and Southeast. 20years ago it was renewable energy. All rights reserved. It is a non-profit organization that provides education and social services to low-income residents living in low-income apartments. What makes AppHarvest so unique? WebJonathan Webb, AppHarvest Inc: Profile and Biography - Bloomberg Markets Live Now Bloomberg TV+ Leaders with Lacqua:Mark Read WPP CEO Bloomberg Radio Meet the This is becoming really a hot-button topic for a lot of investors, rightly so. 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. Almost every company in the coal industry has gone bankrupt over the last 10 years. Now, our job is to make sure it's at around the same price. There's going to be a lot of companies hopefully working to solve our food and agriculture problems. Despite the off quarter, Webb has much to celebrate. 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