‘Outside Talent’ and CEA’s Allure
Skim through the online profiles of leading CEA executives and it’s increasingly common to see little to no previous agricultural or horticultural experience. It’s also more and more common to see very high-profile companies in those digital résumés.
What draws these individuals to CEA? What value does their entry bring to the industry? And are they surprised by what they find?
CEAg World recently spoke with Soli Organic CEO Matt Ryan about Soli’s soil-based vertical farming future. During that interview, he also fielded a few questions about the allure of CEA and the opportunities it offers.
Jolene Hansen: Looking at your background, I see some very illustrious companies. Not only yours but many of the people at Soli Organic. How big a leap is it to go from companies like Starbucks and Disney into CEA and what still is farming?
Matt Ryan: “One of the things that would characterize certainly most of the people who’ve come to Soli Organic recently is the interest in tackling one of the last great frontiers of business that has not been modernized.
Soli Organic CEO Matt Ryan | Photo: Soli Organic
“The truth of the matter is that produce is a business that’s been around since the dawn of time and hasn’t seen the innovation that a lot of other industries have. Right now, we’re going through a tremendous period of innovation, and with that period of innovation comes things like transforming markets, building brands, and frankly, changing companies.
“I think a lot of people who’ve come to Soli have been attracted by all of that, and certainly, we see the opportunities as the world changes to start changing agriculture more broadly, beyond just produce.”
Hansen: It used to be unusual to see people in executive positions in agricultural companies who didn’t have more of an agricultural background. Could you briefly speak to the value this brings to CEA companies — bringing people who are “outside talent” into the industry?
Ryan: “It’s interesting. Sometimes we act like a produce company, and sometimes we act like an ag tech company. Sometimes we act like a consumer goods company. I think that one of the things that happened, just from a sort of market point of view, is that the produce business is starting to look more and more like the rest of the businesses that go into grocery stores.
“So, for instance, we have a number of people who’ve come from packaged goods backgrounds. And the way that big companies in that area sort of interact with their retail partners is a great model for us, too. Because produce used to be you pulled the truck up and you made your delivery and that was it. Now, as consumers continue to change and look for quality and look for reliability all year long, the nature of the produce aisle has changed.
“This is not a brand-new phenomenon; it’s been going on for a while. But CEA actually answers a lot of the questions and a lot of the desires that not just consumers have, but also retailers. If you’re a big retailer, you want to have consistency. You want to have reliability. You want the product that shows up in Texas to be the same as the product that shows up in Pennsylvania.
“That’s not been the case for a long time because of the nature of produce. But CEA allows companies to start to go after some of those desires that retailers have, not to mention consumers who want the quality, the freshness and everything else.”
Hansen: As you’ve come into the CEA industry, has it fulfilled that expectation for excitement and challenge that you mentioned earlier? Is there anything that’s particularly surprised you about this industry?
Ryan: “I would say nothing has really surprised me, although it is harder than it looks. You think growing things, growing produce, is a simple proposition. It’s not. It’s complicated, and it’s difficult. And I think that getting it right has taken more time than I originally anticipated with my naive self outside of the business.
“However, I have also seen that the opportunity is even bigger than what I thought when I came in. It will take more time to get there, but the opportunity is even bigger. And it’s early days. And to me, I am excited by being part of the early days, but the early days have a lot of challenges.
“The business — not necessarily our company, but the business in general — has been challenged because we are starting something that is brand new. This is a new way of growing food, and it has never been done like this before, and I think that it will continue to evolve. There will be some consolidation of companies over time. There has to be for the economies of scale to take place.
“We are very different from a lot of the hydroponic growers. There have been a lot of instances where hydroponic growers have gone out of business and we’ve been asked, hey, do you want their stuff? And the answer is no, we don’t. Because we do think our way of growing is better, and it will take some time for us to prove that to the world, but we’re on our way.”
Editor’s note: This Q&A, drawn from a longer interview, has been edited for length and clarity.