AppHarvest President on Going Public Via SPAC

about just how food production, food products in general. They are seeing a lot of disruption, a lot of innovation when it comes to how we produce food or the types of offerings that are out there, and that is expected to continue when you talk to a lot of those and individuals in those space, and it's just a

case of kind of scaling up. So let's get to David Lee, because last time we did talk with him, he was CFO of Impossible and he was on the board of the green tech aggs startup app Harvest, while he's now president of apt Harvest, which now trains trades under the tick are a p pH after going public via a spack. It's a certified B corporation. So David, so nice to have you here on Bloomberg. How are you. I'm well, I'm so glad to speak to you again.

I'm excited to share the latest about that harvest. Well, tell us about the latest you guys have gone public, um, why and why through as back Well at that harvest, we recognize the urgency of the mission we have required that we find long term partners and access capital to scale our business fast. And with the ability to partner with Novis Capital and now to be traded on ASDAC, it's a wonderful sign that investors are ready for companies

that are making a better food company. You know, we like to think our product using a fraction of the water and producing a delicious tomato for now but more to come, will appeal to consumers. But we're now seeing that our company, a company that treats its employees better, that's better for the environment and for consumers health, is being appreciated by investors as well. Yeah, it's interesting to see and I feel like a lot of investors are looking.

You know, I talked about innovation disruption. We've seen it in a lot of spaces, UM, and I think you know, everybody's now watching the food space very closely. You mentioned David Tomato, you mentioned less water, it's indoor, there's no chemical pesticides, the yield, uh is about thirty times more. You're doing it Appalachia. That's where you're doing it, um

so in an interesting part of our country. Um specifically we I called it a green tech agg startup, but I feel like you're doing a lot more in terms of the cycle and supply chain of food. What is it about the technology that you really stands out and is very strikingly different from what we know and we've come to understand, is how we get all of our food. Absolutely, you know, I like the things that that harvest is revolutionizing food from speed all the way to the plate.

That means that's an on GMO be steak, tomato seed that we grow in these enormous greenhouse since we have a sixty acre indoor farm nearly two point eight million square feet under glass in the heart of central Appalachia, that we not just grow great tomato us from the seed, but that we employ highly skilled workers in the United States who can have a great living wage and make a product that uses less water, have no chemical pesticides,

of taste grape. You know it, it's from seed to plate that the whole company is designed to be better. And it's whether it's our nono bubble technology that allows us to have the right amount of nutrients and oxygen, and the recycled rainwater, or the fact that we're looking at automation to help our human employees, the data intensity we have AI so we can watch how our plants

each grow. It's all of that that allows us to stop shipping in nearly two thirds of the vine crops we import into the United States from outside the country. It's all the way from seed to plate um. That's what we're seeking to do here and at how part this of For those folks who are watching us right now on YouTube, you can see some of the video in terms of what they're doing, or go to their website. Because your your greenhouse is massive. I think last time

you're on we talked a little bit about this. But what about power efficiencies because I know one of the concerns has been about some of hydroponic and some of these in house big greenhouses is the use of power. Yeah, well, we're working hard to leverage, for example, passive solar and new technology. You know, we like to use the natural place that we're located for the recycled wave model and for the fact that we can use the natural sunlight

that pierced through our farms. You know that the country just went through a lot of tough weather in many parts. And what I was gratified to see is the hard workers that harvest in our more Head farm. You know, sometimes they had to show up in a tractor, but they showed up. And our business model ended up being incredibly resilient, much more resilient than an open field farm

would be. Um and so we'll get better and better on everything on how we use water, on how we reduce our power consumption, but for now, we thought it was important to create a big step forward for US agriculture in Kentucky. Hey, David, before we get back to talking about app harvest, I want to know something our team wanted to know. I mean, you were both CEO and CFO over it Impossible, and many would argue they were on the cusp of just a lot more to come.

Why did you move on? Well, to be clear, I'm a huge believer in impossible foods, and between you, me and I guess the rest of the world. On this call, I I exercised every single option that I was granted because I really believe in the business to be built.

It was interesting. I was listening to some of the commentary on your show, and you know your consumers that Impossible Foods are meat eaters leaders like you, And when you can raise one point five billion dollars from sophisticated investors kind of shows that the world really is ready, not not a plant based world, the meeting new world

is ready for products like the Impossible burgher. So to be clear, I am a absolute huge believer in the business we built there, and full disclosure, I've had some um plant based sausage and beef. I have tried it, so I do try well. The thing is, I also listen what you guys are doing too. At app Harvest. We cover the difficulties, the increasing difficulties because the climate change and other situations and metrics in terms of being

able to feed the world. And I do wonder you know with what you guys are doing an app Harvest and what you were doing at Impossible Foods, like how do we need to think about feeding the world going forward? And what's it going to require in terms of space, technology ingenuity, Like how do you approach that? Well, the importance of the question you're asking can't be um. You can't be underscored enough if you think about what it takes.

It takes the recognition first that whether you love d eat meat or you love d eat plants, the bottom line is this world cannot make enough of it for the demand that institutions like the u N forecast by and in the phase of climate change, it's so much harder for these American agricultural workers to keep pace. You know, the solution has to be a combination of the best technology which we think we have, that app artist a recognition that we have to use climate to your advantage.

I mean, the recycled rainwater is because our farms are in areas that seem to be getting wetter and wetter. And then it requires a recognition that you have to be transparent. You have to shoot straight with the consumer. The consumer is pretty sophisticated. They'll pick the right future, but they've got to be given another opportunity to pick better for their own health but also for the planet. I think all these things are important. It's why all

of us together impossible foods app harvest. Many of the companies you cover, all of us are required to see the outcome we expect. Well. Cousin T. J. Who's listening to our show big time and just set me. I had tweeted out ah out of your website and the highlighted back you know, central to our mission, meaning your mission app harvests mission. We're within a day's drive of

seventy the population. You know, Solving climate change will ultimately also mean like, if we can figure out how to grow things, make things grow, you know, locally, and I do think about that. How much of what you guys are doing can we scale up? Can we do enough of this around the country to make, you know, to provide a significant portion of food to America? You know? Um, some of this forecast is that he studies would have done one so that the US needs twenty thousand acres

of climate controlled farms like ours. And if you think about it, all the long distance trucking of tomatoes and bine crops brought in from outside the United States doesn't do the world any good and frankly doesn't give the consumer a great tasting product. Oftentimes they covered in these chemical pest designs. The Netherlands is an incredible real world example of a country that embraced these enormous at scale indoor farms and then one of the largest exporters AP

protest to Europe. We intend to do the same thing right in coal mining country and Central Appalachia, you know, take some of those lost jobs. It's a coal coal of the coal mining industry, and tournament is sustainable, skilled labor that serves more locally product that people can believe in. That's that's the idea, and I think we can do it. Well.

You know, did you say you brought up the Netherlands Because reading around your website and just reading in on this, you know, I was going to ask you because you guys are tapping into the aggon construction firms and universities in the Netherlands. I mean, what is it about? What do we need to know here in the US about what Netherlands is doing when it comes to farming, Because I do feel like these are the trends, the innovations that investors are going to be increasingly looking at. Well,

I think it's a wonderful case study. You know, many investors um they need to understand how things can be accomplished. And the great news for our harvest is the technology of today pioneered across the world, not just in the Netherlands. I was on a call with a large institution in

the Middle East. You know, there are parts of the world that have developed not only the technology but the economy as you find in the Netherlands and Holland, as well as the expertise to produce large scale farms that produce product better. Um. I think that when you have technology already exists in consumers that have long awaited something better, it just takes corporate will and capital to achieve the outcome. What about the cost of the produce that's going to

come out of it? You know, the criticism for organic for a long time and probably still to some extent, is just like, Okay, it's great, but not everybody can afford it. What was really important that we create the ability to be affordable and available. A big part of that for us is the fact that we can increase yield by thirty times. You know, when you use a thirty times improvement in yields when you use less rain water and and you as a result produced a product

that actually is better than the average product. You know, we think we'll be able to provide a great compelling costs. Sometimes we talk about our product is actually premium in quality, but we don't intend it's priced to be premium because we think our economics can bear out affordability as well. Hey, just got about thirty seconds left here. So what are we going to be hearing from you guys in this coming year? Is it build out? Is it more investors?

What's what do we expect from just quickly? I think it's going to be very similar to what you've seen in the last sixty days. Um, I it's there's going to be built out. UM. There will likely be more and more investors interested in a company like that. Parvist will have to wait and see, and you're also going to see us be able to look at other companies

and partner with them. One of the privileges of being early to being public when you're a pioneer in the US in your field is that you can set the course and find other like minded companies and to partnership the business development or at right acquisition create a brighter future. I think all those things will come in time. Well. I hope you'll continue to carve out some time for us because we'd love to hear more about your progress as you continue on this. UM, David, thank you so

much David Lee. He's president of AT Harvest from Our CFO and CEO AT Impossible Foods