• Plenty is an innovative farming company founded by Dr Nate Storey and Matt Barnard.
• Recognizing the challenges faced by traditional agriculture, they aimed to make farming more sustainable and efficient.
• The company utilizes indoor farms with hydroponics, a method where plants grow in water without soil.
These unique farms have precise control over environmental factors, allowing crops to be grown year-round regardless of the outside weather. By using vertical farming techniques, Plenty maximizes crop production in limited space, helping to conserve land resources.
Their farming approach avoids the use of chemicals, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and harmful sprays. Plenty's focus is on providing fresh and nutritious food while minimizing water and land usage. With their mission to improve the well-being of people, plants, and the planet, Plenty aims to revolutionize the agriculture industry and address the increasing global demand for food.
Today we are going to talk about the backbone of humankind. Without this, we can’t even imagine surviving. This practice fulfils one of our core needs. Drumrolls. Agriculture a.k.a the backbone of the Indian economy.
Statistics to guide you
India ranks 2nd in the world with an agricultural production of $532 Billion(2021). The majority of India's poor (some 770 million people or about 70 per cent) are found in rural areas.
The agriculture industry comprises 54% of India’s land classified as arable. To understand the seriousness of the matter, this Report says that farmers need to produce 70% more food than today to feed the world’s growing population by 2050.
But now the problem arises is that the land is limited and has other uses as well so how are we gonna produce this much amount of surplus and where is a bigger question itself?
On top of this farming is not a very pleasant profession as well it depends on too many changing variables which makes this profession more challenging that’s why the new generation is now running or competing to become a farmer. Keeping all this in mind Dr. Nate Storey and Matt Barnard came up with the tool we are gonna talk about today.
The Founders
Dr Nate Storey & Matt Barnard came up with Plenty to revolutionize the agriculture market and to understand the product we need to understand the founders as well.
Dr Nate Storey is a plant scientist who studied plants and how to grow them. He went to the University of Wyoming and got a PhD in Agronomy and Crop Science.
Since 2009, Dr Storey has been working on something called vertical farming. It's a way of growing plants where they go up instead of spreading out on the ground. He has written various papers regarding the topic.
Dr Storey is the main scientist. He's in charge of doing research and trying to find better ways to grow food. He made a special system called hydroponics that helps plants grow with less water and space compared to normal farming.
Matt Barnard is a person who knows a lot about food. He started a company that sells healthy food without chemicals. It's called organic food.
Right now, Matt is the boss of Plenty. He makes important decisions and plans for the company. They have really cool ideas for especially growing food. They even have some patents to protect their special technology. People all over the world think Plenty is a super smart company.
How did this idea come into the picture?
They came up with the idea of starting this company because they noticed the challenges in growing enough food as the land for farming was getting smaller, there was less clean water, and the weather was becoming more extreme.
They wanted to find a solution to this problem and make farming more sustainable and efficient. They believed that they had to come up with ways to create more farming space, use less water to grow crops and protect the crops from the changing environment.
So, they started Plenty with a mission to make people, plants, and the planet healthier. The founders were motivated by the challenges that farmers face when growing crops in fields and the fact that there are more and more people in the world.
They believed that they needed to find ways to make more farming space, use less water to grow crops, and keep the crops safe from the changing environment.
Their goal is to improve the well-being of everyone, help plants thrive, and take care of our planet, with a goal this big and noble who won’t support them. And they delivered on what they envisioned.
So what is special about them?
Plenty is a farming company that grows healthy fruits and vegetables in different ways. They don't use any chemicals or make changes to the plants' genes, called GMOs. They also don't use harmful sprays to protect the plants from bugs.
Instead, Plenty has unique farms that are indoors and go up high. They use a method called hydroponics, where plants grow in water without needing soil. The farms have special control over the environment, so they can grow crops all year long, no matter if it's hot or cold outside.
The best part is that these farms use less water and land than regular farms. This means they're kind to the environment and help save resources. Plenty is all about farming in a more innovative and better way for the planet and for us to enjoy fresh and nutritious food.
How do they do what they do?
Plenty uses indoor farms. They can grow crops all year long, no matter what the weather is like outside. And they're designed to be kind to the environment!
Instead of using soil, Plenty uses a process for growing called hydroponics. It's like a science experiment! The plants grow in a special liquid that has all the nutrients they need. This makes the plants super solid and full of good stuff for us to consume.
But that's not all! These farms have an intelligent control system. It's like a boss that makes sure everything is just right for the plants. The temperature, humidity, and even the light are all controlled to give the plants the perfect growing conditions. They even have sensors and computer programs to keep an eye on the plants and make changes if needed. This all is kept under control using Plenty OS, which is their proprietary software platform.
Oh, and here's something exciting: to solve the land limitation part, they use vertical farming, which means the crops don't grow on flatbeds like in traditional farms. They grow on tall towers, like a plant skyscraper! This way, Plenty can grow lots of crops in a smaller space and save land.
When I first learned about Plenty, it surprised me. As a design enthusiast, if I talk about its brand design, basically, I love it. It solves a lot of problems with a core industry which is the reason for our existence and an occupation that is as old as humankind itself with the modern style. I thought I needed to mention it no matter what. They are giving their all to the noble mission, so how can I not support them? But the question is, do you support them as well?
Edited by Shruti Thapa
