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I reconnect with Bob after a successful summit in Hong Kong. Bob and I discuss highlights from the summit's  collaborative, design thinking workshop activity. During this workshop the summit attendees worked together to identify ways to advance vertical farming globally. This casts also highlights takeaways from Bob's speech on AEssense Corporation and the future of indoor, controlled environment agriculture. For more information on AEssense please check out there website using the link below.Link: https://www.aessensegrows.com/en/corporate/our-story

In this cast I talk with one of our AVF summit speaker's, Bob Chen, CEO of the AEssense Corporation. AEssense has two indoor farming facilities, one in Sunnyvale California, and the other in Shanghai China. Get to know Bob in our preview episode of the 2018 AVF Summit in Hong Kong. Learn more about AEssnse at https://www.aessensegrows.com/en/corporate/our-story

I had a chance to talk with Dr. Sally Rockey. Sally is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR). FFAR is a private non-profit foundation created in 2014 out of the Farm Bill. In this talk Sally and I go in depth on how the Foundation for Food and Agriculture is advancing the indoor vertical farming industry.

In this segment I had a chance to talk with Frank Sharp, a Senior Technical Leader at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). EPRI is a non profit organization which focuses on research in electricity. EPRI’s focus is to enhance the quality of life by making electric power safe, reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible (EPRI). 

In May 7, 2012, Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy was appointed by President Barack Obama to a six-year term appointment as director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).  NIFA is a federal agency within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a part of the USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area (National Institute of Food and Agriculture). The agency administers federal funding to address the agricultural issues impacting people’s daily lives and nation’s future.I had a chance to meet Dr. Sonny at the 2017 Association for Vertical Farming summit in Washington D.C. Sonny opened the 2017 conference with a great lecture. In our post summit conversation Sonny and I cover topics from fighting pests with orange enzymes, where to find grant money opportunities, and the possibility of a world with mini chickens.Find out more about NIFA and their grant programs using the link below:https://nifa.usda.gov/

A couple of days after the AVF Summit, Broadcast Manager Jason Moon sat down with Principal Bob Van Heuvelen and Legislative Assistant Bobby Cunningham from VH Strategies at their Washington D.C. offices.VH Strategies is a bipartisan government affairs and consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. with offices in The Hague and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. VH Strategies has initiated the Agricultural Innovation Alliance, a coalition of individuals, institutions, and companies working to promote change in food and farm policy at the federal, state, and local level.In this episode of the Vertical Farming Podcast Jason, Bobby and Bob discuss their partnership with the AVF with regards to Policy and legislation, the Agricultural Innovation Alliance and share their thoughts on the recently held 3rd Annual AVF Summit.Without further ado, we bring you – VH Strategies:To schedule an interview at AVFfm and share your thoughts with the Vertical Farming community – please feel encouraged to contact Jason for further details at JayJMoon94@gmail.com