Webb was also the first LPGA player to win $1 million in a single season, finishing first on the year-end money list. Every year, he gives a lecture to students enrolled in a post-graduate shipping LLM program. People at large tech companies question what theyre actually building. I like thinking about a future where AppHarvest and companies like you all are helping make our food supply not only here domestically, but really around the world better, more reliable, more transparent. AppHarvest Putting a retention pond, we filter it with no chemicals and we're able to run our facility. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We thought in order to build an organization that's going to be selling to the top grocers. Jonathan Webb - Founder & CEO @ AppHarvest His fund's based in DC, we had them as early investors. He holds a legal degree from the University of Natal as well as the University of Cape Town. I want to figure out what I can do, as CEO, to ensure everyone has the resources to succeed. The nonprofit organization he founded is still in operation today, and he continues to serve as Board Chair. Jonathan Webb poses in front of his giant greenhouse, When you look at human civilization, what do you need? ", 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. Many of our early investors have been very helpful with the company, and we knew that we are not just building one facility, we're building an organization that's going to go toe-to-toe with agriculture and food, globally. They ask themselves, Did we help five people today? Like every Kentuckian, Jonathan grew up knowing of the devastating job losses in the region. What makes AppHarvest so unique? Jonathan Webb, AppHarvest Inc: Profile and Biography 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. As part of that, in order to bring trust and transparency to agriculture, you have to be a public company. Webb made a second appearance for England, and reached the final. 20years ago it was renewable energy. But to our investors the question and I got this on the roadshow, I'm in this to make money, great. I don't want to keep you all day, but before we wrap it up, I did want to talk to you a little bit about ESG, environmental sustainability governance issues. I think we have seen some other players in the space that are starting. You can also compare Dr. Webb with other orthopedic surgeons in Eau Claire to find the one that best suits your needs. But the production we've left in the US is being grown in areas that are running out of water. Moser: Yeah. Appharvest has Webb is from Kentucky, where 16% of residents are We're feeding our country with people in Mexico who are making $5 a day. Moser: It's impressive to think about the scope of what you are taking on because agriculture, farming, that's been something for so long, people just think, well, it's just what it's always been and we do it this way because that's the way we've always done it. Although his net worth is impressive, its important that you remember that he doesnt have to act alone to be wealthy. Then Jeff Obin, who is on our board and has been an early investor. Very excited about the Root AI transaction. Jonathan Webb is a specialist knee surgeon and a former English rugby union fullback. Founder of AppHarvest, Inc., AppHarvest Morehead Farm LLC and Webb: We've been very fortunate that some of our investors and board members, Fidelity was the largest investor in our pipe during the public process, Jeff Ubben of Inclusive Capital, our Chief Sustainability Officer, Jackie Roberts came to us from the Carlyle Group, we're all very serious about this. Why locate in Appalachia? We need to all collectively have a much more longer-term viewpoint on how we're building companies that are going to be good for communities, good for employees, and return a good return to our investors and shareholders. Required fields are marked *. Now, we want to turn this region into an area of the country that's known for sustainable food production, but beyond just loving the place, I'm from Kentucky, beyond just loving this area, we can get to three quarters of the U.S. on a day drive. No, weve made some mistakes. The companys first greenhouse will span 60 acres and open in 2020 in Morehead, Ky.The greenhouse will operate entirely on rainwater using a 10-acre retention pond, reducing water usage by 80% compared to a typical farm. No one else in America is doing something at that scale. This company has plans to open two additional indoor farms in Kentucky and has already announced partnerships with the Dutch government and multiple universities to make Appalachia a hub for the agtech industry. By the end of next year, we'll have five operating facilities. In the same year, he scored his second try after just 23 seconds. Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Flipboard, and LinkedIn. I want to talk with you about in regard to AppHarvest. We're going to be based in Central Appalachia. But I dont think thats adding value to the company, or looking out for our shareholders, he said. Jonathan Webb, a specialist in knee surgery, was once a prominent player on the English rugby team. Public asset : 44,698,475 USD. ESG should be at the core of profitability and it should be at the core of building a resilient company. 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. But really its water and food first. I don't think anybody thinks of farming from this perspective. You are speaking our language here at The Fool. WebInside is a tightly controlled environment that uses 90% less water than open-field agriculture and only rainwater to produce crop yields up to 30 times that of traditional We'll talk a little bit about that in just a second. Your email address will not be published. Jonathan Webb, CEO, AppHarvest: AgTech Farming for Our Were building important stuff with long-standing value, so the Great Resignation has actually helped us acquire talent.. AppHarvest (APPH) CEO Jonathan Webb said the company has its eyes on the long term as it looks to "institutionalize" controlled environment agriculture (CEA). St John Greek Orthodox Church Easter Schedule, 7 Residential Solar Maintenance Errors and How to Avoid Them, 4 Errors with Kitchen Renovations and How to Avoid Them, An Informative Guide to Livestock Transportation, A Tool That You Need If You are Into Live Stream. Jonathan Webb grew up in Kentucky and has been committed to developing sustainable projects from Central Appalachia. But the journey hasnt been without pitfalls. You have food safety concerns. There has been nothing more impactful on farming since that time, and now, it's AI robotics and using data to make decisions. You've taken a lot of steps early on in the development of your business to address a lot of those ESG concerns. He is also becoming more involved with green shipping and is a council member of the London Shipping Law Centre. He pointed out that, At NASA in the 60s, if you would go visit a facility and you walked up to a janitor and asked, What do you do here? they would say, Im working to put a man on the moon. Thats been the same mentality here Its the collective thats making this thing possible.. 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. 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. I pay attention to my kids. He also has experience in civil litigation and Title IX proceedings. This year alone, more than 50 SPACs have been formed in the US, collectively raising. We dont see it as losing money for losing moneys sake; developing that tech is investing in our future.. But I wonder, is there something to your mind? We just want to be one of those and we're cognizant that there's going to be plenty of large players. I fundamentally do not think its a tradeoff. I would not want to be one of those large operators and food today when you see the consumer trends changing as quickly as they are, and we feel very optimistic again about where our growth trajectory is. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*. We look at them over the course of time, years, and hopefully, decades we can be a part of that journey with you all. I could be in a penthouse in New York City, managing AppHarvest from the 32nd floor of some high-rise. Good CEOs do both., Given the rapidly worsening climate outlook, all founders should focus on building a business that will be more powerful in 30 years than it will in 30 days, he said. Yes, today, we met our quarterly earnings projection, we hit our guidance, but we're making the hard investments and spending the hard time to set an organization up that's going to thrive 10 and 20 years from now. Tomatoes will be the first fruit rolling out of AppHarvest's soon-to-launch facility in Morehead, Kentucky. Invest better with The Motley Fool. "We have the capital we need and we're focused on building and operating, and just head down on execution," Webb said. "Tech for good the consumer wants it. Maintaining that inclusive work culture, especially since he works in agriculture, is incredibly important to Webb, who aims to do everything from a place of empathy and considers his employees to be his first customers. Project Access offers ESL/ESL classes, after school programs, and computer literacy. Now, our job is to make sure it's at around the same price. 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. Growing up in Appalachia, Jonathan Webb watched the slow decline of the coal industry firsthand. The president and CEO, Paul Mastronardi said, "We want every AppHarvest tomato they can grow. It means being a little bit more upfront with your investors. Typically, you would do 40 to 60 meetings to get a couple of investors. His final international was against Ireland in March 1993. "We see this as a couple-decade journey, and really, we're in our first decade," Webb told Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman at the 2022 SXSW Conference (video above). Not only picking, pruning, harvesting, being able to actually get the tomato off the vine, and ultimately, shipped out, but also the predictive analytics that we can use. 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. All Rights Reserved. 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. His grandmother grew up in Whitley County, where a coal mining accident killed his great-grandfather. Jonathan received his bachelors degree from the University of Kentucky. He has over 100 civil and criminal jury trials and has represented clients in counties across Georgia. Is there a benefit? For young people, we've invested heavily in high school education here in this region and part of it is, we're not just building facilities, we're building an ecosystem and part of that is change the narrative that farming is simply outdoors and on a tractor, we very much respect American farmers, we have great respect for the four-season farmer that's putting food on our table but we have to get young people to think, the average age of the American farmer is about 60 years old, and so for us by investing in high schools, it's teaching young people you're operating a farm with an iPhone and iPad using industrial sensors, with robotics operating on AI. Get 5 free searches. I love your long-term focus. I'm Jason Moser, thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week. Linked companies : AppHarvest, Inc. Summary. We're laser-focused on getting this right here. We've had record amounts of rainfall. 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. Look at the open fields in Mexico. Jonathan Webb was born on 24 August 1963, in London, England. Webb founded it in 2017 in his native Kentucky; it became a certified B Corp two years later. 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. Before founding AppHarvest, Jonathan worked with the U.S. Department of Defense on the largest solar project in the Southeastern United States. 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.. There's a level of rigor that comes with that, and so for us, the SPAC was just a vehicle. The other thing is scale. By us running on completely recycled rainwater, we have no water cost. more. AppHarvest knows its far from being the only player in the CEA game. I mean, all of the stuff that you just talked about really does matter. We're building infrastructure in an area of the country where we're having record amounts of rainfall, and if you look at the climate maps, we continue to get wetter. The deal is slated to bring in $475 million in gross proceeds for Kentucky-based AppHarvest, including a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction What's your competitive advantages or something you feel differentiates you from your competition? According to Webb, going public has helped the company focus on the big picture. That's our headquarters. We can get to 70% of the U.S. in a one-day drive. Webb is a consultant orthopaedic physician and a board member of World Rugby. Were building robotics and software that will ultimately be able to service the entire global agriculture industry. Of course, the future is what really matters. But its confident in its approach. He practices at Mayo Clinic Hospital Eau Claire. We want to be selling to 90% of America. "And we don't think we could do that if we weren't in the public markets.". Our job at AppHarvest, we need to make sure that we're keeping prices at a fair, good place where we're at today. I've tried to say, we have a team that looks at this as this is our 30-year journey here at AppHarvest. I mean, that is right in line. Visualize our facility in Murray, Kentucky, it's 2.8 million square feet, nearly 50 football fields under-glass. Europe, Menlo Park, China), Where the person is located (e.g. 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. Despite the off quarter, Webb has much to celebrate. WebJonathan Webb grew up in Kentucky and has been committed to developing sustainable projects from Central Appalachia. Terms & Conditions. "Greenwashing" Doesn't Work: Jonathan Webb, Founder & CEO, I was hoping maybe we could talk a little bit about that idea that you're farmers and futurists. Again, the private markets get a very bad rap socially. To me, this feels like just that, a growing market opportunity that is global in nature, and really the opportunity, just getting started. I'm sure it was an exciting time. 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. That narrow focus on societal good is what has kept AppHarvest fully staffed throughout the pandemic. We dont have two planets though, so Webb got creative. It means transparency. People, planet, wonderful, but I'm trying to make money. The fired Google engineer who thought its A.I. Offers may be subject to change without notice. You have to get permitting, communities [buy-in], state and federal support, infrastructure, inspections. In the 1992 Five Nations, England won the title back-to-back for the first time since 1924, thanks to Webbs brace. Moser: I guess you're saying, and a lot of us would agree, you can't have your cake and eat it too. But then it's pulling technology in to drive nature from behind. Typically, you would do 40 to 60 meetings to get a couple of investors. After serving as an assistant public defender in Marylands Office of the Public Defender, Webb joined Ethridge Quinn for 2020. They have 10% of the world's freshwater. This is a BETA experience. Again, if we look at agriculture, there's a lot of trouble in our current agriculture system and we can use ESG metrics to clean up our food supply and create better food systems. Brooke DiPalma is a producer and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Jonathan Webb, CEO, AppHarvest: AgTech Farming for Our Theyre designed to be safe around people. Three thoughts on leadership from the founder and CEO In addition to his numerous social media fans, Jonathan Webb has also embraced a low-key approach to his career. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. In the 1987 Rugby World Cup, Webb made his debut for England. For us, we're looking at metrics, how can we be more sustainable? His military experience allows him to leverage private capital for his projects. Growing up in Appalachia, Jonathan Webb watched the slow decline of the coal industry firsthand. "It's hard to be the one that's looking two decades down the road while thinking of the here and now.". As investors were looking for the biggest market opportunities we can find, market opportunities that are growing. The greenhouse will cost $97 million and span 60 acres. WebThe following charts show the stock performance of securities subsequent to each open-market, non-planned trade made by Jonathan Webb. We want to be at Wendy's, we want to be at Walmart. A specialist in knee surgery, Jonathan Webb was a rugby union fullback for the English national team from 1987 to 1993. Instead of just being able to tell a grocer 24-hours in advance here's the quality of product and here's when it will be shipped, with robotics going down the rows scanning the plants, we'll be able to get to days out and weeks out of being able to predict the yield, predict the quality, give more information to the grocer on when that product is going to be coming. Cell ag experts weigh in, Keep calm and carry on: Navigating the trough of disillusionment for plant-based meat, Its been a very dark week Miyoko Schinner hits back as company accuses her of hatching plot to steal IP, With $3bn in deals, top 10 climate x agrifoodtech startups prove themselves a vital part of climate tech ecosystem, BII eyes full-stack startups, ag marketplaces & embedded financing as it earmarks funds for Africa, Smoke & mirrors, not worth the extra cost: 50 US farmers speak out on carbon markets. Why? I feel like with AppHarvest, at least, my takeaway, I found a lot of things that make you all special. 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. Jason Moser has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We love DC, but we don't want to just be selling to the high-end restaurants in DC. For example, we use integrated pest management, good pest to kill bad pest. If you look at the largest grocers in the U.S., we're selling to Kroger, Walmart, Publix, and we're selling to Wendy's. AppHarvest: Transforming The Future Of Agtech, And Maybe The We have to figure out how to grow a lot more food with a lot less resources and we can use that by utilizing technology and infrastructure to grow fruit and vegetables with 90% less water and get about 30 times yield per acre. 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. We had 22 meetings and had almost 20 yeses. Very few passed on this deal and we eventually had to cancel meetings., Webb describes the SPAC transaction and PIPE financing experience as absolutely phenomenal.. Is there any one thing or is it a collection of many things? 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. Photo credit: US controlled environment agriculture (CEA) startup, has announced a merger with NASDAQ-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), The deal is slated to bring in $475 million in gross proceeds for Kentucky-based AppHarvest, including a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction worth $375 million from existing and new investors including, I cant say this was the exact plan but what accelerated all of this was Covid-19, AppHarvest CEO Jonathan Webb told, . We've moved most of our fruit and vegetable production down to Mexico and we're importing and shipping in 2,000 miles. We have a phenomenal team of sustainability experts. The same way there won't be one energy company powering the world. You have climate disruption. Jonathan Webb is an actor with a large following on Twitter. Who were the most active food and agriculture technology venture capital firms in 2022. Because it is cutting-edge technology. sold to the top 25 U.S. grocers. 95% of a fruit and vegetable is water. Kentucky has been experiencing record amounts of rainfall in recent years, so for Webb, the location was obvious. Jonathan was named one the Top 30 Most Influential Lawyers in Washingtonians 2018 list upon graduation. What are you trying to accomplish? I have no doubt that we will. This helped the Army reach its goal of 20% renewable energy by 2025. AppHarvest is an indoor farming company, so has massive greenhouses I made the point at one point in regard to AppHarvest. We want to be at Kroger. 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. Moser: That's exciting. In the back of his mind, he wondered what he could do to help.