TEDxManhattan – Paul Lightfoot – BrightFarms: A Produce Supply Chain Revolution
www.tedxmanhattan.org Paul Lightfoot is the Chief Executive Officer of BrightFarms, which designs, finances, builds and operates greenhouse farms at grocery retailers, eliminating time, distance and costs from their produce supply chain. With the elimination of shipping, and the drastic reduction of fuel consumption, carbon emissions and water use, BrightFarms enables grocery retailers to change their produce supply chain in a way that improves the planet and their profits. For nearly ten years, Paul was the CEO of an enterprise software company that improved the supply chains of major retailer and their suppliers. Previously, Paul was the founder and CEO of Foodline, a venture-backed software company that provided customer and reservations information technology to restaurants. Before that, Paul was a transactional attorney at the Wall Street law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Paul was recognized by Chain Store Age magazine as a “Rising Star in Retail” in their annual 40 Under 40 awards. More information at www.tedxmanhattan.org About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides …
“More than half the ‘cost’ of this lettuce” – pretty impressive!
Fantastic Presentation
@billlakey1 I don’t see the greenhouses as too energy demanding. For example, heating the greenhouses can be easily done by reusing the large amount of waste heat produced by the building’s AC system. Water can be obtained by rainwater harvesting and for lighting only the sun is required, solar panels can take care of other functions. The only fuel costs would be a few generators and backup systems.
OMG, someone who believes in efficiency as much as I do!
All the good ones are taken or straight, or both, dammit.
Very insightful!
Great talk. Thanks for sharing!
The industrial food complex is horrific, however Greenhouses are not Sustainable! the fuel needed to heat and light them are too energy demanding and expensive! there are local co-ops and locally focused distributors. eat seasonally and help your farmers find those distributors or create a co-op themselves
I agree.. BRILLIANT!
Brilliant – thank you for your vision and leading the way!
Paul, great presentation on a great subject. I will travel to PA when the greenhouse is open. When will that be?
Nice Paul, grats!