174: The Hidden Power of Steam in Indoor Farming with Soil Steam's Hans Kristian Westrum
episodePreviously titled “174: The Hidden Power of Steam in Indoor Farming” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
Vertical Farming Podcast: CEOs & Founders in AgTech and CEA
46 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 16 days ago
Transcript
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What is soil steaming and why is it relevant for indoor farming?
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DS guards are professionals, nothing left for you know, they don't think any risk on anything. And the interesting part is actually a few of the first ones who contacted us. was not contacting us because they wanted to recycle substrates. They contacted us because they wanted to steam the substrate before they took it in the first time.
Uh
to have control, be hundred percent sure that this is clean. Yeah. So I mean that's how these guys are working. I mean nothing they cannot take a risk on anything if you have a s one disease in that uh cocoa choir or whatever you get. If something had happened, mean it it comes from Sri Lanka and it can go by boats, what happens all this distance? But these guys want to trick it before they start to use it the first time.
Welcome to the Vertical Farming Podcast. Weekly conversations with fascinating CEOs, founders, and agtech visionaries. Join us every week as we dive deep into the world of vertical farming. With your host, Harry Duran. Vertical Farming Podcast Season 12. Regular listeners to the show, welcome back. Thank you for all you do to support the show. Whether it's finding us for the first time and coming back or listening since day one, we really appreciate and honor everything you do to support us across all our platforms. And if this is your first time listening, I'm positive you're in the right place. It's the show where we interview fascinating CEOs and founders of the leading vertical farming companies from around the world.
I'm your host, Harry Duran, co-founder of Of the Ag Tech Media Group and founder of Fullcast, our full service podcast agency and podcaster since 2014 with my first show, Podcast Chunkies. In case you missed last episode, we had a great jam-packed episode with Andy Secinger. He's the sales director at United Grants of America. And if you've ever wondered how to navigate the complex world of ag grants, Andy shares his journey from a skeptical salesperson to a passionate advocate for farmers seeking financial support. His insights on the grant application process were invaluable. He explained how United Grants of America's team approach, including hiring former FSA employees, helped maximize farmers' chances of success.
We discussed common mistakes and grant applications, the importance of good record keeping, and current trends in ag grants. You're going to want to listen to that one if you haven't done so already. This week I speak to Hans Christian Würstram. He's the chief strategy manager at Soli's team. And he joins us today to talk about the innovations happening in soil steaming technology. Now, when you're listening to this, y you're probably wondering and asking yourself, Harry What does soil have to do with growing indoors? Well, it's interesting and fascinating how the connection was made. We start off by Hans sharing his journey from growing up on a farm in Norway to developing a solution that was addressing critical changes in substrate management.
So that's where it came into play here and why I thought it made sense for this audience. It's fascinating because we dive into the the world of soil steaming. This method effectively eliminates harmful pathogens and weeds while preserving beneficial organisms in the soil. And so we started talking about how they made their way to controlled environment agriculture. And it was a real eye-opening experience for him.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is soil steaming and why is it relevant for indoor farming?
0:00–5:58
2
How did Hans’s early farm experiences shape the steam‑treatment concept?
5:58–17:03
3
Why did Soil Steam shift its focus from open‑field to indoor‑farm substrates?
17:03–21:35
4
What research proved that steam can eliminate harmful pathogens and weeds?
21:35–29:26
5
How did the Belgian strawberry trials demonstrate substrate recycling success?
29:26–35:18
6
Why are container‑based steaming machines the key to scaling indoor farms?
35:18–39:56
7
What are Soil Steam’s plans for North‑American expansion and industry events?
39:56–44:18
8
What final insights did Hans share about sustainability, cost savings, and the future of steam technology?
44:18–46:42
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Vertical Farming Podcast: CEOs & Founders in AgTech and CEA
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