178: Why Modular Vertical Farming Holds the Key to Scalable Food Security with Fischer Farm's Tristan Fischer
episode
Vertical Farming Podcast: CEOs & Founders in AgTech and CEA
1h 1m
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 18 days ago
Transcript
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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By having a vertically farmed zone before it goes into the main glasshouse, it means that the glass is much more effectively used for growing large plants. And also what happens in the glass house is highly dependent on the quality of the plants which went into the glass house in the first place. If you have plants which are grown in a really great environment, then you can get better yields in the actual glasshouse for whatever plant you're doing. So you can get more strawberries or more tomatoes.
Welcome to the Vertical Farming Podcast. Weekly conversations with fascinating CEOs, founders, and ad tech visionaries. Join us every week as we dive deep into the world of vertical farming. With your host, Harry Duran. Vertical Farming Podcast, episode 178. If you are a first-time listener, 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 since 2020. I'm your host, Harry Duran, co-founder of the AgTech Media Group and founder of Fullcast, our full service podcast agency, and podcasting myself since 2014 with my first show, Podcast Junkies. In case you missed our last episode, we had Mary Weatherhill on.
She's the founding president and CEO of Green Food Solutions, and we had a candid conversation about building a truly sustainable urban farming business. Her unique journey from the service industry and massage therapy of all places to pioneering food access solutions in city environments gives her an unmatched perspective on both the struggles and opportunities farmers face today. In that episode, Mary demystified how Green Food Solutions is reimagining the food system with her farming as a service franchise model. It prioritizes support, profitability, and genuine community impact. We dig into what makes a good franchise partner, why most farms face recurring challenges, and how Mary's mission-driven approach is shaking up the industry's status quo.
So if you ever wondered how to make real money in urban farming without sacrificing your values, check out that conversation. This week I speak to Tristan Fisher back for round two. He's the CEO of Fisher Farms and he's a seasoned investor in clean energy and modular agricultural technologies. His decades of experience building solar and wind projects along with modular biomass solutions provided him with a unique perspective on the future of vertical farming and food security. We dove deep into the growing pains of scaling from a 3,200 square meter RD facility to one of the world's largest vertical farms, and the relentless problem solving needed to ensure reliability and efficiency at scale. Tristan revealed how his team's lessons learned have led to a radical rethink, modular shipping container-based farms that promise lower risk, faster rollouts, and flexibility never before seen in the industry.
You'll hear about cost breakthroughs, navigating UK energy prices and how collaboration even with competitors is reshaping the landscape for food production. Five takeaways I want you to listen out for. Number one, modular vertical farming is the way forward. Tristan details how Fisher Farms has shifted towards a modular system using shipping containers. These Lego like units can be assembled to scale quickly and flexibly in different locations. Two, focus relentlessly on reducing costs. Costs and increasing efficiency, which is exactly what the team at Fisher Farms have done.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–6:00
2
What is Fisher Farms’ modular vertical farming approach and why does it matter?
6:00–13:40
3
How did Fisher Farms scale from a 3,200 m² R&D site to a 25,000 m² Farm 2?
13:40–20:19
4
What were the biggest technical and operational challenges when building Farm 2?
20:19–28:15
5
How does Fisher Farms drive down capital and operating costs for vertical farms?
28:15–36:35
6
What innovations have Fisher Farms made in lighting and energy efficiency?
36:35–43:57
7
How does modular farming compete with traditional glasshouses and open new markets?
43:57–51:47
8
Why is the UAE a strategic location for Fisher Farms’ modular expansion?
51:47–1:01:25
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Vertical Farming Podcast: CEOs & Founders in AgTech and CEA
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177: How Mary Wetherill Discovered the Business Model Shift That Makes Urban Farming Profitable