1 00:00:01,149 --> 00:00:02,100 Everybody's happy at the farms. 2 00:00:03,130 --> 00:00:05,983 There's nothing like stepping foot on the ground 3 00:00:05,983 --> 00:00:08,464 and actually going and seeing it. It's something 4 00:00:08,464 --> 00:00:10,865 that goes beyond just the product. It's a 5 00:00:10,865 --> 00:00:12,785 culture. It's an energy that's it's at the 6 00:00:12,785 --> 00:00:15,199 farms, which is quite unique. Because this was 7 00:00:15,199 --> 00:00:17,916 a land that was completely dead, not only 8 00:00:17,916 --> 00:00:19,754 the environment, but a lot of the local 9 00:00:19,754 --> 00:00:22,471 economies were completely dead. Fast forward to today, 10 00:00:22,631 --> 00:00:26,340 it's been completely regenerated. The ecosystems, the economies, 11 00:00:26,718 --> 00:00:27,218 the 12 00:00:27,676 --> 00:00:30,729 everything in between the Flo, the Fauna. So 13 00:00:30,788 --> 00:00:32,960 it's been a complete 1 80 from what 14 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:34,399 it used to be 9 years ago. 15 00:00:43,839 --> 00:00:46,380 It's time for conversations about our food and 16 00:00:46,380 --> 00:00:48,921 how it's grown on farm to table talk 17 00:00:48,921 --> 00:00:50,668 with your host, Roger Was. 18 00:00:59,375 --> 00:01:02,501 Farm table talk looks at local. We've looked 19 00:01:02,501 --> 00:01:05,077 at regional. We've looked at products 20 00:01:05,455 --> 00:01:06,673 that are produced 21 00:01:07,051 --> 00:01:08,887 kind of in the wild and more and 22 00:01:08,887 --> 00:01:11,394 more open to nature. We've at the controlled 23 00:01:11,528 --> 00:01:13,432 environment. And now we're gonna take in the 24 00:01:13,432 --> 00:01:16,367 whole world. We're gonna talk about specialty crop 25 00:01:16,367 --> 00:01:17,185 production and 26 00:01:17,493 --> 00:01:20,777 and also both producing and distributing products 27 00:01:21,868 --> 00:01:22,664 all over the world. 28 00:01:23,300 --> 00:01:24,198 And I'm 29 00:01:24,508 --> 00:01:26,893 to do that, I have an opportunity to 30 00:01:26,893 --> 00:01:28,347 have somebody here who's 31 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:30,947 really his company, their grower packers, 32 00:01:31,424 --> 00:01:31,924 shippers 33 00:01:32,393 --> 00:01:34,221 maybe biggest in the world that are tackling 34 00:01:34,221 --> 00:01:37,026 us, and I'm I'm happy to welcome 35 00:01:37,798 --> 00:01:38,298 Christopher 36 00:01:38,910 --> 00:01:39,308 Sofia, 37 00:01:40,198 --> 00:01:42,511 and Christopher welcome to Department Table talk. 38 00:01:43,788 --> 00:01:45,463 First of all, thank you very much for 39 00:01:45,463 --> 00:01:48,174 having us. We're really excited to be sharing 40 00:01:48,174 --> 00:01:49,451 a little bit about what we do with 41 00:01:49,451 --> 00:01:49,530 you. 42 00:01:50,424 --> 00:01:53,140 Yeah. Well, you know, let's let's start with 43 00:01:53,140 --> 00:01:55,936 where you are. Your company is... Tell me 44 00:01:55,936 --> 00:01:56,415 where it's based. 45 00:01:57,629 --> 00:01:58,987 So we're based out of Guatemala. 46 00:02:00,506 --> 00:02:01,565 Now Guatemala 47 00:02:02,104 --> 00:02:03,782 is... You may be my first guest from 48 00:02:03,862 --> 00:02:04,362 Guatemala. 49 00:02:04,741 --> 00:02:05,641 I've had people 50 00:02:06,194 --> 00:02:07,713 from around the world but, 51 00:02:09,151 --> 00:02:11,469 happy. It's a nice little country. Oh, I 52 00:02:11,469 --> 00:02:13,307 would think so. I would think so. You 53 00:02:13,307 --> 00:02:14,985 been have you been the hurricanes and the 54 00:02:14,985 --> 00:02:16,456 heat waves? So that 55 00:02:16,907 --> 00:02:18,175 have been hit over risk of us? 56 00:02:19,127 --> 00:02:21,822 Yes. We have. We... The the heat wave 57 00:02:21,822 --> 00:02:24,222 that that hit us or the past 6 58 00:02:24,222 --> 00:02:25,439 months with a very 59 00:02:25,896 --> 00:02:28,449 rough season. It was a dry year for 60 00:02:28,449 --> 00:02:30,363 us for most of the year. But right 61 00:02:30,363 --> 00:02:32,836 now, we're switching into the hurricane season, which 62 00:02:32,836 --> 00:02:34,843 is we expect to be 1 of the 63 00:02:34,843 --> 00:02:36,060 worst hurricane seasons 64 00:02:36,675 --> 00:02:38,427 in the past at least 10 years. So 65 00:02:38,427 --> 00:02:40,282 it's been a very violent climate 66 00:02:40,817 --> 00:02:42,331 over the past 18 months for us. 67 00:02:43,380 --> 00:02:46,243 Well, and then also, you've got other offices 68 00:02:46,243 --> 00:02:48,390 and you've got an office in Houston too 69 00:02:48,390 --> 00:02:51,667 and and Houston's had a bad stretch. And 70 00:02:51,667 --> 00:02:53,741 as we Yeah. Not long ago, they're still 71 00:02:53,741 --> 00:02:55,416 trying to get the power on from some 72 00:02:55,416 --> 00:02:57,729 of the storms in in Houston and if 73 00:02:57,729 --> 00:02:59,963 you've got coolers in Houston, how big a 74 00:02:59,963 --> 00:03:00,840 concern is that for you. 75 00:03:02,290 --> 00:03:03,885 So most of our coolers are a little 76 00:03:03,885 --> 00:03:06,037 bit down in my calendar area, which was 77 00:03:06,037 --> 00:03:08,190 not hit us far. Our office is in 78 00:03:08,190 --> 00:03:09,759 more of our administrative 79 00:03:10,437 --> 00:03:11,552 offices are in Houston. 80 00:03:12,030 --> 00:03:14,419 So we've been able to hedge that very 81 00:03:14,419 --> 00:03:16,570 well. Because most of our operations are in 82 00:03:16,649 --> 00:03:18,242 Mca cali, and it was not hit us 83 00:03:18,242 --> 00:03:18,481 bad. 84 00:03:19,931 --> 00:03:21,525 Well you know when... When you're in a 85 00:03:21,525 --> 00:03:22,504 position of growing 86 00:03:23,199 --> 00:03:25,910 produce and then distributing it all over the 87 00:03:25,910 --> 00:03:28,158 world to whoever wants it. That takes a 88 00:03:28,158 --> 00:03:29,914 broad area. I don't even know how we 89 00:03:29,914 --> 00:03:31,670 get started with this other than to say, 90 00:03:31,910 --> 00:03:34,783 let's let's talk about how much produce that 91 00:03:34,783 --> 00:03:36,714 we're producing and where it all coming from. 92 00:03:36,952 --> 00:03:38,702 So give us a picture if you would 93 00:03:38,702 --> 00:03:41,748 of of what it is you're you're growing 94 00:03:41,884 --> 00:03:43,157 and where it's coming from. 95 00:03:44,049 --> 00:03:46,626 Yeah. Like I mentioned, most of our growing 96 00:03:46,685 --> 00:03:48,064 operations are based out of Guatemala, 97 00:03:48,603 --> 00:03:50,221 guatemala is, you know, very 98 00:03:51,412 --> 00:03:51,912 privileged 99 00:03:52,363 --> 00:03:53,155 geographical position. 100 00:03:54,264 --> 00:03:55,849 First of all, we're in the equator. So 101 00:03:55,849 --> 00:03:57,909 we have a very stable climate throughout the 102 00:03:57,909 --> 00:04:00,017 year. Which gives us a lot of advantages 103 00:04:00,076 --> 00:04:02,310 to grow crops see around, and it get... 104 00:04:02,550 --> 00:04:04,465 It's in a very strategic place to supply 105 00:04:04,465 --> 00:04:05,982 in most to the Us because it's right 106 00:04:05,982 --> 00:04:06,461 in the middle. 107 00:04:07,674 --> 00:04:09,354 So that's where we grow most of our 108 00:04:09,354 --> 00:04:09,594 products. 109 00:04:10,155 --> 00:04:11,935 We specialize in 110 00:04:12,474 --> 00:04:14,074 prep packed value added vegetables. 111 00:04:15,046 --> 00:04:17,194 Products like French beans, which were the largest 112 00:04:17,194 --> 00:04:19,103 growing in the world, that we also do 113 00:04:19,103 --> 00:04:20,216 products like snow peas, 114 00:04:20,853 --> 00:04:21,569 sugar snaps, 115 00:04:22,205 --> 00:04:22,841 sweet corn, 116 00:04:23,492 --> 00:04:24,365 baby corn, 117 00:04:25,318 --> 00:04:26,270 brussels sprouts, 118 00:04:27,144 --> 00:04:29,763 sweet potatoes, butter not, those types of crops. 119 00:04:29,922 --> 00:04:31,827 So we grow a wide variety of crops. 120 00:04:32,319 --> 00:04:35,187 Very focused on the specialized value added vegetables. 121 00:04:35,665 --> 00:04:37,976 You know you say French beans. And and 122 00:04:38,136 --> 00:04:39,704 I was thought that 123 00:04:40,062 --> 00:04:41,887 I always was confused about French means so 124 00:04:41,887 --> 00:04:43,157 that obviously Aren't French. 125 00:04:44,030 --> 00:04:45,086 And and 126 00:04:45,459 --> 00:04:47,126 and yet when you, you know, when you 127 00:04:47,126 --> 00:04:48,340 go down a canned 128 00:04:48,808 --> 00:04:51,274 vegetable aisle. You see you see lots and 129 00:04:51,274 --> 00:04:53,604 lots of French beans, and I don't 130 00:04:54,058 --> 00:04:55,490 know where they normally come from. 131 00:04:56,141 --> 00:04:56,618 But 132 00:04:57,015 --> 00:04:58,923 I'm when we're doing they normally come from. 133 00:04:59,718 --> 00:05:01,466 So, yeah. So a lot of the french 134 00:05:01,466 --> 00:05:03,636 screens in the Us come from Guatemala 135 00:05:04,010 --> 00:05:07,042 have funny enough. Mh. But something interesting to 136 00:05:07,042 --> 00:05:08,629 know is that there's a big difference between 137 00:05:08,629 --> 00:05:11,168 a normal grieving and a French meeting. Most 138 00:05:11,168 --> 00:05:13,073 people's it it's not something on their day 139 00:05:13,073 --> 00:05:15,404 today. It's hard to to know the difference, 140 00:05:15,564 --> 00:05:17,644 but the green bean is a different variety 141 00:05:17,644 --> 00:05:20,044 from a French bean. A French bean needs 142 00:05:20,044 --> 00:05:21,985 a lot thinner. It's very 143 00:05:23,816 --> 00:05:24,851 the texture is different, 144 00:05:25,488 --> 00:05:27,956 sizing and the width is very... 145 00:05:29,389 --> 00:05:30,764 What's the word? It's very 146 00:05:34,026 --> 00:05:36,100 it's very easy metric in size, compared to 147 00:05:36,100 --> 00:05:37,855 a green. Most of the times, when you 148 00:05:37,855 --> 00:05:40,109 get a green being, it's either machine harvested 149 00:05:40,487 --> 00:05:40,987 or 150 00:05:42,094 --> 00:05:44,003 it comes to different sizes, some are big, 151 00:05:44,162 --> 00:05:44,798 some are thick, 152 00:05:45,513 --> 00:05:46,888 some are thin. It's very 153 00:05:47,819 --> 00:05:49,091 unstable when it comes to the quality. 154 00:05:49,583 --> 00:05:51,253 A friend's being is the complete opposite. It's 155 00:05:51,253 --> 00:05:51,912 a very 156 00:05:52,685 --> 00:05:54,911 specialized vegetable. Most of them are the same 157 00:05:54,911 --> 00:05:57,058 size. They're the same width, and the texture 158 00:05:57,058 --> 00:05:59,339 is very consistent, then it's very nice to 159 00:05:59,459 --> 00:06:01,134 So so it's it's very different from a 160 00:06:01,134 --> 00:06:01,771 normal green. 161 00:06:02,569 --> 00:06:04,482 Do you know, I remember somebody that got 162 00:06:04,482 --> 00:06:06,874 concerned 1 time about snow peas because that 163 00:06:06,874 --> 00:06:09,201 they were seeing... They felt like snow peas 164 00:06:09,201 --> 00:06:11,910 were now coming pretty much all from China. 165 00:06:12,069 --> 00:06:14,880 And the person that I spoke to was 166 00:06:15,017 --> 00:06:15,915 concerned about 167 00:06:16,770 --> 00:06:19,576 irrigation, water and some other things with snow 168 00:06:19,576 --> 00:06:21,331 peas and yet if you were... They gave 169 00:06:21,331 --> 00:06:22,927 me the impression that if you're gonna eat 170 00:06:22,927 --> 00:06:25,002 snow peas, you just had to get used 171 00:06:25,002 --> 00:06:26,774 to the fact that they were coming in 172 00:06:26,774 --> 00:06:28,531 from China. So if I've had any concerns 173 00:06:28,531 --> 00:06:31,168 about their production practices or about the quality 174 00:06:31,168 --> 00:06:33,245 of the irrigation water, you're stuck. 175 00:06:33,900 --> 00:06:35,819 But that's said apparently not the case if 176 00:06:35,819 --> 00:06:36,939 you got snow fees too. 177 00:06:38,620 --> 00:06:40,220 That's 1 of the main things we do. 178 00:06:40,379 --> 00:06:42,860 So our whole model revolves around this source. 179 00:06:43,114 --> 00:06:45,347 Because that's where we think everything starts. We 180 00:06:45,347 --> 00:06:47,182 really focus on getting the first part of 181 00:06:47,182 --> 00:06:49,096 the chain, which is the farm right, and 182 00:06:49,096 --> 00:06:50,851 that's reflected in a few ways, but 1 183 00:06:50,851 --> 00:06:52,765 of the most important 1 is food safety. 184 00:06:53,814 --> 00:06:56,935 Stalking specifically about water, our approach is 185 00:06:57,944 --> 00:07:00,668 something that's quite unique. So if you wanna 186 00:07:00,724 --> 00:07:01,939 control the 187 00:07:03,043 --> 00:07:04,870 food safety of your products. 1 of the 188 00:07:04,870 --> 00:07:06,856 main things is water. And the way we 189 00:07:06,856 --> 00:07:08,683 do it is we have 2 types of 190 00:07:08,683 --> 00:07:10,669 water. You have our agricultural water, and then 191 00:07:10,669 --> 00:07:12,337 you have the water that touches the product. 192 00:07:13,550 --> 00:07:15,329 All of the agricultural products 193 00:07:16,110 --> 00:07:17,329 that agricultural water 194 00:07:17,709 --> 00:07:20,589 and our farms is done through drip irrigation, 195 00:07:20,829 --> 00:07:22,050 which is about 10 centimeters 196 00:07:22,364 --> 00:07:24,913 under the soil, which never touches the product. 197 00:07:25,311 --> 00:07:27,781 Sure. All the product, all the water that 198 00:07:27,781 --> 00:07:28,578 touches the product, 199 00:07:29,613 --> 00:07:31,445 comes from 1 single source in our farms. 200 00:07:31,859 --> 00:07:33,851 That allows us to control a hundred percent 201 00:07:33,851 --> 00:07:36,104 of the water, and we can make sure 202 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,631 that it's being with the right food safety 203 00:07:38,631 --> 00:07:40,964 standards. But that's because we control a hundred 204 00:07:41,022 --> 00:07:43,187 percent of the source where it's coming from, 205 00:07:43,346 --> 00:07:45,338 and we can really control what's goes for 206 00:07:45,338 --> 00:07:47,488 water and what's the water that touches the 207 00:07:47,488 --> 00:07:50,116 product. And the water that touches the product, 208 00:07:50,689 --> 00:07:52,601 everything comes from 1 single source so we 209 00:07:52,601 --> 00:07:54,116 can control it from safety part. 210 00:07:54,992 --> 00:07:56,506 Well, you know 1 of the things you 211 00:07:56,506 --> 00:07:58,514 probably wouldn't mind having more in this tree. 212 00:07:59,314 --> 00:08:01,334 I'll except that if you look like a 213 00:08:01,634 --> 00:08:03,154 competition of a country like China, 214 00:08:03,634 --> 00:08:05,574 where you end up having all of these 215 00:08:05,714 --> 00:08:07,646 industries that are up cream on the yellow 216 00:08:07,646 --> 00:08:09,002 and yang river feed and, 217 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:10,199 you know, 218 00:08:11,236 --> 00:08:13,230 into heavy metals that end up showing up 219 00:08:13,230 --> 00:08:14,905 in the water, it's almost impossible to keep 220 00:08:14,905 --> 00:08:15,782 it out from the water. 221 00:08:16,833 --> 00:08:19,778 Don't have any factory upstream from your source 222 00:08:19,937 --> 00:08:20,653 I would imagine? 223 00:08:22,244 --> 00:08:24,791 We don't. And everything that touches the product 224 00:08:24,791 --> 00:08:26,720 comes from deep water wells. So they're on 225 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:28,639 unaffected by all of that. Nothing comes from 226 00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:31,360 the river. Everything comes from 1 single source 227 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:33,700 from a deep water well, and we're constantly 228 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:34,559 checking the water. 229 00:08:35,454 --> 00:08:36,652 I, you know, I haven't been the Guatemala 230 00:08:36,652 --> 00:08:39,928 guacamole again, but I I think that my 231 00:08:39,928 --> 00:08:41,206 is you got plenty of water. 232 00:08:41,846 --> 00:08:43,378 I... I'm not sure if that's... True. But 233 00:08:43,457 --> 00:08:44,813 I would think it rains a lot, then 234 00:08:44,813 --> 00:08:46,966 you probably have aquifer that are pretty filled 235 00:08:46,966 --> 00:08:47,445 up too. 236 00:08:48,561 --> 00:08:50,475 Yes. So that's why we always test the 237 00:08:50,475 --> 00:08:52,961 water. We're always testing the water at least, 238 00:08:54,873 --> 00:08:55,430 at least, 239 00:08:56,306 --> 00:08:59,333 once a season, at least. So we always 240 00:08:59,333 --> 00:09:01,085 making sure that you have the right water, 241 00:09:01,339 --> 00:09:02,458 the right quality of water. 242 00:09:03,576 --> 00:09:03,896 You know, 243 00:09:04,615 --> 00:09:07,811 obviously, you're... If you are distributing products like 244 00:09:07,811 --> 00:09:08,610 you just mentioned, 245 00:09:09,342 --> 00:09:10,479 to consumers 246 00:09:11,013 --> 00:09:12,445 pretty much all over the world. And we're 247 00:09:12,445 --> 00:09:14,195 gonna get to that. Like where you're sending 248 00:09:14,195 --> 00:09:15,547 them and every everything. 249 00:09:16,198 --> 00:09:18,099 I mean, you personally earn out driving a 250 00:09:18,099 --> 00:09:20,159 tractor or anything or planting seeds. So how 251 00:09:20,159 --> 00:09:23,091 did you come up with getting getting those... 252 00:09:23,343 --> 00:09:26,358 Seeds in the ground and and developing the 253 00:09:26,358 --> 00:09:28,579 the farming level that's supplying you. 254 00:09:29,530 --> 00:09:31,196 So that... That's an interesting story. 255 00:09:32,089 --> 00:09:34,089 We haven't been in the farming area for 256 00:09:34,089 --> 00:09:34,730 a long time. 257 00:09:35,449 --> 00:09:36,730 Actually, we used to be a lot more 258 00:09:36,730 --> 00:09:39,143 focus on the processing and packing side. And 259 00:09:39,143 --> 00:09:41,057 it was about... I would say, 9 years 260 00:09:41,057 --> 00:09:42,491 ago, then we decided to do a switch. 261 00:09:42,970 --> 00:09:44,883 Because what we noticed is is if that 262 00:09:44,883 --> 00:09:46,717 first part of the chain, the farms was 263 00:09:46,717 --> 00:09:50,084 not right, it was extremely hard to streamline 264 00:09:50,084 --> 00:09:51,920 the rest of the supply chain. Because what 265 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:53,198 we noticed is that if we wanted to 266 00:09:53,198 --> 00:09:55,433 bring a solution to our customers, which are 267 00:09:55,433 --> 00:09:56,870 retailers, it was truly predictable. 268 00:09:57,363 --> 00:09:59,350 We needed to control the farms. So we 269 00:09:59,350 --> 00:10:02,132 took a completely different approach to farming from 270 00:10:02,132 --> 00:10:05,073 the traditional farming approach and approach build with 271 00:10:05,073 --> 00:10:05,788 data at the core. 272 00:10:06,519 --> 00:10:08,912 So all of our farms are controlled by 273 00:10:09,869 --> 00:10:12,102 model that we develop called ce, which is 274 00:10:12,102 --> 00:10:15,532 an artificial intelligence model called ce. They controls 275 00:10:15,532 --> 00:10:17,703 every aspect effect of the farming, 276 00:10:18,502 --> 00:10:20,259 from before you plan the seed to when 277 00:10:20,259 --> 00:10:22,336 you harvest, which has allowed us to make 278 00:10:22,336 --> 00:10:23,635 it extremely predictable 279 00:10:23,948 --> 00:10:25,458 So the way we do it this, when 280 00:10:25,458 --> 00:10:27,389 we get a projection from a customer 281 00:10:28,002 --> 00:10:30,228 that goes into our system and our system 282 00:10:30,228 --> 00:10:33,144 basically gives us a recipe or a workflow 283 00:10:33,344 --> 00:10:35,818 of steps that have to be done from 284 00:10:35,818 --> 00:10:38,452 seed to delivery to be able to deliver 285 00:10:38,452 --> 00:10:41,086 that specific product to that specific customer, that 286 00:10:41,086 --> 00:10:43,420 specific week. From the farm to the processing 287 00:10:43,420 --> 00:10:43,980 to the packing. 288 00:10:45,580 --> 00:10:46,080 So 289 00:10:46,700 --> 00:10:49,259 I know farmers, and I've met farmers from 290 00:10:49,259 --> 00:10:51,100 around the world, 1 word that you said 291 00:10:51,100 --> 00:10:53,097 that a lot of farmers always just react 292 00:10:53,097 --> 00:10:54,919 negatively because the word control. 293 00:10:55,553 --> 00:10:58,539 Know, because farmers love their independence. But a 294 00:10:58,975 --> 00:11:01,695 So when when you want to get something 295 00:11:02,067 --> 00:11:02,384 produced, 296 00:11:02,939 --> 00:11:05,635 you have to you approach a farmer that 297 00:11:05,635 --> 00:11:06,135 can 298 00:11:06,443 --> 00:11:09,148 match up? Or are they already somehow committed 299 00:11:09,148 --> 00:11:11,534 to your company that they're gonna produce what... 300 00:11:11,693 --> 00:11:12,966 I you ask them to produce, 301 00:11:14,174 --> 00:11:16,083 so on a lot of our products, we 302 00:11:16,083 --> 00:11:18,151 are the farmers. So it's part of our 303 00:11:18,151 --> 00:11:20,458 operation. Yeah. We are the grower, the shipper 304 00:11:20,458 --> 00:11:21,094 and the packer. 305 00:11:22,302 --> 00:11:23,812 So a lot of items. You own some 306 00:11:23,812 --> 00:11:26,991 farmland then? Yeah. Yeah. We we have the 307 00:11:26,991 --> 00:11:29,932 farms. Yeah. Like I said, our model is 308 00:11:29,932 --> 00:11:31,799 completely integrated. From 309 00:11:32,256 --> 00:11:33,692 before the seat to when we deliver it 310 00:11:33,692 --> 00:11:34,330 to the customer. 311 00:11:34,888 --> 00:11:36,723 And that's what we noticed. If you really 312 00:11:36,723 --> 00:11:40,152 wanted to make the value chain predictable, we 313 00:11:40,152 --> 00:11:40,971 needed to 314 00:11:41,364 --> 00:11:43,602 I don't know control the right word that 315 00:11:43,602 --> 00:11:46,159 make it a lot more predictable the farmers. 316 00:11:46,879 --> 00:11:49,836 Sure. Because on our items is very susceptible 317 00:11:49,836 --> 00:11:51,290 to a lot of things. And I'll give 318 00:11:51,290 --> 00:11:52,090 you an example. 319 00:11:52,730 --> 00:11:55,050 A few months back, we got a storm 320 00:11:55,050 --> 00:11:57,450 where we got the equivalent of a month's 321 00:11:57,450 --> 00:11:58,809 worth of rain in 2 hours. 322 00:11:59,304 --> 00:12:00,822 You can imagine the impact of that ad. 323 00:12:01,062 --> 00:12:04,259 Yeah. Most surrounding farms have losses of 98 324 00:12:04,259 --> 00:12:06,336 to a hundred percent. We have a loss 325 00:12:06,336 --> 00:12:07,295 of 7 percent. 326 00:12:08,108 --> 00:12:10,811 And the reason why was because before we 327 00:12:10,811 --> 00:12:13,299 even planted the first seed, we had modeled 328 00:12:13,435 --> 00:12:15,582 what that worst case scenario would look like. 329 00:12:16,074 --> 00:12:17,661 And develop the greed of the farms to 330 00:12:17,661 --> 00:12:18,932 be able to handle that store. 331 00:12:19,567 --> 00:12:22,504 So before we we've planted because we own 332 00:12:22,504 --> 00:12:24,583 that farming and that first step, we were 333 00:12:24,583 --> 00:12:26,909 able to prepare for that worst case scenario 334 00:12:27,044 --> 00:12:29,029 and make it a lot more resilient to 335 00:12:29,029 --> 00:12:29,529 that 336 00:12:29,902 --> 00:12:33,413 type of store. Mh. Well, then, first The 337 00:12:33,413 --> 00:12:35,646 arrangement that you have is that you own 338 00:12:35,646 --> 00:12:37,719 some land in in cases you own... And 339 00:12:37,719 --> 00:12:39,473 are there some others too that you're you're 340 00:12:39,473 --> 00:12:41,786 purchasing from independent farmers so well? 341 00:12:42,518 --> 00:12:44,431 We also lease the land. We also... We 342 00:12:44,431 --> 00:12:45,308 either do leases, 343 00:12:46,344 --> 00:12:48,975 long term leases. Oh see. I see. And 344 00:12:48,975 --> 00:12:50,250 so... And a lot of what we do, 345 00:12:50,584 --> 00:12:51,856 So a lot of what we do is 346 00:12:51,856 --> 00:12:54,242 we take land that was completely dead. So 347 00:12:54,242 --> 00:12:56,628 1 of our core farms was a land 348 00:12:56,628 --> 00:12:58,457 that hadn't and been used for 50 years. 349 00:12:58,775 --> 00:13:00,625 So because they had destroyed the land with 350 00:13:00,625 --> 00:13:02,939 bad agricultural practices and it was completely dead. 351 00:13:03,338 --> 00:13:05,014 So it was a place where everybody thought 352 00:13:05,014 --> 00:13:07,024 it was gonna be impossible to farm. Yeah. 353 00:13:07,183 --> 00:13:08,459 And we took it when it was completely 354 00:13:08,459 --> 00:13:10,453 dead. Fast forward it to today. It's been 355 00:13:10,453 --> 00:13:11,512 completely regenerated. 356 00:13:12,048 --> 00:13:13,803 So we leased a lot of those lands 357 00:13:13,803 --> 00:13:16,196 that people had destroyed and we regenerated that 358 00:13:16,196 --> 00:13:16,356 land. 359 00:13:17,484 --> 00:13:20,343 Now. No that's really that's really fascinating. And 360 00:13:20,502 --> 00:13:22,329 I I'm curious too a little bit more 361 00:13:22,329 --> 00:13:24,179 back on the people that get to be 362 00:13:24,235 --> 00:13:24,553 employed. 363 00:13:26,001 --> 00:13:28,096 Because are are you able to 364 00:13:28,713 --> 00:13:30,547 to find up mostly to help you need 365 00:13:30,547 --> 00:13:32,062 locally? Do you have to bring people in? 366 00:13:32,541 --> 00:13:34,136 Be able to get them started? How does 367 00:13:34,136 --> 00:13:36,780 that work? So look, I'll I would say 368 00:13:36,780 --> 00:13:38,533 everybody who works at the farm is local 369 00:13:38,533 --> 00:13:40,365 from Guatemala. We have an amazing team. 370 00:13:42,054 --> 00:13:43,888 At the farms and and we've been very 371 00:13:43,888 --> 00:13:45,244 lucky You have a great team that can 372 00:13:45,244 --> 00:13:45,484 help us. 373 00:13:46,441 --> 00:13:48,036 So now I wanna get to the marketing 374 00:13:48,036 --> 00:13:50,030 side of this because the 1 thing is 375 00:13:50,030 --> 00:13:51,306 to grow it, and you get a lot 376 00:13:51,306 --> 00:13:53,076 of variety when you went through a list 377 00:13:53,076 --> 00:13:55,151 like you went through, and you were running 378 00:13:55,151 --> 00:13:57,466 down all these different products that you're able 379 00:13:57,466 --> 00:13:58,684 to grow in Guatemala, 380 00:13:59,620 --> 00:14:02,097 it... It starts with customers. Doesn't that? I 381 00:14:02,097 --> 00:14:03,447 mean you have to say, okay. What do 382 00:14:03,447 --> 00:14:05,669 you I mean, these are things we can 383 00:14:05,669 --> 00:14:05,907 grow, 384 00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:08,287 and we can supply you this. 385 00:14:09,416 --> 00:14:11,168 You know, what do you want from us? 386 00:14:11,566 --> 00:14:13,000 Does that... Did I get that right? 387 00:14:14,274 --> 00:14:16,264 Yeah. So this is an open dialogue we 388 00:14:16,264 --> 00:14:17,061 have with customers. 389 00:14:17,554 --> 00:14:18,912 A lot of the items that we do, 390 00:14:19,552 --> 00:14:21,229 a lot of the customers already sell them, 391 00:14:22,268 --> 00:14:24,425 like the French beans or snow or sugar 392 00:14:24,425 --> 00:14:27,951 snaps. They're already part of their products that 393 00:14:27,951 --> 00:14:30,105 they sell at their stores. What we do 394 00:14:30,105 --> 00:14:31,701 is we come in with a better solution. 395 00:14:32,194 --> 00:14:34,985 Yeah. Because we couldn't... Because we're not fragmented, 396 00:14:35,144 --> 00:14:37,696 and we can offer them the complete service 397 00:14:37,696 --> 00:14:40,327 end to end integration, It becomes a better 398 00:14:40,327 --> 00:14:42,891 solution for them. We offer them beyond just 399 00:14:42,891 --> 00:14:44,723 a bag of product. We offer them. The 400 00:14:44,723 --> 00:14:47,613 service of really developing and operating a successful 401 00:14:47,670 --> 00:14:51,113 fresh produce program for them. Okay. Okay. And 402 00:14:51,113 --> 00:14:52,632 it goes beyond just 1 product. 403 00:14:53,431 --> 00:14:55,908 Now now I wanna go back and make 404 00:14:55,908 --> 00:14:57,906 sure I'm understanding again too. Would... Would a 405 00:14:57,906 --> 00:15:00,555 hundred percent of what your your marketing come 406 00:15:00,555 --> 00:15:03,027 from Guatemala or some other countries as well. 407 00:15:03,426 --> 00:15:05,659 Power hundred percent What we saw... So what 408 00:15:05,659 --> 00:15:07,254 we saw in this is part of the 409 00:15:07,254 --> 00:15:08,152 world and 410 00:15:08,703 --> 00:15:11,011 into the Us. A hundred percent comes into... 411 00:15:11,329 --> 00:15:12,045 From Guatemala. 412 00:15:12,443 --> 00:15:13,181 We're opening 413 00:15:13,557 --> 00:15:15,466 funny enough offices right now in Mexico. 414 00:15:15,959 --> 00:15:17,472 But right now, I would say a hundred 415 00:15:17,472 --> 00:15:18,508 percent come from Guatemala. 416 00:15:19,304 --> 00:15:21,137 Now in in the Us, 417 00:15:21,933 --> 00:15:23,150 produce is 418 00:15:23,527 --> 00:15:25,874 identified as to the country of origin. So 419 00:15:26,250 --> 00:15:28,321 does... Do you have a packaging that would 420 00:15:28,321 --> 00:15:30,234 say, you know product to Guatemala on it? 421 00:15:31,428 --> 00:15:31,588 Yeah. 422 00:15:32,305 --> 00:15:33,659 So all of our products say products we 423 00:15:33,739 --> 00:15:34,137 Guatemala. 424 00:15:35,029 --> 00:15:36,544 Well, you know what? And this is 1 425 00:15:36,544 --> 00:15:39,416 of the reasons that I'm I'm happy to, 426 00:15:39,575 --> 00:15:42,128 have this conversation with you because I think 427 00:15:42,128 --> 00:15:43,425 people don't understand 428 00:15:44,042 --> 00:15:47,103 enough about other production practices. And 429 00:15:47,478 --> 00:15:49,648 and when they don't know, sometimes they're just 430 00:15:49,704 --> 00:15:51,454 suspicious. And in the in the United States, 431 00:15:51,613 --> 00:15:53,375 we do have the country of origin labeling. 432 00:15:53,534 --> 00:15:55,461 I suppose some other countries do as well 433 00:15:55,515 --> 00:15:57,734 have country of origin labeling. And I think 434 00:15:57,734 --> 00:15:59,399 it's I for 1. I'm glad to see 435 00:15:59,399 --> 00:16:00,840 but but put the name on they're not 436 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:02,267 ashamed of it. You know, if anybody wants 437 00:16:02,267 --> 00:16:03,614 to know how we... How you do things. 438 00:16:03,773 --> 00:16:05,675 It sounds like you're ready. Just say, show 439 00:16:05,675 --> 00:16:06,547 you whatever you want. 440 00:16:07,419 --> 00:16:10,446 In the benefit of owning a hundred percent 441 00:16:10,446 --> 00:16:11,714 of the chain is that you can be 442 00:16:11,714 --> 00:16:12,190 transparent. 443 00:16:12,666 --> 00:16:14,727 We're a hundred percent transparent in the way 444 00:16:14,727 --> 00:16:17,282 we do things, and we can offer trace 445 00:16:17,282 --> 00:16:19,347 ability down to bad revenue of everything. 446 00:16:19,744 --> 00:16:21,253 If I wanted to, which is not useful, 447 00:16:21,412 --> 00:16:22,762 but if you wanted to, we could tell 448 00:16:22,762 --> 00:16:25,008 you how the sun was the moment that 449 00:16:25,008 --> 00:16:26,046 product was planted. 450 00:16:26,685 --> 00:16:29,082 We can drill down to that level of 451 00:16:29,082 --> 00:16:30,520 trace and transparency. 452 00:16:31,014 --> 00:16:32,600 So that's how you can really back up 453 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:34,266 everything we're saying is if you have the 454 00:16:34,266 --> 00:16:35,932 data and the trace ability down to the 455 00:16:35,932 --> 00:16:37,201 bag to be able to prove it. 456 00:16:38,089 --> 00:16:39,997 You know what? I was involved 1 time 457 00:16:39,997 --> 00:16:42,859 in in a program where people were curious 458 00:16:42,859 --> 00:16:45,483 about what the crop was looking like. And 459 00:16:46,294 --> 00:16:47,973 Then I just put cameras out in the 460 00:16:48,052 --> 00:16:48,372 Orchard. 461 00:16:49,251 --> 00:16:51,169 And so people were speculating because it it's 462 00:16:51,169 --> 00:16:53,087 funny, you could go online and people could 463 00:16:53,087 --> 00:16:54,926 say something like, oh, you hear what's going 464 00:16:54,926 --> 00:16:55,745 on in Guatemala. 465 00:16:56,379 --> 00:16:59,012 And, although we weren't guatemala them all said 466 00:16:59,012 --> 00:16:59,889 well fine, You know, 467 00:17:00,608 --> 00:17:02,363 here's a live screen. Just look for yourself, 468 00:17:02,523 --> 00:17:03,321 does it look to you, 469 00:17:03,974 --> 00:17:06,127 like, you know, this is happening or does... 470 00:17:06,446 --> 00:17:07,882 How does... What do you think about it? 471 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,152 And Actually, we wanna do that. And and 472 00:17:11,152 --> 00:17:13,465 and because we have... Because we're a hundred 473 00:17:13,465 --> 00:17:16,109 percent transparent, actually, we're have a project right 474 00:17:16,109 --> 00:17:17,781 now in the pipeline where we're gonna put 475 00:17:17,781 --> 00:17:18,100 farms, 476 00:17:18,657 --> 00:17:20,808 cameras at the farms. Yeah. For people to 477 00:17:20,808 --> 00:17:22,321 go in and see it whenever they want. 478 00:17:22,813 --> 00:17:25,836 Yeah. Yeah. Don they gonna have everybody, make 479 00:17:25,836 --> 00:17:27,824 sure they they they walk around looking happy 480 00:17:27,824 --> 00:17:30,290 and be w or something. But but I 481 00:17:30,449 --> 00:17:32,058 I think that You know what? 482 00:17:33,177 --> 00:17:34,775 Everybody's happy at the farms. Yeah. 483 00:17:35,654 --> 00:17:37,572 And I wish people, and, you know, with 484 00:17:37,572 --> 00:17:39,910 our customers, what we always tell them is 485 00:17:40,304 --> 00:17:41,823 You can't fake this. Come and see it. 486 00:17:42,222 --> 00:17:45,099 There's nothing like stepping foot on the ground 487 00:17:45,099 --> 00:17:47,497 and actually going and seeing it. It's something 488 00:17:47,497 --> 00:17:49,908 that goes beyond just a product. It's a 489 00:17:49,908 --> 00:17:51,817 culture, it's an energy that's it's at the 490 00:17:51,817 --> 00:17:54,284 farms, which is quite unique. Because this was 491 00:17:54,284 --> 00:17:56,884 a land that was completely dead, not only 492 00:17:57,004 --> 00:17:58,751 the environment, but a lot of the local 493 00:17:58,751 --> 00:18:01,531 economies were completely dead. Fast forward to today, 494 00:18:01,610 --> 00:18:05,287 it's been completely regenerated. The ecosystems, the economies, 495 00:18:06,788 --> 00:18:09,833 everything in between the Flo, the fauna. So 496 00:18:09,890 --> 00:18:12,038 it's been a complete 1 80 from what 497 00:18:12,038 --> 00:18:13,884 it used to be 9 years ago. So 498 00:18:13,884 --> 00:18:15,964 there's nothing like, actually going and seeing it 499 00:18:15,964 --> 00:18:16,445 in person. 500 00:18:17,404 --> 00:18:19,484 Well, I tell you what, The... The hopefully... 501 00:18:19,644 --> 00:18:21,005 Having a podcast is close. 502 00:18:21,657 --> 00:18:23,324 Because I'm... That's gonna be a while before 503 00:18:23,483 --> 00:18:25,229 I get to the Guatemala, But I... We 504 00:18:25,229 --> 00:18:27,134 would love to have you. I'd love to 505 00:18:27,134 --> 00:18:28,562 go. I don't wanna go sometime. 506 00:18:29,533 --> 00:18:31,368 And and the other thing too, I feel 507 00:18:31,368 --> 00:18:34,002 really good about having this conversation with you. 508 00:18:34,242 --> 00:18:36,497 When I... When I've also been in these 509 00:18:36,636 --> 00:18:38,559 conversations have people are all upset about country 510 00:18:38,559 --> 00:18:40,410 of origin labeling, and frankly, 511 00:18:41,101 --> 00:18:43,325 what they're concerned about is that it's not 512 00:18:43,325 --> 00:18:45,153 required with animals with meat. 513 00:18:45,804 --> 00:18:47,475 So you can you can end up in 514 00:18:47,475 --> 00:18:49,862 the United States, you can have lean and 515 00:18:49,862 --> 00:18:51,852 fat trimming come from all over the world 516 00:18:51,852 --> 00:18:54,080 and be in different ages and blended together 517 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,482 and then distributed for Hamburger sales and so 518 00:18:56,482 --> 00:18:59,026 forth. And you don't really don't know a 519 00:18:59,026 --> 00:18:59,980 a lot of the story, 520 00:19:00,537 --> 00:19:03,184 about sanitation about some of and 521 00:19:03,638 --> 00:19:04,831 practices and so forth. 522 00:19:05,962 --> 00:19:08,115 And so I'm just really happy to have 523 00:19:08,115 --> 00:19:09,949 this conversation with you. And like, oh, this 524 00:19:09,949 --> 00:19:10,847 is a chance 525 00:19:11,304 --> 00:19:13,616 that people could look at the production. 526 00:19:14,588 --> 00:19:16,740 And the key transparency, honestly, 527 00:19:17,458 --> 00:19:19,690 And and it needs to be a hundred 528 00:19:19,690 --> 00:19:20,407 percent transparent. 529 00:19:20,806 --> 00:19:22,241 And you need that trace ability too. 530 00:19:22,894 --> 00:19:24,967 And I think that's what gives the customers 531 00:19:24,967 --> 00:19:26,722 the confidence that it was grown the right 532 00:19:26,722 --> 00:19:28,875 way. A lot of what we give our 533 00:19:28,875 --> 00:19:31,586 customers is the story behind where the product 534 00:19:31,586 --> 00:19:33,992 was grown. Yeah. And that's something that customers 535 00:19:33,992 --> 00:19:35,984 love. It was not only grown under the 536 00:19:35,984 --> 00:19:38,215 food safety practices, which is the priority number 537 00:19:38,215 --> 00:19:40,698 1, but there's also a sustainability story behind 538 00:19:40,698 --> 00:19:43,164 it, a social story behind it. There's more 539 00:19:43,164 --> 00:19:45,232 than just fat bag of vegetables. There's really 540 00:19:45,232 --> 00:19:46,209 that transparency 541 00:19:46,679 --> 00:19:48,674 in the up confidence that the product was 542 00:19:48,674 --> 00:19:50,829 grown their right way, then they can go 543 00:19:50,829 --> 00:19:52,425 ahead tell that story to their customers. 544 00:19:53,304 --> 00:19:55,392 Snow peas are getting back on, like, on 545 00:19:55,392 --> 00:19:56,903 my list again now. Yeah. 546 00:19:57,937 --> 00:19:59,392 Guatemala is there beach... Go. 547 00:19:59,846 --> 00:20:01,358 The board wants to, you know, 548 00:20:02,089 --> 00:20:03,925 Now 1 other question about that the people 549 00:20:03,925 --> 00:20:05,063 of the transparency 550 00:20:05,521 --> 00:20:06,021 are 551 00:20:06,479 --> 00:20:08,394 people that are purchasing, You do you get 552 00:20:08,394 --> 00:20:09,751 any visitors that 553 00:20:10,484 --> 00:20:13,138 you know, Us and other country supermarket 554 00:20:13,834 --> 00:20:15,349 buyers do they come down and look at 555 00:20:15,349 --> 00:20:17,742 your yes. Every time. Yeah. Like I was 556 00:20:17,742 --> 00:20:19,816 telling you, we like to tell our customers 557 00:20:19,816 --> 00:20:21,739 come down. See it. Yeah. And and once 558 00:20:21,739 --> 00:20:23,248 they go and see it, and they experience 559 00:20:23,248 --> 00:20:26,027 that they understand it. Yeah. Yeah. No. I... 560 00:20:26,186 --> 00:20:28,012 That makes sense now. Here... 1 more. Let's 561 00:20:28,012 --> 00:20:29,283 get back on the marketing side. 562 00:20:29,854 --> 00:20:31,613 So how do you find opportunities, 563 00:20:32,332 --> 00:20:34,330 and maybe before I say this, let's where 564 00:20:34,330 --> 00:20:36,807 are the opportunities? Wow, how broadly do you 565 00:20:36,807 --> 00:20:38,486 ship? How many places do you go beyond 566 00:20:38,486 --> 00:20:39,365 the United States? 567 00:20:40,736 --> 00:20:41,236 So 568 00:20:41,693 --> 00:20:42,832 right now, we sell 569 00:20:43,289 --> 00:20:46,399 in Central America. Mh. We sell in the 570 00:20:46,638 --> 00:20:48,074 Us, which is 1 of our main markets. 571 00:20:48,234 --> 00:20:49,191 We sell in Canada, 572 00:20:49,843 --> 00:20:51,514 saw the Uk and we sell in Europe, 573 00:20:51,752 --> 00:20:54,400 and we're starting Asia. So we send them 574 00:20:54,616 --> 00:20:55,332 all over the world. 575 00:20:57,180 --> 00:20:58,940 Are are you finding there's much a difference 576 00:20:58,940 --> 00:21:00,460 to? They're all pretty much the same as 577 00:21:00,460 --> 00:21:03,820 far as the degree of interest in production 578 00:21:03,820 --> 00:21:05,954 practices and and so forth as 579 00:21:06,872 --> 00:21:09,344 Europeans in the Us or, you know, Us 580 00:21:09,344 --> 00:21:11,918 and Mexico. Is it is there much difference 581 00:21:12,056 --> 00:21:14,449 among the countries in in how curious they 582 00:21:14,449 --> 00:21:15,725 are in the product practices? 583 00:21:16,778 --> 00:21:18,693 So so that's a good question. I think 584 00:21:18,693 --> 00:21:20,290 every country cares about their thing. 585 00:21:21,168 --> 00:21:22,604 But at the end of the day, they 586 00:21:22,604 --> 00:21:24,041 all want the same thing. I don't know 587 00:21:24,041 --> 00:21:25,809 if that makes sense. Like, some of them 588 00:21:25,809 --> 00:21:28,195 might be very specific in terms of something 589 00:21:28,195 --> 00:21:29,707 they want. But at the end of the 590 00:21:29,707 --> 00:21:31,297 day, what people want is just to make 591 00:21:31,297 --> 00:21:33,308 sure that the products were grown the right 592 00:21:33,308 --> 00:21:35,785 way. Well what we've been hearing a lot 593 00:21:35,785 --> 00:21:38,263 is the sustainability part, which for us has 594 00:21:38,263 --> 00:21:40,660 been something extremely important. Because when we started 595 00:21:40,660 --> 00:21:41,220 the farms, 596 00:21:41,714 --> 00:21:43,394 we wanted something that was not gonna be 597 00:21:43,394 --> 00:21:45,474 here for 6 months, that's something that could 598 00:21:45,474 --> 00:21:46,755 be here for the next a hundred years. 599 00:21:47,234 --> 00:21:49,234 So people right now in all of the 600 00:21:49,234 --> 00:21:51,488 countries we sold to are really focused on 601 00:21:51,488 --> 00:21:54,025 both the food safety, and the sustainability part. 602 00:21:54,897 --> 00:21:56,641 And then you might get some countries that 603 00:21:56,641 --> 00:21:59,352 are more interested about something very specific. Like 604 00:21:59,352 --> 00:22:01,182 some countries are more interested in our story 605 00:22:01,182 --> 00:22:01,921 about poll. 606 00:22:02,455 --> 00:22:04,602 Others are more interested on the social aspect. 607 00:22:04,921 --> 00:22:05,898 So you might get 608 00:22:06,209 --> 00:22:08,044 some people are some customers that are more 609 00:22:08,044 --> 00:22:10,277 focused in 1 specific topic. But at the 610 00:22:10,277 --> 00:22:12,031 end of the day, it all comes down 611 00:22:12,031 --> 00:22:15,142 to growing things right way, which people are 612 00:22:15,142 --> 00:22:15,994 carrying a lot 613 00:22:16,752 --> 00:22:17,071 lately, 614 00:22:17,709 --> 00:22:19,544 especially that there's a big push from the 615 00:22:19,544 --> 00:22:22,256 consumer side because they wanna know where their 616 00:22:22,256 --> 00:22:23,851 product is coming from to make sure it's 617 00:22:23,851 --> 00:22:25,606 healthy and it was grown the right way. 618 00:22:26,099 --> 00:22:28,963 Both socially environmentally and everything in between. 619 00:22:29,997 --> 00:22:31,350 Well, and I think the thing that we're 620 00:22:31,350 --> 00:22:33,180 touching on here today is some of those 621 00:22:33,180 --> 00:22:35,065 customers are saying wait a minute. Remind me 622 00:22:35,184 --> 00:22:37,434 exactly where in Latin America is Guatemala? 623 00:22:38,127 --> 00:22:40,275 And do we know anything at all about? 624 00:22:40,513 --> 00:22:41,866 And I... I'm sorry to say it that 625 00:22:41,866 --> 00:22:44,932 way. Yeah. No. And I I don't completely 626 00:22:45,070 --> 00:22:47,065 understand. So guatemala on us. 627 00:22:47,862 --> 00:22:49,696 So so Guatemala, like I said, it's in 628 00:22:49,696 --> 00:22:52,065 a very privileged position. It's right on their 629 00:22:52,104 --> 00:22:54,257 cycle. It's a very small country. We have 630 00:22:54,257 --> 00:22:57,288 both oceans, and it's right under Mexico. Yeah. 631 00:22:57,527 --> 00:22:59,281 So we can supply both coasts, and we 632 00:22:59,281 --> 00:23:01,035 can go in the middle into Texas. 633 00:23:01,849 --> 00:23:03,450 Well, and then what I was gonna lead 634 00:23:03,450 --> 00:23:05,369 up to is that some people just make 635 00:23:05,369 --> 00:23:07,210 some assumption because I don't know anything about 636 00:23:07,210 --> 00:23:08,730 it, it might not be up to our 637 00:23:08,730 --> 00:23:08,970 standards. 638 00:23:09,624 --> 00:23:11,537 And that's not fair, but I think that 639 00:23:11,537 --> 00:23:12,971 and people don't know anything, 640 00:23:13,688 --> 00:23:15,681 and they're they're... You know, and they haven't 641 00:23:15,681 --> 00:23:16,876 had chance to see your story. 642 00:23:17,767 --> 00:23:20,153 Yeah. So so I'm... Anyway, I'm glad I... 643 00:23:20,232 --> 00:23:21,744 We can help tell the story. And and 644 00:23:21,744 --> 00:23:23,255 and it's completely understandable. 645 00:23:24,621 --> 00:23:25,280 We're always 646 00:23:25,652 --> 00:23:27,158 a little skeptical the things we don't know, 647 00:23:27,317 --> 00:23:28,585 and it's they're not familiar. 648 00:23:29,457 --> 00:23:31,201 But that's why we like to tell our 649 00:23:31,201 --> 00:23:33,603 story and that's why we wanna make sure 650 00:23:33,603 --> 00:23:35,298 our consumers ask 651 00:23:35,753 --> 00:23:37,767 and come and see it and really 652 00:23:38,303 --> 00:23:40,214 get to see the story behind where the 653 00:23:40,214 --> 00:23:42,692 product is coming from. Which it's very unique. 654 00:23:43,167 --> 00:23:45,386 We really haven't seen enough I've traveled around 655 00:23:45,386 --> 00:23:48,079 the world. I've never seen an operation like 656 00:23:48,079 --> 00:23:50,420 this. And I'm really proud of the team 657 00:23:50,555 --> 00:23:52,461 to be able to do it. It's really 658 00:23:52,461 --> 00:23:55,002 unique. You know? Yeah. So but we we 659 00:23:55,002 --> 00:23:57,384 we encourage our consumers to see the story 660 00:23:57,384 --> 00:23:58,510 behind it. Yeah. 661 00:23:59,940 --> 00:24:01,289 I've got a request for you, Too. 662 00:24:03,115 --> 00:24:05,417 Can you can makes him make them more 663 00:24:05,417 --> 00:24:08,247 chop of of your different vegetables, john vegetables 664 00:24:08,307 --> 00:24:09,505 that fill into 665 00:24:10,624 --> 00:24:13,101 a tray for snacking that you can have... 666 00:24:13,421 --> 00:24:15,665 You know, we're at getting into that. Yes. 667 00:24:15,903 --> 00:24:18,046 So we do that for the Central America 668 00:24:18,046 --> 00:24:20,269 market, and we're thinking about starting to do 669 00:24:20,269 --> 00:24:21,404 it into the 670 00:24:22,745 --> 00:24:25,366 Us market, especially with products like baby carrots. 671 00:24:25,763 --> 00:24:27,908 Okay. And sugar snaps, which people like to 672 00:24:27,908 --> 00:24:30,212 snack on. It's something that we're exploring right 673 00:24:30,212 --> 00:24:32,298 now. Do you know why I think this 674 00:24:32,298 --> 00:24:34,370 is the case is that some years ago, 675 00:24:34,529 --> 00:24:36,920 I I was involved with A5A day, 676 00:24:37,558 --> 00:24:39,328 which then they upped the 5 a day 677 00:24:39,328 --> 00:24:41,326 fruits and vegetables. And then they decided that 678 00:24:41,326 --> 00:24:42,924 wasn't nearly enough and they tried to get 679 00:24:42,924 --> 00:24:44,042 it up to 10 a day, 680 00:24:44,842 --> 00:24:46,280 and now they've had to change the subject. 681 00:24:46,614 --> 00:24:48,369 Because it's just a lot for people to 682 00:24:48,369 --> 00:24:49,485 try to get enough vegetables. 683 00:24:50,203 --> 00:24:53,495 And and what I've found is that sometimes, 684 00:24:53,872 --> 00:24:56,286 I'll just buy these big veggie trays 685 00:24:56,919 --> 00:24:59,316 that come with ranch dip in the middle 686 00:24:59,316 --> 00:25:00,035 of them or something. 687 00:25:00,594 --> 00:25:03,230 And all they do have snap peas in 688 00:25:03,230 --> 00:25:06,993 them. And carrots and some broccoli and some, 689 00:25:07,153 --> 00:25:08,189 like, purple calls. 690 00:25:09,385 --> 00:25:12,016 Yeah. Yeah. Some pepper sometime and celery. 691 00:25:12,828 --> 00:25:14,340 Anyway, you can keep it in your refrigerator 692 00:25:14,340 --> 00:25:15,852 and you might otherwise be kind of in 693 00:25:15,852 --> 00:25:18,478 a hurry, and you can, you know, heat 694 00:25:18,478 --> 00:25:20,482 make a sandwich or something like that. But 695 00:25:20,482 --> 00:25:22,625 you pull that out and you're kind of 696 00:25:22,625 --> 00:25:24,608 you're kind of n and you end up 697 00:25:24,608 --> 00:25:26,457 before you know it, You've had several helping 698 00:25:26,513 --> 00:25:27,251 of vegetables 699 00:25:28,038 --> 00:25:30,672 just Yeah. Just snacking on all those vegetables. 700 00:25:32,188 --> 00:25:34,342 Yeah. That that's an area that we're for 701 00:25:34,342 --> 00:25:35,060 sure exploring. 702 00:25:35,714 --> 00:25:37,149 Especially with a lot of the kit meals. 703 00:25:37,469 --> 00:25:39,542 It's it's something that's growing a lot. Like, 704 00:25:39,622 --> 00:25:41,616 you said, you you wanna make it easy 705 00:25:41,616 --> 00:25:42,812 at the end of the day. So a 706 00:25:42,812 --> 00:25:44,168 lot of what we do is really focus 707 00:25:44,168 --> 00:25:46,016 on the packing side. Make it a lot 708 00:25:46,016 --> 00:25:46,970 easier for the consumer. 709 00:25:47,606 --> 00:25:49,060 All of our bags are micro, 710 00:25:49,673 --> 00:25:50,786 which makes it a lot easier. 711 00:25:51,581 --> 00:25:52,615 You cut a corner, you put it in 712 00:25:52,615 --> 00:25:54,523 the microwave it's 2 minutes, and then they're 713 00:25:54,523 --> 00:25:57,335 done. So So making it easy definitely helps, 714 00:25:58,134 --> 00:25:58,934 increase the consumption. 715 00:25:59,654 --> 00:26:01,414 Well, and plus, you'll probably get some more 716 00:26:01,414 --> 00:26:02,509 customers. If you just 717 00:26:02,947 --> 00:26:04,618 mention you heard about this on farm to 718 00:26:04,618 --> 00:26:06,528 table talk, put that on the back. Sure. 719 00:26:07,881 --> 00:26:09,631 And then and then we're we'll let those 720 00:26:09,631 --> 00:26:11,541 sponsors we're we're off to the races. 721 00:26:12,113 --> 00:26:12,353 I just... 722 00:26:13,149 --> 00:26:13,946 1 a quick thing, 723 00:26:14,823 --> 00:26:18,011 when you are shipping product into, whether Mexico 724 00:26:18,011 --> 00:26:19,547 or or to 725 00:26:20,017 --> 00:26:23,114 you know, the Us, Me are shipping, and 726 00:26:23,114 --> 00:26:24,623 there was a time that people were getting 727 00:26:24,623 --> 00:26:28,674 really kinda concerned about maybe still are the 728 00:26:28,674 --> 00:26:28,833 footprint. 729 00:26:30,118 --> 00:26:30,516 Because, 730 00:26:31,469 --> 00:26:34,192 you got ways to go. So I assume 731 00:26:35,837 --> 00:26:38,878 footprint? Yeah. Yeah. Carbon footprint. So 732 00:26:39,507 --> 00:26:41,897 That's a great question. Actually, we're in our 733 00:26:41,897 --> 00:26:44,288 way to becoming carbon neutral, and we expect 734 00:26:44,288 --> 00:26:45,562 to do it by the end of 20 735 00:26:45,562 --> 00:26:46,040 25. 736 00:26:46,533 --> 00:26:46,931 Mh. 737 00:26:48,283 --> 00:26:50,193 Completely by merit, no carbon credits. 738 00:26:51,148 --> 00:26:52,739 So so that's something that's in a rate. 739 00:26:53,057 --> 00:26:55,046 Right now, our carbon ambitions are very low. 740 00:26:55,459 --> 00:26:57,288 Did we wanna make it carbon neutral by 741 00:26:57,288 --> 00:26:58,401 the end of 20 25? 742 00:26:59,355 --> 00:27:01,660 Somebody listening to this and they're kind of 743 00:27:01,660 --> 00:27:03,092 like smack on their head and said, gee, 744 00:27:03,171 --> 00:27:05,654 we listen to Was and farm cable talk. 745 00:27:05,973 --> 00:27:07,492 And we're getting all psyche up from some 746 00:27:07,492 --> 00:27:09,969 people we talk about about buying local and 747 00:27:09,969 --> 00:27:11,727 go into the farmers market because I'm a 748 00:27:11,727 --> 00:27:13,005 big fan of farmers market. 749 00:27:13,659 --> 00:27:16,125 But... I too. I think the challenge is 750 00:27:16,125 --> 00:27:17,715 that people could say, you know what? There's 751 00:27:17,715 --> 00:27:19,647 a space for both. I mean, it's 752 00:27:20,101 --> 00:27:21,692 just becomes you're trying to get a lot 753 00:27:21,692 --> 00:27:23,850 of things. Local doesn't mean that you're not 754 00:27:23,850 --> 00:27:25,516 getting a mix of these other things when 755 00:27:25,516 --> 00:27:28,134 they're fresh coming from Guatemala. You know how 756 00:27:28,134 --> 00:27:28,530 they're doing. 757 00:27:29,418 --> 00:27:31,084 And and we coexist with a lot of 758 00:27:31,084 --> 00:27:32,037 the local production, 759 00:27:32,830 --> 00:27:34,973 especially that... Because we have a very precise 760 00:27:34,973 --> 00:27:37,354 farming model, we can come in into the 761 00:27:37,354 --> 00:27:39,599 windows where the local production can't do it. 762 00:27:40,397 --> 00:27:42,072 Because we're the equator, so we have a 763 00:27:42,072 --> 00:27:44,385 very favorable weather. So a lot of the 764 00:27:44,385 --> 00:27:46,379 times when the local production can produce a 765 00:27:46,379 --> 00:27:47,575 certain item, we come in. 766 00:27:48,705 --> 00:27:49,820 For example, for Butter, 767 00:27:50,775 --> 00:27:52,447 we just developed up the program for Spain, 768 00:27:53,164 --> 00:27:54,836 for 1 of our customers, where they were 769 00:27:54,836 --> 00:27:55,791 gonna have a window, 770 00:27:56,204 --> 00:27:57,793 where they were not gonna have any local 771 00:27:57,793 --> 00:28:00,098 production for the month of May. And we 772 00:28:00,098 --> 00:28:02,084 developed a program specifically for the month of 773 00:28:02,243 --> 00:28:04,389 May for them, and we came in exactly 774 00:28:04,389 --> 00:28:05,079 at the week 775 00:28:05,517 --> 00:28:07,902 they told us a year before, and 4 776 00:28:07,902 --> 00:28:10,367 weeks after the program started. We ended the 777 00:28:10,367 --> 00:28:12,355 program. Very precise. We came in when the 778 00:28:12,355 --> 00:28:12,832 window was. 779 00:28:13,801 --> 00:28:15,153 A million pounds in and hour. 780 00:28:16,107 --> 00:28:18,096 You know. That's that sounds great. That that 781 00:28:18,096 --> 00:28:19,846 just reminds me 1 other thing. I keep 782 00:28:19,846 --> 00:28:21,118 having 1 other thing in mind. 783 00:28:22,169 --> 00:28:23,684 And that is that 784 00:28:24,163 --> 00:28:25,678 we already said you get a lot of 785 00:28:25,678 --> 00:28:27,114 moisture and you're on the equator, 786 00:28:27,752 --> 00:28:28,252 which 787 00:28:28,789 --> 00:28:30,783 my idea is it makes it more difficult 788 00:28:30,783 --> 00:28:31,795 to go organic 789 00:28:33,026 --> 00:28:34,456 And understand And 790 00:28:35,012 --> 00:28:36,203 you just got a lot more bugs to 791 00:28:36,203 --> 00:28:37,156 work with is 792 00:28:37,633 --> 00:28:39,778 is the impression I have so it's pretty 793 00:28:39,778 --> 00:28:41,549 hard to use a standard of 794 00:28:41,858 --> 00:28:42,413 Is that true? 795 00:28:43,762 --> 00:28:45,587 Yeah. It definitely brings his challenges. 796 00:28:46,381 --> 00:28:48,285 That's why not all of our products are 797 00:28:48,285 --> 00:28:48,603 organic? 798 00:28:49,571 --> 00:28:50,923 We work under their regenerative. 799 00:28:51,877 --> 00:28:55,058 Because the organic certification goes beyond just pesticides. 800 00:28:55,376 --> 00:28:57,284 It has a lot of other factors. Yeah. 801 00:28:57,841 --> 00:28:58,930 We have to take in 802 00:28:59,288 --> 00:29:01,121 a lot of which don't fit a hundred 803 00:29:01,121 --> 00:29:03,750 percent with the equator, like you mentioned. So 804 00:29:03,750 --> 00:29:06,242 what we tried to focus on is really 805 00:29:06,474 --> 00:29:08,862 creating something that's a hundred percent transparent. 806 00:29:09,897 --> 00:29:12,229 And if we're gonna work under the organic 807 00:29:12,366 --> 00:29:13,480 certification, We wanna make sure we're are a 808 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:14,697 hundred percent compliant 809 00:29:15,086 --> 00:29:17,705 And we have found that that is not 810 00:29:17,705 --> 00:29:20,403 sustainable in terms of sustainability and they equator 811 00:29:20,403 --> 00:29:22,784 in what we do. For. The reasons you 812 00:29:22,784 --> 00:29:22,943 mentioned. 813 00:29:23,674 --> 00:29:25,752 Yeah. Yeah. Well, that just that just makes 814 00:29:25,752 --> 00:29:27,989 sense. And then when you you grow up 815 00:29:27,989 --> 00:29:29,507 and you harvest them, are you putting them 816 00:29:29,507 --> 00:29:32,080 on planes? Is there anything that is cold 817 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:33,440 storage enough if you put on a boat? 818 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,720 So every... Most of it goes on boats 819 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:37,279 or trucks. 820 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:38,400 Mh. 821 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,880 Rarely on planes. It's very little. 822 00:29:41,453 --> 00:29:43,520 Okay. What goes what goes on 823 00:29:44,474 --> 00:29:45,746 what what goes on blinked. 824 00:29:46,780 --> 00:29:49,483 We get about 3 hours from the moment. 825 00:29:49,801 --> 00:29:51,406 Depends on the product that about 3 hours 826 00:29:51,406 --> 00:29:52,994 from the moment, we harvest to when we 827 00:29:52,994 --> 00:29:54,900 back, and then it goes straight into our 828 00:29:54,900 --> 00:29:55,297 customers. 829 00:29:56,329 --> 00:29:57,917 But you have... You still got a boat 830 00:29:57,917 --> 00:29:59,743 ride to say houston. 831 00:30:00,553 --> 00:30:01,768 It's about... So 832 00:30:02,618 --> 00:30:04,365 to Houston, most of what we do is 833 00:30:04,365 --> 00:30:06,987 we truck it, that's about 3 days and 834 00:30:06,987 --> 00:30:09,370 to the Miami port, it's about 3 days. 835 00:30:11,137 --> 00:30:13,451 So then you're not trucking to Miami, obviously, 836 00:30:13,691 --> 00:30:16,005 you're... Are employed. So you're putting it on 837 00:30:16,005 --> 00:30:17,761 a on a a bow for miami... And 838 00:30:17,761 --> 00:30:19,448 because of the cold storage, you can put 839 00:30:19,448 --> 00:30:21,833 a pretty good chill on it, so that 840 00:30:22,469 --> 00:30:24,696 gets... And then after they... After they come 841 00:30:24,696 --> 00:30:26,763 all the way from Guatemala there, How how 842 00:30:26,763 --> 00:30:28,250 long is it is it 843 00:30:28,768 --> 00:30:31,184 fresh, fresh enough and good quality 844 00:30:31,562 --> 00:30:33,398 after it it gets to the store, how 845 00:30:33,398 --> 00:30:34,776 long this this... So 846 00:30:35,234 --> 00:30:37,719 it depends on the product, but within a 847 00:30:37,719 --> 00:30:38,829 day, it's at the stores. 848 00:30:40,971 --> 00:30:41,367 And it... 849 00:30:42,081 --> 00:30:43,905 Depending on the product, you have about 21 850 00:30:43,905 --> 00:30:45,745 days of shelf life. So we get pretty 851 00:30:45,745 --> 00:30:46,381 good shelf life, 852 00:30:47,256 --> 00:30:48,789 especially that all of our products 853 00:30:49,164 --> 00:30:52,424 are packed in Bags, which are oxygen transmission 854 00:30:52,424 --> 00:30:52,663 bags. 855 00:30:53,394 --> 00:30:56,425 Which control the oxygen transmission within the bag 856 00:30:56,425 --> 00:30:58,361 to control the metabolism of a plant 857 00:30:58,817 --> 00:31:00,492 with no pre servants or anything. 858 00:31:01,290 --> 00:31:02,827 It's great. Sure. It's purely 859 00:31:03,699 --> 00:31:05,936 it control. So the way Ot bags work 860 00:31:05,936 --> 00:31:06,735 is that they control the 861 00:31:07,614 --> 00:31:10,090 Transmission between the air inside the bag and 862 00:31:10,090 --> 00:31:12,422 outside. And it slows down the metabolism of 863 00:31:12,422 --> 00:31:14,260 the plant. So it basically puts the plant 864 00:31:14,260 --> 00:31:17,136 to sleep, fillet delay last longer fresh without 865 00:31:17,136 --> 00:31:18,255 any chemicals or anything. 866 00:31:19,465 --> 00:31:21,612 Isn't this strange. I mean, it's strange for 867 00:31:21,612 --> 00:31:23,440 me because I'm sitting here thinking how I'm 868 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,269 going to probably the very next podcast and 869 00:31:25,348 --> 00:31:27,351 I'm gonna be talking more about the people 870 00:31:27,351 --> 00:31:29,338 that can buy within 10 miles or something 871 00:31:29,338 --> 00:31:32,199 of their of their home and yet, there's 872 00:31:32,199 --> 00:31:33,549 a really good case to be made for 873 00:31:33,629 --> 00:31:35,298 Guatemala in. And who knows? There may be 874 00:31:35,298 --> 00:31:38,016 some other countries that belong and in the 875 00:31:38,016 --> 00:31:40,720 end circle as well. Yeah. Like I said, 876 00:31:41,595 --> 00:31:44,060 like I said... Sorry for that. Like I 877 00:31:44,060 --> 00:31:45,594 said, I think there's a window 878 00:31:45,983 --> 00:31:48,769 for everybody. It needs to make sense in 879 00:31:48,769 --> 00:31:49,564 terms of the energy. 880 00:31:51,474 --> 00:31:52,906 Because you get a lot of products. Like, 881 00:31:52,986 --> 00:31:54,498 you were talking. You were talking about the 882 00:31:54,498 --> 00:31:54,736 emissions. 883 00:31:55,469 --> 00:31:56,746 Even things that are local, 884 00:31:57,784 --> 00:31:59,859 it really depends on the product. True. Because 885 00:31:59,859 --> 00:32:02,574 sometimes the energy consumption and the emissions of 886 00:32:02,574 --> 00:32:04,824 even our greenhouse is a lot higher in 887 00:32:04,824 --> 00:32:05,863 doing it in Guatemala. 888 00:32:06,662 --> 00:32:08,100 So you really have to look at the 889 00:32:08,100 --> 00:32:09,857 big picture in terms of what's the energy 890 00:32:09,857 --> 00:32:11,376 that it requires to get the product to 891 00:32:11,376 --> 00:32:13,780 the consumer. And really find the windows where 892 00:32:13,780 --> 00:32:15,927 it works best. And like we said, we 893 00:32:15,927 --> 00:32:18,074 coexist with the local productions. And most of 894 00:32:18,074 --> 00:32:20,324 the times we come in when that local 895 00:32:20,380 --> 00:32:21,812 production can produce a lot of the products. 896 00:32:22,945 --> 00:32:24,545 I'll tell you how curious I am. I 897 00:32:24,545 --> 00:32:26,625 wanna know even more about the soils too 898 00:32:26,625 --> 00:32:27,924 because I would think that 899 00:32:28,384 --> 00:32:30,005 that you have to have 900 00:32:30,798 --> 00:32:31,618 a different 901 00:32:32,634 --> 00:32:36,067 community, than microbial content in your soils just 902 00:32:36,067 --> 00:32:38,461 by being down there in the equator and 903 00:32:38,461 --> 00:32:39,100 and everything. 904 00:32:39,593 --> 00:32:41,683 Yeah. Would be would be different 905 00:32:42,375 --> 00:32:44,998 than than other parts of the world. You 906 00:32:44,998 --> 00:32:47,383 know, we have 12 different types of soils 907 00:32:47,383 --> 00:32:48,257 in 1 of our farms. 908 00:32:49,470 --> 00:32:51,390 Well, that's 1 of the different challenges that 909 00:32:51,390 --> 00:32:52,990 we have to face. It's... That we have 910 00:32:52,990 --> 00:32:54,750 a lot of different types of soils within 911 00:32:54,750 --> 00:32:55,410 a very 912 00:32:55,869 --> 00:32:57,950 short area in a very small area. 913 00:32:58,764 --> 00:33:00,122 And the way we do it is we've 914 00:33:00,122 --> 00:33:02,359 taken a very data centric approach to it. 915 00:33:02,998 --> 00:33:03,498 We 916 00:33:03,876 --> 00:33:04,915 take soil samples, 917 00:33:05,329 --> 00:33:07,963 of the soils, and we analyze, and we 918 00:33:07,963 --> 00:33:08,463 develop 919 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,155 nutrition plants and rotation plans to be able 920 00:33:11,155 --> 00:33:13,563 to fit that specific type of soil. Yeah. 921 00:33:13,722 --> 00:33:15,389 So we take a very scientific approach to 922 00:33:15,389 --> 00:33:16,739 that because if not, it would be possible. 923 00:33:16,977 --> 00:33:18,644 We have 12 different types of soils. 924 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:20,787 Not bet you have Earth ones too. 925 00:33:21,993 --> 00:33:22,231 Yes. 926 00:33:22,866 --> 00:33:23,739 We have everything. 927 00:33:24,453 --> 00:33:26,437 You know? I... Because there's some places that 928 00:33:26,437 --> 00:33:27,945 we... I know we've hit in the states 929 00:33:27,945 --> 00:33:29,825 and some other areas that there's just like 930 00:33:29,944 --> 00:33:32,182 farmed out. It's so intensive and than so 931 00:33:32,182 --> 00:33:34,739 many chemicals over over the years, in it, 932 00:33:35,138 --> 00:33:36,816 that you can't go out and stick a 933 00:33:36,816 --> 00:33:38,689 spade in the ground and get see 934 00:33:39,141 --> 00:33:40,570 like you can in healthy soils. 935 00:33:41,681 --> 00:33:41,919 Yeah. 936 00:33:42,634 --> 00:33:42,951 Exactly. 937 00:33:45,015 --> 00:33:46,705 It what's funny is let 938 00:33:47,174 --> 00:33:48,851 Like, I was telling you about most of 939 00:33:48,851 --> 00:33:51,645 the land that we work with was completely 940 00:33:51,645 --> 00:33:55,317 dead. They had formed it with horrible agricultural 941 00:33:55,317 --> 00:33:57,487 practices, and they had killed it. With 1 942 00:33:57,487 --> 00:34:00,436 of our farms, we had 0.07 943 00:34:00,436 --> 00:34:02,907 percent of organic matter. At we cow. 944 00:34:03,705 --> 00:34:04,661 And now nothing. 945 00:34:05,473 --> 00:34:08,181 That that's nothing. And now it's 4.15. 946 00:34:09,536 --> 00:34:10,036 That's 947 00:34:10,492 --> 00:34:11,629 amazing. And that's 948 00:34:12,085 --> 00:34:14,417 we're still figuring out how that translates 949 00:34:15,048 --> 00:34:15,926 into the 950 00:34:16,884 --> 00:34:18,958 nutrition in the products too, but it does 951 00:34:18,958 --> 00:34:20,953 have an impact. It it it creates a 952 00:34:20,953 --> 00:34:22,331 more nutrient dense 953 00:34:22,644 --> 00:34:25,125 high quality product for sure. And if you 954 00:34:25,125 --> 00:34:25,945 have a healthier 955 00:34:26,405 --> 00:34:28,485 soil, you have a healthier plant. At the 956 00:34:28,485 --> 00:34:30,085 end of the day, the soil is, like, 957 00:34:30,244 --> 00:34:32,336 the refrigerator for the plant, that's where it 958 00:34:32,336 --> 00:34:33,449 gets all of its nutrients, 959 00:34:34,563 --> 00:34:36,074 and and and really, the food to be 960 00:34:36,074 --> 00:34:37,505 able to feed the plant. So if you 961 00:34:37,505 --> 00:34:39,572 have a healthy soil, you have a healthy 962 00:34:39,572 --> 00:34:39,732 plant. 963 00:34:40,384 --> 00:34:40,703 You know? 964 00:34:41,899 --> 00:34:43,175 I I tell you what, we're gonna have 965 00:34:43,175 --> 00:34:45,169 hit have more podcast because we're we're just 966 00:34:45,169 --> 00:34:47,163 getting through the crop and and now we're 967 00:34:47,163 --> 00:34:49,157 going underground. So that'll have to be another 968 00:34:49,157 --> 00:34:52,068 podcast. We'll finish ship on the happy course 969 00:34:52,128 --> 00:34:54,925 microbes underground. But I I wanna thank you. 970 00:34:55,164 --> 00:34:56,922 This has been a great conversation. Now if 971 00:34:56,922 --> 00:35:00,014 people would like to know more about your 972 00:35:00,054 --> 00:35:02,369 company about the product about what you're growing 973 00:35:02,369 --> 00:35:04,284 and where it's going and that sort of 974 00:35:04,284 --> 00:35:06,200 thing. How do they... How do they find 975 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:08,195 it? How do they follow you where are? 976 00:35:09,567 --> 00:35:11,401 You can look at us a bit on 977 00:35:11,401 --> 00:35:13,953 our website, which is uni spice dot com. 978 00:35:14,193 --> 00:35:17,622 That's UNISPECE 979 00:35:17,622 --> 00:35:18,101 dot com. 980 00:35:18,835 --> 00:35:21,155 Or you can also look us up at 981 00:35:21,155 --> 00:35:23,014 our Linkedin. We're always posting 982 00:35:23,394 --> 00:35:24,295 different content 983 00:35:24,755 --> 00:35:25,255 and 984 00:35:25,968 --> 00:35:27,158 you can look up my name, which is 985 00:35:27,317 --> 00:35:28,904 Christopher savvy, and, 986 00:35:29,777 --> 00:35:31,919 always posting about our stories, while we do, 987 00:35:32,078 --> 00:35:33,444 how we do it, And, 988 00:35:34,243 --> 00:35:36,560 yeah, I would love to to share our 989 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:37,998 story. So you can also shoot at the 990 00:35:37,998 --> 00:35:38,877 end through Linkedin. 991 00:35:39,676 --> 00:35:41,930 Hey. You know what. Christopher did did you... 992 00:35:42,730 --> 00:35:44,329 This is crazy to ask you this question. 993 00:35:44,650 --> 00:35:45,150 But 994 00:35:45,530 --> 00:35:48,190 I might have misunderstood. You're filling uni spice 995 00:35:48,583 --> 00:35:50,258 because I thought it was... You said you 996 00:35:50,258 --> 00:35:52,513 in Ie p Ec. 997 00:35:52,890 --> 00:35:53,768 Did you say? 998 00:35:54,804 --> 00:36:01,849 Yes. I said you and ISPICEI 999 00:36:01,849 --> 00:36:04,650 heard E c. So I'm probably wrong, But 1000 00:36:04,650 --> 00:36:08,168 in anyway, I've Oh, it's it's doesn't it 1001 00:36:08,168 --> 00:36:09,915 it doesn't hurt to repeat it, So people 1002 00:36:09,915 --> 00:36:11,503 can be sure to tip you up. Yeah. 1003 00:36:11,820 --> 00:36:14,043 I was lot. I learned a lot from 1004 00:36:14,043 --> 00:36:16,765 this conversation. And I'm really glad you reached 1005 00:36:16,765 --> 00:36:19,078 out and asked about having to conversations with 1006 00:36:19,078 --> 00:36:21,869 us because it's it's my pleasure to have 1007 00:36:21,869 --> 00:36:24,023 you and have this conversation on farm to 1008 00:36:24,023 --> 00:36:25,060 table talk. So thank you. 1009 00:36:26,430 --> 00:36:28,443 I appreciate it. Thank you very much. We 1010 00:36:28,740 --> 00:36:30,015 we really enjoy the podcast. 1011 00:36:39,758 --> 00:36:41,831 You've been listening to farm to table talk 1012 00:36:41,831 --> 00:36:43,439 with your host Roger Watson.