Keynotes Presentations From Puri; Irving Fain, Bowery, and Brad McNamara, Freight Farms Headline Full Roster of 40+ Sessions
LAS VEGAS (April 29, 2019) – Indoor Ag-Con, the premier event covering the technology of growing crops in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic techniques, expands its educational line-up with a new keynote session from Viraj Puri, CEO and Co-Founder of Gotham Greens. Puri joins other keynote presenters, Irving Fain, CEO |Co-Founder, Bowery, and Brad McNamara, CEO|Co-Founder, Freight Farms to headline the educational conference program for the 7th annual edition, May 22-24, 2019, at Red Rock Resort, Las Vegas, NV. Featuring 40+ sessions, panel discussions and keynotes, the comprehensive line-up spans five tracks: Grow Equipment, Crop Selection, Customers & The Supply Chain, Business, Policy & Societal Impact.
The full conference schedule is available at https://indoor.ag/lasvegas/las-vegas-2019-schedule-sessions/
“We are thrilled to welcome Viraj Puri to our program,” explains Jim Pantaleo, Conference Chairman, Indoor Ag-Con. “Our keynote sessions now give attendees the chance to hear the unique perspectives and insights from three of the industry’s top CEOs. We’ve worked to bring together a broad and deep series of programs that promise to arm attendees with the latest innovations, trends, business-building strategies and insights into emerging technologies and industry breakthroughs.”
Puri’s presentation will be held on Thursday, May 23 from 1-1:30 pm. A global pioneer in urban, indoor agriculture, Gotham Greens provides its diverse retail, restaurant, and institutional customers with a reliable, year-round, local supply of produce and fresh food products made under the highest standards of food safety and environmental sustainability. The company’s non-GMO, pesticide-free produce is grown using sustainable methods in high tech climate controlled urban greenhouses using 100% renewable electricity. Since its pioneering greenhouse launch in 2011, Gotham Greens has grown from a single urban rooftop greenhouse in Brooklyn to a multi-state indoor farming leader and one of the largest hydroponic salad producers in North America. The company currently operates more than 180,000 square feet of greenhouse in New York and Chicago and has an additional 500,000 square feet of development underway across five U.S. states, including Chicago, Il., Baltimore, MD and Providence, RI. Gotham Greens was founded in 2009 in Brooklyn, New York and was named one of the ‘Coolest Businesses in America’ by Business Insider.
On opening day, Wednesday, May 22, 2019, Irving Fain, co-founder and CEO of Bowery, the modern farming company growing food for a better future by revolutionizing agriculture, kicks off the conference with a presentation from 9:15 – 9:55 am. Bowery’s large scale commercial indoor farms combine the benefits of the best local farms with advances made possible by technology to grow food for a better future. Since launching publicly in early 2017, Bowery has secured over $122.5M in funding, and expanded distribution of 8 product SKUs to retailers like Whole Foods, Foragers, Peapod, and various restaurants and fast-casuals in the Tristate area.
In addition, Brad McNamara, CEO and Co-Founder of Freight Farms, the agtech company that first established the hydroponic vertical container farming industry. will lead his keynote session from 9:15 – 9:55 am on Thursday, May 23, 2019. Founded in 2010, Freight Farms’ technology enables the year-round growth of fresh food anywhere on the globe, regardless of climate, using 95% less water than traditional agriculture. The company now has the largest network of connected farms in the world, with a diverse range of global customers. The company’s latest launch of the Greenery with integrated data platform farmhand, advances industry-wide limits of hydroponic vertical farming across yield, resource efficiency, and automation – making decentralized farming more accessible than ever before.
In addition to the keynotes, attendees can chose from an expansive line-up of sessions and panel discussions led by top industry executives and thought leaders from some of the biggest names and up-and-coming innovators in the indoor ag space. Among them: Bayer Crop Science, Signify, AeroFarms, Shenandoah Farms, MVP Farms, Fluence Bioengineering, Farmbox Greens, Urban Crop Solutions, Sananbio, Vertial Harvest, TapRoot holdings, Pulse Labs Smallhold, Germains Seed Technology, Argus Controls, AgEye Technologies, HSG-AME Certified Laboratories and many others.
Indoor Ag-Con welcomes a number of other features in addition to the comprehensive educational conference, including an exhibition floor filled the vendors showcasing the latest in everything from equipment to climate control systems. Networking opportunities are also an integral part of the event, including receptions on May 22 and 23, continental breakfast and lunch gatherings daily. Other programs include networking breaks between conference sessions.
The 2019 edition will also see the hard release of a new white paper from Contain Inc., an alternate finance provider to indoor growers, entitled “ Automation, AI and the Next Generation Of Indoor Agriculture.” Each attendee will receive a copy with their welcome gift bag.
ABOUT INDOOR AG-CON LLC
Founded in 2013, Indoor Ag-Con has grown into the premier event in indoor agriculture, the practice of growing crops, raising fish and insects in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic techniques. Its events are tech-focused and crop-agnostic, covering produce, legal cannabis, alternate protein and non-food crops. It hosts events in Las Vegas, Singapore and the US East coast. In December 2018, three event industry professionals – Nancy Hallberg, Kris Sieradzki and Brian Sullivan – purchased Indoor Ag-Con LLC from Newbean Capital, so setting the stage for further expansion of the events globally. More information: https://indoor.ag
